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Evaluation and Application of Satellite-Based Latent Heating Profile Estimation MethodsIn recent years, methods for estimating atmospheric latent heating vertical structure from both passive and active microwave remote sensing have matured to the point where quantitative evaluation of these methods is the next logical step. Two approaches for heating algorithm evaluation are proposed: First, application of heating algorithms to synthetic data, based upon cloud-resolving model simulations, can be used to test the internal consistency of heating estimates in the absence of systematic errors in physical assumptions. Second, comparisons of satellite-retrieved vertical heating structures to independent ground-based estimates, such as rawinsonde-derived analyses of heating, provide an additional test. The two approaches are complementary, since systematic errors in heating indicated by the second approach may be confirmed by the first. A passive microwave and combined passive/active microwave heating retrieval algorithm are evaluated using the described approaches. In general, the passive microwave algorithm heating profile estimates are subject to biases due to the limited vertical heating structure information contained in the passive microwave observations. These biases may be partly overcome by including more environment-specific a priori information into the algorithm s database of candidate solution profiles. The combined passive/active microwave algorithm utilizes the much higher-resolution vertical structure information provided by spaceborne radar data to produce less biased estimates; however, the global spatio-temporal sampling by spaceborne radar is limited. In the present study, the passive/active microwave algorithm is used to construct a more physically-consistent and environment-specific set of candidate solution profiles for the passive microwave algorithm and to help evaluate errors in the passive algorithm s heating estimates. Although satellite estimates of latent heating are based upon instantaneous, footprint- scale data, suppression of random errors requires averaging to at least half-degree resolution. Analysis of mesoscale and larger space-time scale phenomena based upon passive and passive/active microwave heating estimates from TRMM, SSMI, and AMSR data will be presented at the conference.
Document ID
20040034106
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Olson, William S.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Grecu, Mircea
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Yang, Song
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Tao, Wei-Kuo
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
August 21, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2004
Subject Category
Space Transportation And Safety
Meeting Information
Meeting: 26th Conference on Hurricane and Tropical Meteorology
Location: Miami. FL
Country: United States
Start Date: May 3, 2004
End Date: May 7, 2004
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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