Precipitation Estimation From the NASA TROPICS Mission: Initial Retrievals and Validation

Precipitation Estimation From the NASA TROPICS Mission: Initial Retrievals and Validation

This paper describes the initial results of precipitation estimates from the Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS) Millimeter-wave Sounder (TMS) using the Precipitation Retrieval and Profiling Scheme (PRPS). The TROPICS...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Remote sensing (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2022-07, Vol.14 (13), p.2992
Main Authors: Kidd, Chris, Matsui, Toshihisa, Blackwell, William, Braun, Scott, Leslie, Robert, Griffith, Zachary
Format: Article
Language:eng
Subjects:
Atmosphere
Chemical precipitation
CubeSat
Earth Resources and Remote Sensing
Estimates
Humidity
Meteorology and Climatology
Microwave sounding
Millimeter waves
passive microwave
Precipitation
Radiation
Rain
Retrieval
Satellite constellations
Sensors
Small satellites
Temperature
Tropical environments
TROPICS
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Summary:This paper describes the initial results of precipitation estimates from the Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS) Millimeter-wave Sounder (TMS) using the Precipitation Retrieval and Profiling Scheme (PRPS). The TROPICS mission consists of a Pathfinder cubesat and a constellation of six cubesats, providing a low-cost solution to the frequent sampling of precipitation systems across the Tropics. The TMS instrument is a 12-channel cross-track scanning radiometer operating at frequencies from 91.655 to 204.8 GHz, providing similar resolutions to current passive microwave sounding instruments. These retrievals showcases the potential of the TMS instrument for precipitation retrievals. The PRPS has been modified for use with the TMS using a database based upon observations from current sounding sensors. The results shown here represent the initial post-launch version of the retrieval scheme, as analyzed for the Pathfinder cubesat launched on June 30, 2021. In terms of monthly precipitation estimates the results fall within the mission specifications and are similar in performance t
ISSN:2072-4292
2072-4292