Statistical precipitation cell parameter estimation using passive 118-GHz O2 observations

This paper investigates the statistical retrieval of cell top altitude using high-resolution passive 118-GHz multichannel precipitation cell imagery. The observations were made using the millimeter-wave temperature sounder scanning spectrometer aboard the NASA ER-2 high-altitude research aircraft, during the Genesis of Atlantic Lows Experiment and the Cooperative Huntsville Meteorological Experiment, 1986. Results obtained using a nonlinear statistical 118-GHz cell top altitude retrieval technique are presented, illustrating a systematic method for parameter estimation from noisy nonlinearly dependent observations.