A new estimate for oceanic precipitation amount and distribution using complementary precipitation observations from space and comparison with GPCP

Abstract

This study produces near global (81°S/N) spatial and seasonal maps of oceanic precipitation rate using complementary information from advanced precipitation measuring sensors and provides an independent reference that can be used to assess current precipitation products. The Merged CloudSat, Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), and Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) (MCTG) estimate uses light rainfall and snowfall estimates from CloudSat and merges them with the combined radar-radiometer products available from the TRMM and the GPM mission. The merging process is performed at grid level and for each season, so maps of the merged products can be constructed. MCTG was then compared with the most recent Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) product (V2.3) to identify regional, seasonal, and annual differences between the two products. Several areas of major differences were highlighted, among those are regions near 5°N/S, 20°N/S, 40°N/S and 60°N/S. These regions also show seasonal variations in the magnitude and exact location of the differences. The largest differences between GPCP and MCTG occur around 40°S and 60°S, showing an under- and overestimation of MCTG, respectively. Overall, MCTG suggests that GPCP underestimates the annual oceanic precipitation rate by 9.03%, while seasonal rates are underestimated by 7.14%, 9.71%, 9.96%, and 9.73% for winter, spring, summer, and fall, respectively. Such differences in global oceanic precipitation rates need to be considered in the future updates in water and energy budget calculations and in future updates of GPCP.