Rainfall observation from X-band, space-borne, synthetic aperture radar

Satellites carrying X-band Synthetic Aperture Radars (SAR) have recently been launched by several coun- tries. These provide new opportunities to measure precipita- tion with higher spatial resolution than has heretofore been possible. Two algorithms to retrieve precipitation from such measurements over land have been developed, and the re- trieved rainfall distributions were found to be consistent. A maritime rainfall distribution obtained from dual frequency (X and C-band) data was used to compute the Differential Polarized Phase Shift. The computed Differential Polarized Phase Shift compared well with the value measured from space. Finally, we show a comparison between a recent X- band SAR image of a precipitation distribution and an ob- servation of the same rainfall from ground-based operational weather radar. Although no quantitative comparison of re- trieved and conventional rainfall distributions could be made with the available data at this time, the results presented here point the way to such comparisons.

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