Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Measurements Research Articles

Precipitation Partitioning in Multiscale Atmospheric Simulations: Impacts of Stability Restoration Methods

AbstractProper simulation of high‐resolution surface precipitation distribution and variability is important to local aspects of environmental pollution and climate. Global and regional climate and weather models routinely evaluate total precipitation using available measurements, but quantitative evaluation of contributions by the individual components (convective and nonconvective) to the total precipitation is not routinely performed. Wet bias in one component can alleviate dry bias in the other component, making the total precipitation look comparable to measurements, leading to an invisible bias. To study this aspect, Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) measurements for precipitation components were used to quantitatively evaluate convective fractions simulated by a cumulus parameterization scheme in a regional climate simulation using 12‐km grid spacing. Results indicated a wet bias in convective precipitation as compared to TRMM measurements. This wet bias helped to counter a dry bias in grid‐scale precipitation and led to a total precipitation comparable to Parameter‐elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model and TRMM measurements. A new formulation has been developed for convective cloud adjustment time scale alleviating wet bias in convective precipitation when compared to the old formulation and TRMM measurements. Results for different grid spacing also indicate that the new method produces lower subgrid‐scale precipitation with overall better precipitation estimates. Our results also suggest that evaluating both components of the surface precipitation rather than just the total itself can inform a need to improve cloud formulations, as demonstrated in this study. This study calls for the development of methods to routinely produce measurements for precipitation components that help evaluating global and regional climate and weather models.

Flood modelling using satellite-based precipitation estimates and digital elevation model in eastern Iraq

Increasingly available and a virtually uninterrupted supply of satellite-estimated rainfall data is gradually becoming a cost-effective source of input for flood prediction under a variety of circumstances. The study conducted in Wasit province/Eastern Iraq when a flood occurs due to heavy rainfall in May 2013. In this study the capability of Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) rainfall daily data have been used to estimate the relationship between measured precipitation and the Digital Elevation Model (DEM), also to study the relationship between rainfall intensity and flood waters areas. Rainfall estimation by remote sensing using satellite-derived data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) is a possible means of supplementing rain gauge data, having the better spatial cover of rainfall fields. The approach used throughout this paper has integrated recently compiled data derived from satellite imagery (rainfall, and digital elevation model) into a GIS geodatabase to study the relationship between rainfall intensity and floodwater's areas then the results' comparison with the Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) after the flood. ArcGIS software has been used to process, analyze the archived Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) precipitation data, and calculate NDWI from Landsat 8 images. In conclusions, the study explains the flood-area clearly captured by the TRMM measurements; and the region’s water increased. Also, good correlation between measured precipitation and the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) has been detected.

Statistical Modeling of Extreme Precipitation with TRMM Data.

This paper improves upon an existing extreme precipitation monitoring system based on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) daily product (3B42) using new statistical models. The proposed system utilizes a regional modeling approach, where data from similar locations are pooled to increase the quality of the resulting model parameter estimates to compensate for the short data record. The regional analysis is divided into two stages. First, the region defined by the TRMM measurements is partitioned into approximately 28,000 non-overlapping clusters using a recursive k-means clustering scheme. Next, a statistical model is used to characterize the extreme precipitation events occurring in each cluster. Instead of applying the block-maxima approach used in the existing system, where the Generalized Extreme Value probability distribution is fit to the annual precipitation maxima at each site separately, the present work adopts the peak-over-threshold method of classifying points as extreme if they exceed a pre-specified threshold. Theoretical considerations motivate using the Point Process framework for modeling extremes. The fitted parameters are used to estimate trends and to construct simple and intuitive average recurrence interval (ARI) maps which reveal how rare a particular precipitation event is. This information could be used by policy makers for disaster monitoring and prevention. The new methodology eliminates much of the noise that was produced by the existing models due to a short data record, producing more reasonable ARI maps when compared with NOAA's long-term Climate Prediction Center ground-based observations. Furthermore, the proposed methodology can be applied to other extreme climate records.

The properties of optical lightning flashes and the clouds they illuminate

AbstractOptical lightning sensors like the Optical Transient Detector and Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) measure total lightning across large swaths of the globe with high detection efficiency. With two upcoming missions that employ these sensors—LIS on the International Space Station and the Geostationary Lightning Mapper on the GOES‐R satellite—there has been increased interest in what these measurements can reveal about lightning and thunderstorms in addition to total flash activity. Optical lightning imagers are capable of observing the characteristics of individual flashes that include their sizes, durations, and radiative energies. However, it is important to exercise caution when interpreting trends in optical flash measurements because they can be affected by the scene. This study uses coincident measurements from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite to examine the properties of LIS flashes and the surrounding cloud regions they illuminate. These combined measurements are used to assess to what extent optical flash characteristics can be used to make inferences about flash structure and energetics. Clouds illuminated by lightning over land and ocean regions that are otherwise similar based on TRMM measurements are identified. Even when LIS flashes occur in similar clouds and background radiances, oceanic flashes are still shown to be larger, brighter, longer lasting, more prone to horizontal propagation, and to contain more groups than their land‐based counterparts. This suggests that the optical trends noted in literature are not entirely the result of radiative transfer effects but rather stem from physical differences in the flashes.

On the seasonal variation of various types of precipitation over global tropical ocean region: A perspective from TRMM measurements

The radar reflectivity and precipitation rate from Precipitation Radar (PR) onboard Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) are obtained over the global tropical regions (35°S–35°N) during the period from 2007 to 2012, combined with coincident vertical velocity at 400 hPa ( ω 400 hPa), relative humidity at 850 hPa (RH850 hPa) and lower tropospheric stability (LTS) from European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) reanalysis. First of all, the seasonal and spatial distribution of meteorological factors, including ω 400hPa, RH850 hPa, and LTS, together with rain rate are investigated. Next, four typical Regions of Interest (ROIs) and their individual seasons (i.e., favorable and non-favorable seasons for rainfall) are identified for further analysis by determining whether there exist most pronounced seasonal differences observed in ω 400 hPa. Meanwhile, rainy area, and rainfall of three precipitation types (i.e., shallow, stratus, and convection precipitation regimes) over the ROIs has been calculated. The three dimensional structures of individual precipitating system are analyzed, based on normalized contoured frequency by altitude diagram (NCFAD) and other statistical methods. Finally, with a focus on convection precipitation system, we give a quantitative description of the response of precipitation vertical structure to meteorological factors. Namely, how the rain echo top height (RTH), echo top height with reflectivity of 30 dBZ (ZTH30 dBZ), and reflectivity center of gravity (ZCOG) vary with ω 400 hPa, RH850 hPa, and LTS. In particular, (1) high rain rate dominates over intertropical convergence zone, which is characterized by strong updraft, sufficient moisture, and low LTS, showing the average rain rate is negatively associated with ω 400 hPa at both temporal and spatial scales. That is to say, lower ω 400hPa comes with more intensive rain rate. (2) The meteorological factors, along with average rain rate, exhibit appreciable seasonal variation. To be specific, negative (positive) ω 400 hPa anomalies is mostly found over the northern (southern) hemisphere in summer and autumn, as opposed to the patterns found in winter and spring. (3) In terms of the area with rainfall, the stratiform precipitating system accounts for more than 50% of the total area under investigation, followed by the convective precipitating system (about 30%), and the shallow precipitating system (less than 20%). In contrast, convective precipitating system, among others, takes the lead (about 65%) in contributing to the accumulated rainfall amount in the ROIs studied, followed by stratiform precipitating system (about 25%), and the shallow precipitating system (about 10%). (4) In the season with relatively higher ω 400 hPa, both rainy area and accumulated rainfall amount for all three types of precipitation show a increasing trend, irrespective of ROI. By comparison, rain rate and its vertical structures show large discrepancy, i.e., the intensity of convective precipitation system in favorable season tends to systematically increase as compared with that in non-favorable season. (5) The bulk precipitation system parameters used to describe convective precipitating system, including RTH, ZTH30 dBZ, and ZCOG, are observed to be elevated sharply with increasing ω 400 hPa and RH850 hPa. The same holds for the increasing LTS but with a smaller magnitude in the elevated height. This implies that ω 400 hPa and RH850 hPa most likely play a dominant role in dictating the vertical development of convection.

Characteristic Features of Warm-Type Rain Producing Heavy Rainfall over the Korean Peninsula Inferred from TRMM Measurements

Abstract In contrast to the view that deep convection causes heavy rainfall, Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) measurements demonstrate that heavy rainfall (ranging from moderate to extreme rain rate) over the Korean peninsula is associated more with low-level clouds (referred to as warm-type clouds in this study) than with conventional deep convective clouds (cold-type clouds). Moreover, it is noted that the low-level warm-type clouds producing heavy rainfall over Korea appear to be closely linked to the atmospheric river, which can form a channel that transports water vapor across the Korean peninsula along the northwestern periphery of the North Pacific high. Much water vapor is transported through the channel and converges on the Korean peninsula when warm-type heavy rain occurs there. It may be possible to produce abundant liquid water owing to the excess of water vapor; this could increase the rate and extent of raindrop growth, primarily below the melting layer, causing heavy rain when these drops fall to the surface. The occurrence of heavy rainfall (also exhibited as medium-depth convection in radar observations over Okinawa, Japan) due to such liquid-water-rich lower warm clouds should induce difficulties in retrieving rainfall from space owing to the lack of scattering-inducing ice crystals over land and the warmer cloud tops. An understanding of the microphysical processes involved in the production of warm-type rain appears to be a prerequisite for better rain retrieval from space and rain forecasting in this wet region.

Application of lightning to passive microwave convective and stratiform partitioning in passive microwave rainfall retrieval algorithm over land from TRMM

This study analyzes relationships between lightning flash rate, radar reflectivity factor (reflectivity), and passive microwave brightness temperature (Tb) for convective and stratiform precipitation over land using multiyear data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite. A new convective and stratiform index (CSI (an estimate of convective areal fraction)) for the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) is developed from the analysis. Four years of TRMM TMI, Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS), and Precipitation Radar (PR) data (2002–2005) are colocated and remapped to 0.1 and 0.05 degree grids for analysis. The scientific objective of this study is to understand the relationship between lightning and active and passive microwave precipitation observations and explore ways of using lightning information to enhance the discrimination between convective and stratiform precipitation in TMI rain rate retrieval algorithm. PR provides the reference convective and stratiform classification and is coincident with LIS which reports lightning parameters such as the occurrence (yes or no) and flash rates. Analysis of ∼14 million coincident precipitating TRMM measurements over land (i.e., excluding oceans and coasts) reveals that 6% of rain data have lightning flash rates greater than zero. For all lightning data, 60% have 0–1 fl min−1, 28% have 1–2 fl min−1, and 12% have flash rates greater than 2 fl min−1. Overall, 86.5% (13.5%) of lightning occurred in convective (stratiform) precipitation. In other words, stratiform rainfall is predominant when LIS detects no lightning, and the convective rain probability increases with increasing lightning frequency. For example, 34% of rainfall is convective for low flash rates (0–1 fl/min), whereas the convective probability increases to 99.7% for high flash rates (>=2 fl/min). This study develops a simple method that incorporates lightning into the CSI to test if lightning can help passive microwave (PM) delineate convective and stratiform precipitation. LIS lightning occurrence and flash rates (i.e., no flash, 0–1 fl/min, 1–2 fl/min, and >2 fl/min) are used to preclassify TMI Tbs into four groups of increasing convective probability. Multivariable linear regression is then applied to each group to derive the CSI. Results reveal that lightning information primarily improves the identification of highly convective rainfall by correctly shifting microwave observations previously identified as moderate to highly convective. Alternatively, the absence of lightning also helps PM to identify likely stratiform. Overall, including lightning information results in a decrease of bias error of 6% and a small increase in RMS error of 4.5% on the entire range of rainfall rates.

Diurnal variation of rainfall in the Yangtze River Valley during the spring‐summer transition from TRMM measurements

A 12 year archive of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) rain rate is used to document the regionality of diurnal rainfall cycle in the Yangtze River Valley (YRV). The regional rain peaks, local phase shifts, rain event's behavior, and related seasonal change from March to August are examined. In the middle reach of YRV, rainfall appears mainly in early morning and displays a distinct local shift of diurnal phase. Such features are well established at each presummer (from May to June) and result from the eastward migrating events with a late night growth in size. They are supported by the low‐level convergence that moves from the east slope of the Tibetan Plateau to the middle reach of YRV, as the deviated wind vector rotates clockwise to enhance southerlies at late night and southwesterlies in the morning. In the lower reach of YRV, however, one observes an eruption of morning rainfall with less local difference in diurnal phase. Morning rainfall is active in presummers of some years but suppressed in some others, contributing greatly to the variance of rainfall budget and resulting in anomalous wet/dry seasons. It is found to arise from a local growth of rain events rather than the migrating events from the middle reach. A majority of these organized convections prefer to form and develop in a belt‐shaped zone where the nocturnal southwesterlies of warm/moist air impinge on the Meiyu front in the lower troposphere.

Seasonal variability in tropical and subtropical convective and stratiform precipitation of the East Asian monsoon

Seasonal variations in tropical and subtropical convective and stratiform precipitation of the East Asian monsoon are analyzed using 10-year (1998–2007) Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) precipitation radar (PR) rain products (2A25). Datasets from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) 24 general circulation models (GCMs) are evaluated using TRMM PR rain products in terms of their ability to simulate convective and stratiform precipitation and their deficiencies. The results show that Asian monsoon convective and stratiform precipitation increases significantly after onset of the summer monsoon, but the percentage of convective precipitation clearly decreases over tropical areas while it increases in subtropical regions. The GCMs simulate well the seasonal variation in the contribution of Asian monsoon subtropical convective precipitation to the total rainfall; however, the simulated convective precipitation amount is high while the simulated stratiform precipitation amount is low relative to TRMM measurements, especially over the Asian monsoon tropical region. There is simultaneous TRMM-observed convective and stratiform precipitation in space and time, but GCMs cannot simulate this relationship between convective and stratiform precipitation, resulting in the deficiency of stratiform precipitation simulations.

Precipitation climatology over Mediterranean Basin from ten years of TRMM measurements

Abstract. Climatological features of mesoscale rain activities over the Mediterranean region between 5° W–40° E and 28° N–48° N are examined using the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) 3B42 and 2A25 rain products. The 3B42 rainrates at 3-hourly, 0.25°×0.25° spatial resolution for the last 10 years (January 1998 to July 2007) are used to form and analyze the 5-day mean and monthly mean climatology of rainfall. Results show considerable regional and seasonal differences of rainfall over the Mediterranean Region. The maximum rainfall (3–5 mm day−1) occurs over the mountain regions of Europe, while the minimum rainfall is observed over North Africa (~0.5 mm day−1). The main rainy season over the Mediterranean Sea extends from October to March, with maximum rainfall occurring during November–December. Over the Mediterranean Sea, an average rainrate of ~1–2 mm day−1 is observed, but during the rainy season there is 20% larger rainfall over the western Mediterranean Sea than that over the eastern Mediterranean Sea. During the rainy season, mesoscale rain systems generally propagate from west to east and from north to south over the Mediterranean region, likely to be associated with Mediterranean cyclonic disturbances resulting from interactions among large-scale circulation, orography, and land-sea temperature contrast.

The Fourth TRMM Latent Heating Workshop

In final form 30 May 2007 © 2007 American Meteorological Society he global hydrological cycle is central to Earth’s climate system, with rainfall and the physics of precipitation formation acting as the key links in the cycle. Two-thirds of global rainfall occurs in the Tropics with the associated latent heat (LH) release accounting for three-fourths of the total heat energy available to Earth’s atmosphere. In addition, freshwater provided by tropical rainfall and its variability exerts a large impact upon the structure and motion of the upper-ocean layer. The four-dimensional distribution of precipitation in the tropical atmosphere has been observed by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite since its launch in November 1997. TRMM’s passive microwave radiometer [TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI)] and precipitation radar (PR) are the primary instruments providing these data. In the last decade, standard LH products from TRMM measurements have become valuable resources for scientific research and applications. Such products enable new insights on and investigations of the complexities of convective life cycles, the diabatic heating controls and feedbacks of mesosynoptic circulations and their forecasts, the relationship of patterns of tropical LH to the global circulation and climate, and strategies for improving cloud parameterizations in environmental prediction models. The Fourth TRMM Latent Heating Workshop was convened to exchange scientific information and experience concerning the retrieval, validation, and application of satellite-derived LH products. In addition, the 26 participants met to examine and discuss the results of a comprehensive LH algorithm intercomparison–validation project; define an initial set of standard LH products; discuss validation issues, particularly the use of diagnostic analysis as the primary validation approach; deliberate further scientific requirements and applications issues related to standardized TRMM LH products; and identify future data products and validation procedures that will be required for the upcoming Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission. THE FOURTH TRMM LATENT HEATING WORKSHOP

Retrieval of Latent Heating from TRMM Measurements

Rainfall is a fundamental process within the Earth's hydrological cycle because it represents a principal forcing term in surface water budgets, while its energetics corollary, latent heating, is the principal source of atmospheric diabatic heating well into the middle latitudes. Latent heat production itself is a consequence of phase changes between the vapor, liquid, and frozen states of water. The properties of the vertical distribution of latent heat release modulate large-scale meridional and zonal circulations within the Tropics, as well as modify the energetic efficiencies of midlatitude weather systems. This paper highlights the retrieval of latent heating from satellite measurements generated by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite observatory, which was launched in November 1997 as a joint American–Japanese space endeavor. Since then, TRMM measurements have been providing credible four-dimensional accounts of rainfall over the global Tropics and subtropics, information that can be used to estimate the space–time structure of latent heating across the Earth's low latitudes. A set of algorithm methodologies for estimating latent heating based on precipitation-rate profile retrievals obtained from TRMM measurements has been under continuous development since the advent of the mission s research program. These algorithms are briefly described, followed by a discussion of the latent heating products that they generate. The paper then provides an overview of how TRMM-derived latent heating information is currently being used in conjunction with global weather and climate models, concluding with remarks intended to stimulate further research on latent heating retrieval from satellites.

The Diurnal Cycle of Rainfall and Convective Intensity according to Three Years of TRMM Measurements

Abstract The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite measurements from the precipitation radar and TRMM microwave imager have been combined to yield a comprehensive 3-yr database of precipitation features (PFs) throughout the global Tropics (±36° latitude). The PFs retrieved using this algorithm (which number nearly six million Tropicswide) have been sorted by size and intensity ranging from small shallow features greater than 75 km2 in area to large mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) according to their radar and ice scattering characteristics. This study presents a comprehensive analysis of the diurnal cycle of the observed precipitation features' rainfall amount, precipitation feature frequency, rainfall intensity, convective–stratiform rainfall portioning, and remotely sensed convective intensity, sampled Tropicswide from space. The observations are sorted regionally to examine the stark differences in the diurnal cycle of rainfall and convective intensity over land and ocean areas. Over the oceans, the diurnal cycle of rainfall has small amplitude, with the maximum contribution to rainfall coming from MCSs in the early morning. This increased contribution is due to an increased number of MCSs in the nighttime hours, not increasing MCS areas or conditional rain rates, in agreement with previous works. Rainfall from sub-MCS features over the ocean has little appreciable diurnal cycle of rainfall or convective intensity. Land areas have a much larger rainfall cycle than over the ocean, with a marked minimum in the midmorning hours and a maximum in the afternoon, slowly decreasing through midnight. Non-MCS features have a significant peak in afternoon instantaneous conditional rain rates (the mean rain rate in raining pixels), and convective intensities, which differs from previous studies using rain rates derived from hourly rain gauges. This is attributed to enhancement by afternoon heating. MCSs over land have a convective intensity peak in the late afternoon, however all land regions have MCS rainfall peaks that occur in the late evening through midnight due to their longer life cycle. The diurnal cycle of overland MCS rainfall and convective intensity varies significantly among land regions, attributed to MCS sensitivity to the varying environmental conditions in which they occur.

The Diurnal Cycle of Rainfall and Convective Intensity according to Three Years of TRMM Measurements

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite measurements from the precipitation radar and TRMM microwave imager have been combined to yield a comprehensive 3-yr database of precipitation features (PFs) throughout the global Tropics (±36° latitude). The PFs retrieved using this algorithm (which number nearly six million Tropicswide) have been sorted by size and intensity ranging from small shallow features greater than 75 km2 in area to large mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) according to their radar and ice scattering characteristics. This study presents a comprehensive analysis of the diurnal cycle of the observed precipitation features' rainfall amount, precipitation feature frequency, rainfall intensity, convective–stratiform rainfall portioning, and remotely sensed convective intensity, sampled Tropicswide from space. The observations are sorted regionally to examine the stark differences in the diurnal cycle of rainfall and convective intensity over land and ocean areas. Over the oceans, the diurnal cycle of rainfall has small amplitude, with the maximum contribution to rainfall coming from MCSs in the early morning. This increased contribution is due to an increased number of MCSs in the nighttime hours, not increasing MCS areas or conditional rain rates, in agreement with previous works. Rainfall from sub-MCS features over the ocean has little appreciable diurnal cycle of rainfall or convective intensity. Land areas have a much larger rainfall cycle than over the ocean, with a marked minimum in the midmorning hours and a maximum in the afternoon, slowly decreasing through midnight. Non-MCS features have a significant peak in afternoon instantaneous conditional rain rates (the mean rain rate in raining pixels), and convective intensities, which differs from previous studies using rain rates derived from hourly rain gauges. This is attributed to enhancement by afternoon heating. MCSs over land have a convective intensity peak in the late afternoon, however all land regions have MCS rainfall peaks that occur in the late evening through midnight due to their longer life cycle. The diurnal cycle of overland MCS rainfall and convective intensity varies significantly among land regions, attributed to MCS sensitivity to the varying environmental conditions in which they occur.