Precipitation Estimates from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission in the Rio Grande Region
Abstract
Precipitation is a critical component of the water budget of the Rio Grande region. The sparseness of the rain gauge network and the high temporal and spatial variability of rain point to radar and satellite observations for regional budget estimates. The network of NEXRAD radars has improved rain observations considerably, yet the problems of inter-radar calibration and microwave shadows caused by rugged terrain remain. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) is the first international satellite mission to study tropical and subtropical rain systems. The TRMM satellite carries three rain sensors: the Precipitation Radar (PR), the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI), and Visible Infrared Scanner (VIRS). We compared TRMM standard Level- 2 rain products (satellite swath data at sensor resolution) from PR, TMI and the TRMM Combined Instrument (PR and TMI) and a daily 1 degree latitude by 1 degree longitude grid rainfall product produced by merging TRMM and other satellite data. There are large interannual variations, notably depicting the El Nino and La Nina episode observed during the TRMM period. Time series of TRMM daily rainfall are compared with rain gauge data collected in water management districts. Data collected by a network of rain gauges set up by the Earth Data Analysis Center show qualitatively similar seasonal and diurnal variability to TRMM observations. Infrequent TRMM sampling at these latitudes may be alleuviate by the proposed Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) which will provide observations at roughly three-hour intervals.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2001
- Bibcode:
- 2001AGUFM.H41E0327C
- Keywords:
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- 1640 Remote sensing;
- 1655 Water cycles (1836);
- 1854 Precipitation (3354)