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Some comments on passive microwave measurement of rainIt is argued that because microwave radiation interacts much more strongly with hydrometeors than with cloud particles, microwave measurements from space offer a significant chance of making global precipitation estimates. Over oceans, passive microwave measurements are essentially attenuation measurements that can be very closely related to the rain rate independently of the details of the drop-size distribution. Over land, scattering of microwave radiation by the hydrometeors, especially in the ice phase, can be used to estimate rainfall. In scattering, the details of the drop-size distribution are very important and it is therefore more difficult to achieve a high degree of accuracy. The SSM/I (Special Sensor Microwave Imager), a passive microwave imaging sensor that will be launched soon, will have dual-polarized channels at 85.5 GHz that will be very sensitive to scattering by frozen hydrometeors. Other sensors being considered for the future space missions would extend the ability to estimate rain rates from space. The ideal spaceborne precipitation-measurement system would use the complementary strengths of passive microwave, radar, and visible/infrared measurements.
Document ID
19870038498
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Wilheit, Thomas T.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
August 13, 2013
Publication Date
October 1, 1986
Publication Information
Publication: American Meteorological Society, Bulletin
Volume: 67
ISSN: 0003-0007
Subject Category
Meteorology And Climatology
Accession Number
87A25772
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other

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