Rain estimation from satellites - Areal rainfall-rain area relation

The relationship between the areal rainfall rate and the rain area was investigated using rainfall rate data collected in the so-called B-scale during the first two phases of GATE. The data for the first two phases, each lasting about three weeks, are based mainly on the C-band radar observations carried out on board a research vessel at the center of the B-scale area 200 km in diameter, which is located at roughly 8.5 N, 23.5 W. It is demonstrated that the areal average rainfall rate correlates significantly with the rain area if the area under consideration is large compared to the Lagrangian integral scale.