Comparison of TRMM Precipitation Retrievals with Rain Gauge Data from Ocean Buoys

Abstract Four years of precipitation retrievals from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite are compared with data from 25 surface rain gauges on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Pacific Marine Environment Laboratory (NOAA/PMEL) Tropical Atmosphere–Ocean Array/Triangle Trans-Ocean Buoy Network TAO/TRITON buoy array in the tropical Pacific. The buoy gauges have a significant advantage over island-based gauges for this purpose because they represent open-ocean conditions and are not affected by island orography or surface heating. Because precipitation is correlated with itself in both space and time, comparisons between the two data sources can be improved by properly averaging in space and/or time. When comparing gauges with individual satellite overpasses, the optimal averaging time for the gauge (centered on the satellite overpass time) depends on the area over which the satellite data are averaged. For 1° × 1° areas there is a broad maximum in the correlation for ga...

[1]  T. N. Krishnamurti,et al.  The status of the tropical rainfall measuring mission (TRMM) after two years in orbit , 2000 .

[2]  G. North,et al.  Sampling Errors in Satellite Estimates of Tropical Rain , 1987 .

[3]  Thomas L. Bell,et al.  A space‐time stochastic model of rainfall for satellite remote‐sensing studies , 1987 .

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

[5]  Thomas L. Bell,et al.  A Study of the Sampling Error in Satellite Rainfall Estimates Using Optimal Averaging of Data and a Stochastic Model , 1996 .

[6]  T. Bell,et al.  Sampling Errors of SSM/I and TRMM Rainfall Averages: Comparison with Error Estimates from Surface Data and a Simple Model THOMASL. BELL, PRASUNK. KUNDU,* ANDCHRISTIAND. KUM_IEROW , 2022 .

[7]  Russell L. Martin,et al.  Sampling errors for satellite-derived tropical rainfall - Monte Carlo study using a space-time stochastic model , 1990 .

[8]  Gerald R. North,et al.  Formalism for Comparing Rain Estimation Designs , 1989 .

[9]  Gerald R. North,et al.  Sampling Error Study for Rainfall Estimate by Satellite Using a Stochastic Model , 1988 .

[10]  M. Mcphaden,et al.  ATLAS self-siphoning rain gauge error estimates , 2001 .

[11]  H. Koschmieder,et al.  METHODS AND RESULTS OF DEFINITE RAIN MEASUREMENTS , 1934 .

[12]  Thomas L. Bell,et al.  Dependence of Satellite Sampling Error on Monthly Averaged Rain Rates:Comparison of Simple Models and Recent Studies , 2000 .

[13]  Daqing Yang,et al.  Accuracy of NWS 8 Standard Nonrecording Precipitation Gauge: Results and Application of WMO Intercomparison , 1998 .

[14]  David T. Bolvin,et al.  Tropical Rainfall Distributions Determined Using TRMM Combined with Other Satellite and Rain Gauge Information , 2000 .

[15]  Misako Kachi,et al.  Comparison of Rainfall Products Derived from TRMM Microwave Imager and Precipitation Radar , 2002 .

[16]  C. Kummerow,et al.  The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Sensor Package , 1998 .

[17]  G. North,et al.  Comparison of TRMM rainfall retrievals with rain gauge data from the TAO/TRITON buoy array , 2003 .

[18]  Michael J. McPhaden,et al.  Multiple Time- and Space-Scale Comparisons of ATLAS Buoy Rain Gauge Measurements with TRMM Satellite Precipitation Measurements* , 2003 .

[19]  Thomas L. Bell,et al.  Comparing satellite rainfall estimates with rain gauge data: Optimal strategies suggested by a spectral model , 2003 .

[20]  L. J. Mangum,et al.  TOGA-TAO: A Moored Array for Real-time Measurements in the Tropical Pacific Ocean , 1991 .