Comparison of Ground-Based Radar and Geosynchronous Satellite Climatologies of Warm-Season Precipitation over the United States

Studies in the past several years have documented the climatology of warm-season precipitation-episode statistics (propagation speed, span, and duration) over the United States using a national composited radar dataset. These climatological studies have recently been extended to other continents, in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of applied meteorology (1988) 2008-12, Vol.47 (12), p.3264-3270
Main Authors: Tuttle, John D., Carbone, Richard E., Arkin, Phillip A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anvils
Brightness
Brightness temperature
Climatology
Clouds
Cold
Convection
Convection clouds
Earth, ocean, space
Exact sciences and technology
External geophysics
Geophysics. Techniques, methods, instrumentation and models
Geostationary satellites
Geosynchronous satellites
Infrared radiation
Meteorological satellites
Meteorology
NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE
Outflow
Precipitation
Propagation
Radar
Radar data
Rain
Rainfall
Satellite data
Satellites
Seasons
Statistical methods
Statistics
Steering
Studies
Surface radiation temperature
Synchronous satellites
Temperature
Temperature dependence
Thresholds
Tropopause
Warm seasons
Water in the atmosphere (humidity, clouds, evaporation, precipitation)
Winds
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Summary:Studies in the past several years have documented the climatology of warm-season precipitation-episode statistics (propagation speed, span, and duration) over the United States using a national composited radar dataset. These climatological studies have recently been extended to other continents, including Asia, Africa, and Australia. However, continental regions outside the United States have insufficient radar coverage, and the newer studies have had to rely on geostationary satellite data at infrared (IR) frequencies as a proxy for rainfall. It is well known that the use of IR brightness temperatures to infer rainfall is subject to large errors. In this study, the statistics of warm-season precipitation episodes derived from radar and satellite IR measurements over the United States are compared and biases introduced by the satellite data are evaluated. It is found that the satellite span and duration statistics are highly dependent upon the brightness temperature threshold used but with the appropriate choices of thresholds can be brought into good agreement with those based upon radar data. The propagation-speed statistics of satellite events are on average ∼4 m s−1faster than radar events and are relatively insensitive to the brightness temperature threshold. A simple correction procedure based upon the difference between the steering winds for the precipitation core and the winds at the level of maximum anvil outflow is developed.
ISSN:1558-8424
0894-8763
1558-8432
1520-0450
DOI:10.1175/2008jamc2000.1