Structure of Florida Thunderstorms Using High-Altitude Aircraft Radiometer and Radar Observations

Abstract This paper presents an analysis of a unique radar and radiometer dataset from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) ER-2 high-altitude aircraft overlying Florida thunderstorms on 5 October 1993 during the Convection and Moisture Experiment (CAMEX). The observations represent the first ER-2 Doppler radar (EDOP) measurements and perhaps the most comprehensive multispectral precipitation measurements collected from a single aircraft. The objectives of this paper are to 1) examine the relation of the vertical radar reflectivity structure to the radiometric responses over a wide range of remote sensing frequencies, 2) examine the limitations of rain estimation schemes over land and ocean backgrounds based on the observed vertical reflectivity structures and brightness temperatures, and 3) assess the usefulness of scattering-based microwave frequencies (86 GHz and above) to provide information on vertical structure in the ice region. Analysis focused on two types of convection: a sma...

[1]  Thomas T. Wilheit,et al.  Some comments on passive microwave measurement of rain , 1986 .

[2]  I. J. Caylor,et al.  NASA ER-2 Doppler radar reflectivity calibration for the CAMEX project , 1994 .

[3]  Christian D. Kummerow,et al.  A Method for Combined PassiveActive Microwave Retrievals of Cloud and Precipitation Profiles , 1996 .

[4]  M. Susko,et al.  Operations summary for the convection and moisture experiment (CAMEX) , 1994 .

[5]  H. Michael Goodman,et al.  Precipitation retrieval over land and ocean with the SSM/I - Identification and characteristics of the scattering signal , 1989 .

[6]  Eric A. Smith,et al.  High-resolution imaging of rain systems with the advanced microwave precipitation radiometer , 1994 .

[7]  J. Weinman,et al.  Microwave radiances from precipitating clouds containing aspherical ice, combined phase, and liquid hydrometeors , 1984 .

[8]  J. W. Waters,et al.  2.3. Absorption and Emission by Atmospheric Gases , 1976 .

[9]  Robert F. Adler,et al.  Microwave simulations of a tropical rainfall system with a three-dimensional cloud model , 1991 .

[10]  Gerald M. Heymsfield,et al.  Modulation of SSM/I microwave soil radiances by rainfall☆ , 1992 .

[11]  Hiroshi Kumagai,et al.  Airborne active and passive microwave observations of Super Typhoon Flo , 1994, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[12]  Christian D. Kummerow,et al.  A self-consistency approach to improve microwave rainfall rate estimation from space , 1989 .

[13]  Thomas T. Wilheit,et al.  A satellite technique for quantitatively mapping rainfall rates over the oceans , 1977 .

[14]  Robert F. Adler,et al.  A Proposed Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Satellite , 1988 .

[15]  Jothiram Vivekanandan,et al.  Ice Water Path Estimation and Characterization Using Passive Microwave Radiometry , 1991 .

[16]  Paul Racette,et al.  An Airborne Millimeter-Wave Imaging Radiometer for Cloud, Precipitation, and Atmospheric Water Vapor Studies , 1996 .

[17]  Fuk K. Li,et al.  ARMAR: An airborne rain-mapping radar , 1994 .

[18]  David P. Jorgensen,et al.  Vertical Velocity Characteristics of Oceanic Convection , 1989 .

[19]  Robert F. Adler,et al.  A Satellite Infrared Technique to Estimate Tropical Convective and Stratiform Rainfall , 1988 .

[20]  E. Szoke,et al.  A Radar Study of Convective Cells in Mesoscale Systems in GATE. Part II: Life Cycles of Convective Cells , 1986 .

[21]  Eric A. Smith,et al.  Behavior of an Inversion-Based precipitation Retrieval Algorithm with High-Resolution AMPR Measurements Including a Low-Frequency 10.7-GHz Channel , 1994 .

[22]  W. Woodley,et al.  A Raingage Evaluation of the Miami Reflectivity-Rainfall Rate Relation , 1970 .

[23]  R. Houze,et al.  Three-Dimensional Kinematic and Microphysical Evolution of Florida Cumulonimbus. Part I: Spatial Distribution of Updrafts, Downdrafts, and Precipitation , 1995 .

[24]  Robert F. Adler,et al.  Estimation of Monthly Rainfall over Japan and Surrounding Waters from a Combination of Low-Orbit Microwave and Geosynchronous IR Data , 1993 .

[25]  Christian D. Kummerow,et al.  A Passive Microwave Technique for Estimating Rainfall and Vertical Structure Information from Space. Part I: Algorithm Description , 1994 .

[26]  Christian Kummerow,et al.  A simplified scheme for obtaining precipitation and vertical hydrometeor profiles from passive microwave sensors , 1996, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[27]  F. Joseph Turk,et al.  Comparisons of precipitation measurements by the Advanced Microwave Precipitation Radiometer and multiparameter radar , 1993, IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote. Sens..

[28]  Robert F. Adler,et al.  Observations of precipitating convective systems at 92 and 183 GHz: Aircraft results , 1988 .

[29]  W. Paul Menzel,et al.  Improved capabilities of the Multispectral Atmospheric Mapping Sensor (MAMS) , 1989 .

[30]  G. Stephens,et al.  Microwave Radiative Transfer Studies Using Combined Multiparameter Radar and Radiometer Measurements during COHMEX , 1990 .

[31]  J. Vivekanandan,et al.  Multiparameter Radar And Microwave Radiative Transfer Modeling Of Nonspherical Atmospheric Ice Particles , 1990 .

[32]  Robert A. Houze,et al.  Structure and Dynamics of a Tropical Squall–Line System , 1977 .

[33]  W. Olson.  Physical retrieval of rainfall rates over the ocean by multispectral microwave radiometry: Application to tropical cyclones , 1989 .

[34]  Roger Davies,et al.  Thermal microwave radiances from horizontally finite clouds of hydrometeors , 1978 .

[35]  Albin J. Gasiewski.  Numerical Sensitivity Analysis Of Passive EHF And SMMW Channels To Tropospheric Water Vapor And Precipitation , 1990, 10th Annual International Symposium on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.

[36]  Joseph B. Klemp,et al.  The Dependence of Numerically Simulated Convective Storms on Vertical Wind Shear and Buoyancy , 1982 .

[37]  G. Heymsfield,et al.  Comparison of High-Altitude Remote Aircraft Measurements with the Radar Structure of an Oklahoma Thunderstorm: Implications for Precipitation Estimation from Space , 1988 .

[38]  Robert Meneghini,et al.  Simultaneous Ocean Cross Section and Rainfall Measurements from Space with a Nadir-Looking Radar , 1986 .

[39]  Sergey Y. Matrosov,et al.  Radar and Radiation Properties of Ice Clouds , 1995 .

[40]  D. Vandemark,et al.  Status of the NASA/EDOP airborne radar system. , 1993 .

[41]  W. Tao,et al.  Modeling Study of a Tropical Squall-Type Convective Line , 1989 .

[42]  Robert F. Adler,et al.  Aircraft microwave observations and simulations of deep convection from 18 to 183 GHz. I - Observations , 1990 .

[43]  Gerald M. Heymsfield,et al.  Microphysical and radiative characteristics of convective clouds during COHMEX , 1991 .