Empirical studies of the microwave radiometric response to rainfall in the tropics and midlatitudesResults are presented from quantitative comparisons between satellite microwave radiometer observations and digital radar observations of equatorial convective cloud clusters and midlatitude frontal precipitation. Simultaneous data from the Winter Monsoon Experiment digital radar and the SMMR for December 1978 are analyzed. It is found that the most important differences between the microwave response to rainfall in the equatorial tropics and to stratiform rain in oceanic midlatitude fronts is caused by the different spatial characteristics of stratiform and convective rainfall and by the different background brightness temperature fields associated with tropical and midlatitude levels of atmospheric water vapor.
Document ID
19900043074
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Petty, Grant W. (Washington Univ. Seattle, WA, United States)
Katsaros, Kristina B. (Washington, University Seattle, United States)
Date Acquired
August 14, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1989
Subject Category
Meteorology And Climatology
Meeting Information
Meeting: Conference on Satellite Meteorology and Oceanography