Since the TRMM launch in 1997, global rain estimation by microwave radiometer has been improved referring the PR data. The microwave radiometer observation becomes the major observation tool for the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM). However, there are still gaps of global rainfall distribution between PR and TMI (e.g. Berg et al., 2002). One of the major issues for rain retrieval algorith...

1.1 Statement of problem Estimation of soil moisture using microwave remote sensors holds great promise for many applications, including numerical weather prediction and agriculture. However, a scale disparity exists between the resolutions of future satellite-borne microwave remote sensor data (30-60 km) and the much finer scales at which soil moisture estimates are desired (~ 1 km). Hydrology...

The retrieval of precipitation (snowfall and rainfall) from satellite sensors on a global basis is essential in aiding our knowledge understanding the Earth System for many societal applications. Measurements surface-based instruments are essentially limited to populated regions, necessitating use satellite-based observations provide estimates across whole Earth’s surface. temporal spatial vari...

[1] Cloudsat cloud radar data are used to investigate the vertical structure of cloud systems of the ITCZ across the West and East Pacific and its contribution to precipitation. Cloud radar data are collocated with precipitation rates from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer (AMSR) to examine differences in cloud top PDFs for different rain rate regimes. Heavily precipitating clouds have...

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) is a Japan-US joint satellite mission which equips the world first spaceborne precipitation radar (PR) as well as microwave imager (TMI) and has been producing very valuable precipitation data more than twelve years. This long term precipitation record including vertical profile information from the TRMM PR made it possible to provide not only the ...

Characterizing the errors in satellite-based precipitation estimation products is crucial for understanding their effects in hydrological applications. Six precipitation products derived from three algorithms are comprehensively evaluated against gauge data over mainland China from December 2006 to November 2010. These products include three satellite-only estimates: the Global Satellite Mappin...

during the 1970s made possible the observation of the seasonally shifting patterns of global precipitation. It was not until recently, however, that the record could be considered long enough to investigate longer-term trends and the relationship between global precipitation and global warming. Using data from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) instrument, Wentz et al. [2007] reported ...

Introduction Conclusions References

We describe a simulation methodology used to develop and validate precipitation retrieval algorithms for current and future passive microwave sounders with emphasis on the NPOESS (National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System) sensors. Precipitation algorithms are currently being developed for ATMS, MIS, and NAST-M. ATMS, like AMSU, will have channels near the oxygen bands ...