Global Oceanic Precipitation Derived from TOPEX and TMR: Climatology and Variability

Abstract A detailed study on global oceanic precipitation is carried out using the simultaneous TOPEX and TMR (TOPEX Microwave Radiometer) data. It is motivated by the success of a series of feasibility studies based on a few years of TOPEX–TMR data, and the availability of a decade-long new dataset that spans 1992–2002. In this context, a previously proposed rain probability index is improved by taking into account the difference of the dynamic range of the TOPEX-measured backscatter coefficients at the Ku and C bands and the latitudinally complementary sensitivities of the TOPEX and TMR rain detections, leading to a refined joint precipitation index, which is generally consistent and quantitatively comparable with existing precipitation climatologies from the Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) and the Comprehensive Ocean–Atmosphere Data Set (COADS). The new TOPEX–TMR precipitation climatology, on the one hand, confirms the fundamental features of global oceanic rainfall with additional deta...

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