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The TRMM Precipitation Radar: Opportunities and ChallengesAlthough studies on the feasibility of spaceborne weather radar date back to the 1960's, it was only with the launch of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Satellite in November 1997 that the first weather radar was placed into low earth orbit. The long delay between the initial concept and implementation was caused not only by the demanding requirements of active sensors such as mass, power, and reliability, but because of scientific and technological challenges. For example, the demand for adequate spatial resolution arises from the need to resolve the horizontal structure of convective storm cells and to avoid surface contamination of the rain return at off-nadir angles. To achieve a horizontal resolution on the order of 4 km from low earth orbit with a modest antenna size of 2 m requires the use of a much higher frequency (Ku-band) than those typically used for ground-based weather radars (S- and C-band). Higher frequencies are subject to higher attenuation. As Hitschfeld and Bordan (1954) showed in their classic paper, attenuation correction with a single-wavelength radar is inherently unstable at high attenuations unless the drop size distribution and the radar constant are known precisely. Since these conditions are seldom met, much work over the last decade has been devoted to formulating and testing alternative methods of attenuation correction. The operational method used in the TRMM radar processing is discussed in section 3 of the paper.
Document ID
19990063638
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Meneghini, R.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Kozu, T.
(Communications Research Lab. Tokyo, Japan)
Kawanishi, T.
(National Space Development Agency Tokyo, Japan)
Kuroiwa, H.
(National Space Development Agency Tokyo, Japan)
Okamoto, K.
(Communications Research Lab. Tokyo, Japan)
Atlas, D.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Date Acquired
August 19, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1999
Subject Category
Communications And Radar
Meeting Information
Meeting: Radar Meteorology
Location: Montreal, Quebec
Country: Canada
Start Date: July 12, 1999
End Date: July 16, 1999
Sponsors: American Meteorological Society
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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