Global weather requirements for precipitation measurements

Results of a radar study of summertime convection in the high plains of Kansas are presented which demonstrate the importance of the small scale structure of precipitation to the overall production of precipitation in a storm. The smaller scale structure must be modeled to develop valid relationships between satellite observables and precipitation amount. The Kansas results suggest that just the observation of the number and spacings of the active regions of convection (thunderstorms) is sufficient to provide an estimate of water flux with an uncertainty of less than a factor of two.