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TRMM Field Campaigns: Objectives and Status ReportThe Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite has been sending valuable data since launch in November 1997. Some of the key goals of the joint NASA (US) and NASDA (Japan) mission are: (1) to estimate the four-dimensional diabatic heating in the tropical and subtropical atmosphere, (2) understand the role of latent heating in driving tropical and extratropical circulations, (3) obtain monthly area-averaged estimates of rainfall over the data-sparse oceans, and (4) estimate the relative contribution of convective and stratiform precipitation over different regions during different seasons. The overarching scientific objective is to understand and improve estimates of rainfall and latent heating profiles throughout the global tropics. This requires observations for fundamental understanding of cloud dynamics and microphysics, as well as for validation, testing assumptions and error estimates of cloud-resolving models, forward radiative transfer models, algorithms used to estimate rainfall statistics and vertical structure of precipitation from surface-based radar, and from satellites. Field experiments designed to contribute to this understanding have been conducted in Texas and the South China Sea in spring of 1998, Florida in summer of 1998, and interior Brazil in (boreal) winter 1999. In summer 1999, a major oceanic campaign will be based at Kwajalein Atoll. Some early results will be highlighted, noting some significant contrasts between oceanic and continental convective systems.
Document ID
19990102879
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
Authors
Zipser, Edward I.
(Utah Univ. Salt Lake City, UT United States)
Heymsfield, Gerald
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Kummerow, Christian
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Simpson, Joanne
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Thiele, Otto
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD United States)
Rutledge, Steven
(Colorado State Univ. Fort Collins, CO United States)
Dias, Maria Assuncio Silva
(Sao Paulo Univ. Brazil)
Houze, Robert A., Jr.
(Washington Univ. Seattle, WA United States)
Yuter, Sandra
(Washington Univ. Seattle, WA United States)
Kakar, Ramesh
(NASA Headquarters Washington, DC United States)
Date Acquired
August 19, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 1999
Subject Category
Meteorology And Climatology
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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