Impact of sub-pixel rainfall variability on spaceborne precipitation estimation: Evaluating the TRMM 2A25 product

Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society

Volumn 141, Issue 688, 2015, Pages 953-966

  Kirstetter, Pierre Emmanuel ^a,b,c   Hong, Y ^a,c   Gourley, J J ^b   Schwaller, M ^d   Petersen, W ^e   Cao, Qing ^c  

^a UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA   (United States)

^b NATIONAL SEVERE STORMS LABORATORY   (United States)

^c USA   (United States)

^d NASA GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER   (United States)

^e NASA HEADQUARTERS   (United States)

Author keywords

Conditional bias; QPE; Radar; Random error; Satellite based rain estimation

Indexed keywords

BUDGET CONTROL; MICROWAVE SENSORS; ORBITS; PIXELS; RADAR; RADAR MEASUREMENT; RAIN; RAIN GAGES; RANDOM ERRORS; SOIL MOISTURE; SPACE-BASED RADAR;

CONDITIONAL BIAS; GLOBAL PRECIPITATION MEASUREMENT MISSIONS; LOW EARTH ORBITING SATELLITES; NON-UNIFORM BEAM FILLINGS; QPE; QUANTITATIVE PRECIPITATION ESTIMATION; RAIN ESTIMATION; TROPICAL RAINFALL MEASUREMENT MISSIONS;

PRECIPITATION (METEOROLOGY);

ERROR ANALYSIS; EXTREME EVENT; FORECASTING METHOD; HAZARD ASSESSMENT; PRECIPITATION ASSESSMENT; PRECIPITATION INTENSITY; SATELLITE MISSION; TRMM; WATER BUDGET;

EID: 84928251930     PISSN: 00359009     EISSN: 1477870X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1002/qj.2416     Document Type: Article

References (40)

1. Adeyewa ZD, Nakamura K.. 2003. Validation of TRMM radar rainfall data over major climatic regions in Africa. J.Appl. Meteorol. 42: 331-347.
2. Amitai E, Llort X, Sempere-Torres D.. 2009. Comparison of TRMM radar rainfall estimates with NOAA next-generation QPE. J.Meteorol. Soc. Jpn. 87A: 109-118.
3. Amitai E, Petersen W, Llort X, Vasiloff S.. 2012. Multi-platform comparisons of rain intensity for extreme precipitation events. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens. 50: 675-686.
4. Awaka J, Iguchi T, Okamoto K.. 2007. Rain type classification algorithm. Adv. Global Change Res. 28: 213-224.
5. Berg W, L'Ecuyer T, Haynes JM.. 2010. The distribution of rainfall over oceans from spaceborne radars. J.Appl. Meteorol. Clim. 49: 535-543.
6. Brier GW, Allen RA.. 1951. Verification of weather forecasts. 841-848(Malone, TF (ed. ), ed.), American Meteorological Society: Boston, MA.
7. Chen S, Gourley JJ, Hong Y, Kirstetter PE, Zhang J, Howard KW, Flamig ZL, Hu J, Qi Y.. 2013. Evaluation and uncertainty estimation of NOAA/NSSL next-generation National Mosaic Quantitative Precipitation Estimation product (Q2) over the continental United States. J.Hydrometeorol. 14: 1308-1322, doi:10.1175/JHM-D-12-0150.1.
8. Ciach GJ, Krajewski WF.. 2006. Analysis and modeling of spatial correlation structure of small-scale rainfall in Central Oklahoma. Adv. Water Resour. 29: 1450-1463.
9. Ebert EE.. 2007. Methods for verifying satellite precipitation estimates. 345-356(Levizzani V Bauer P, Turk FJ ed.), Springer: Dordrecht, Netherlands.
10. Grimes DIF, Diop M.. 2003. Satellite-based rainfall estimation for river flow forecasting in Africa. I: Rainfall estimates and hydrological forecasts. Hydrol. Sci. J. 48: 567-584.
11. Hong Y, Adler RF, Hossain F, Curtis S, Huffman GJ.. 2007. A first approach to global runoff simulation using satellite rainfall estimation. Water Resour. Res. 43: W08502, doi:10.1029/2006WR005739.
12. Huffman GJ, Adler RF, Bolvin DT, Gu G, Nelkin EJ, Bowman KP, Hong Y, Stocker EF, Wolff DB.. 2007. The TRMM multi-satellite precipitation analysis: Quasi-global, multi-year, combined-sensor precipitation estimates at fine scale. J.Hydrometeorol. 8: 38-55.
13. Iguchi T, Kozu T, Meneghini R, Awaka J, Okamoto K.. 2000. Rain-profiling algorithm for the TRMM precipitation radar. J.Appl. Meteorol. 39: 2038-2052.
14. Iguchi T, Kozu T, Kwiatkowski J, Meneghini R, Awaka J, Okamoto K.. 2009. Uncertainties in the rain profiling algorithm for the TRMM precipitation radar. J.Meteorol. Soc. Jpn. 87A: 1-30.
15. Kirstetter PE, Hong Y, Gourley JJ, Chen S, Flamig Z, Zhang J, Schwaller M, Petersen W, Amitai E.. 2012. Toward a framework for systematic error modeling of spaceborne radar with NOAA/NSSL ground radar-based National Mosaic QPE. J.Hydrometeorol. 13: 1285-1300.
16. Kirstetter PE, Viltard N, Gosset M.. 2013. An error model for instantaneous satellite rainfall estimates: Evaluation of BRAIN-TMI over West Africa. Q.J.R. Meteorol. Soc. 139: 894-911, doi:10.1002/qj.1964.
17. Lebel T, Cappelaere C, Galle S, Hanan N, Kergoat L, Levis S, Vieux B, Descroix L, Gosset M, Mougin E.. 2009. AMMA-CATCH studies in the Sahelian region of West-Africa: An overview. J.Hydrol. 375: 3-13, doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2009.03.020.
18. Lin X, Hou AY.. 2008. Evaluation of coincident passive microwave rainfall estimates using TRMM PR and ground measurements as references. J.Appl. Meteorol. Clim. 47: 3170-3187.
19. Lin X, Hou AY.. 2012. Estimation of rain intensity spectra over the continental United States using ground radar-gauge measurements. J.Clim. 25: 1901-1915.
20. Meneghini R, Iguchi T, Kozu T, Liao L, Okamoto K, Jones JA, Kwiatkowski JR.. 2000. Use of the surface reference technique for path attenuation estimates from the TRMM precipitation radar. J.Atmos. Oceanic Technol. 40: 2053-2070.
21. Meneghini R, Jones JA, Iguchi T, Okamoto K, Kwiatkowski JR.. 2004. A hybrid surface reference technique and its application to the TRMM precipitation radar. J.Atmos. Oceanic Technol. 21: 1645-1658.
22. Michaelides SC.. 2008. Springer-Verlag: Berlin and Heidelberg, Germany.
23. Petty GW.. 1995. Frequencies and characteristics of global oceanic precipitation from shipboard present-weather reports. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 76: 1593-1616.
24. Petty GW.. 1997. An intercomparison of oceanic precipitation frequencies from 10 special sensor microwave/imager rain rate algorithms and shipboard present weather reports. J.Geophys. Res. 102: 1757-1777, doi:10.1029/96JD03000.
25. Sapiano MRP, Arkin PA.. 2009. An intercomparison and validation of high-resolution satellite precipitation estimates with 3-hourly gauge data. J.Hydrometeorol. 10: 149-166.
26. Schumacher C, Houze RA, Jr.. 2000. Comparison of radar data from the TRMM satellite and Kwajalein oceanic validation site. J.Appl. Meteorol. 39: 2151-2164.
27. Steiner M, Houze RAJr, Yuter SE.. 1995. Climatological characterization of three-dimensional storm structure from operational radar and rain gauge data. J.Appl. Meteorol. 34: 1978-2007.
28. Stephens GL, Kummerow CD.. 2007. The remote sensing of clouds and precipitation from space: A review. J.Atmos. Sci. 64: 3742-3765.
29. Takahashi N, Hanado H, Iguchi T.. 2006. Estimation of path-integrated attenuation and its nonuniformity from TRMM/PR range profile data. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sens. 44: 3276-3283.
30. Turk FJ, Arkin P, Ebert EE, Sapiano MRP.. 2008. Evaluating high resolution precipitation products. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 89: 1911-1916.
31. Ushio T, Okamoto K, Kubota T, Hashizume H, Shige S, Noda S, Iida Y, Aonashi K, Inoue T, Oki R, Kachi M, Takahashi N, Iguchi T., A combined microwave and infrared radiometer approach for a high resolution global precipitation mapping in the GSMAP project Japan, 2006. 3rd International Precipitation Working Group Workshop on Precipitation Measurements Melbourne, Australia.
32. Vasiloff SV, Howard KW, Rabin RM, Brooks HE, Seo D-J, Zhang J, Kitzmiller DH, Mullusky MG, Krajewski WF, Brandes EA, Brown BG, Berkowitz DS, McGinley JA, Kuligowski RJ.. 2007. Improving QPE and very short term QPF: An initiative for a community-wide integrated approach. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 88: 1899-1911.
33. Wen Y, Hong Y, Zhang G, Schuur TJ, Gourley JJ, Flamig ZL, Morris KR, Cao Q.. 2011. Cross validation of spaceborne radar and ground polarimetric radar aided by polarimetric echo classification of hydrometeor types. J.Appl. Meteorol. Clim. 50: 1389-1402.
34. Wilks DS.. 2011. Elsevier: Oxford, UK.
35. Wolff DB, Fisher BL.. 2008. Comparisons of instantaneous TRMM ground validation and satellite rain-rate estimates at different spatial scales. J.Appl. Meteorol. Clim. 47: 2215-2237.
36. Wolff DB, Fisher BL.. 2009. Assessing the relative performance of microwave-based satellite rain-rate retrievals using TRMM ground validation data. J.Appl. Meteorol. Clim. 48: 1069-1099.
37. Yang S, Olson WS, Wang JJ, Bell TL, Smith EA, Kummerow CD.. 2006. Precipitation and latent heating distributions from satellite passive microwave radiometry. Part II: Evaluation of estimates using independent data. J.Appl. Meteorol. Clim. 45: 721-739.
38. Zhang J, Howard K, Gourley JJ.. 2005. Constructing three-dimensional multiple radar reflectivity mosaics: Examples of convective storms and stratiform rain echoes. J.Atmos. Oceanic Technol. 22: 30-42.
39. Zhang J, Howard K, Langston C, Vasiloff S, Kaney B, Arthur A, Van Cooten S, Kelleher K, Kitzmiller D, Ding F, Seo D-J, Wells E, Dempsey C.. 2011a. National Mosaic and multi-sensor QPE (NMQ) system: Description, results and future plans. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc. 92: 1321-1338.
40. Zhang J, Qi YC, Howard K, Langston C, Kaney B., Radar Quality Index (RQI)-A combined measure of beam blockage and VPR effects in a national network. 2011b. Proceedings, International Symposium on Weather Radar and Hydrology, April 2011. IAHS Publication, Exeter, UK, 351 pp.