An assessment of satellite-based high resolution precipitation datasets for atmospheric composition studies in the maritime continent☆

Abstract The Maritime Continent (MC) region of Southeast Asia is known for land use practices that are modulated by precipitation occurrence and fire activity. The polluted environment may modify cloud/precipitation formation mechanisms, but meteorological or weather patterns may disrupt or otherwise influence these same processes. Since the simultaneous retrieval of precipitation and aerosol properties is not possible from current satellite observations, the choice of the precipitation dataset used for applications such as model assimilation and scavenging in aerosol transport models could provide very different results. In this article, a seven-year (2003–2009) time period was analyzed with five satellite-based high-resolution precipitation products (HRPP), the MERRA model reanalysis, and MODIS-derived aerosol observations within nine Southeast Asia domains. Substantially different trends between the aerosol concentration and precipitation time series were noted for different MC island regions, as well as HRPP differences in the precipitation diurnal variability and their capability to track precipitation extremes. For all regions, the most noticeable change to the diurnal cycle was noted during the genesis phase (Phase 1 in the MC) of the intraseasonal Madden Julian Oscillation (MJO). Since these studies do not take any aerosol transport or precipitation dynamics into account, the use of Lagrangian models is proposed to study non-localized aerosol/precipitation interactions and better establish their veracity in current model simulations.

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