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NOAA/ETL Sensor used in Joint U.S. - Japanese Rainfall Project
27th Jan, 2003
Contact: Al Gasiewski
In response to the need to estimate rainfall for both climate
prediction and severe weather forecasting, ETL has developed a
sensor for accurate calibration of existing and planned satellite
microwave rainfall instruments. The sensor, based on the ETL
Polarimetric Scanning Radiometer (PSR) system, is the first airborne
conical-scanning radiometer system, and is able to image rainfall in
regions inaccessible by NEXRAD or other land-based rain radars. The
system was first flown for rainfall measurement in 1998 and provided
images of the rainbands of Hurricane Bonnie at landfall on the North
Carolina coastline. As the result of a joint U.S.-Japanese collaboration
involving NOAA, NASA, and the Japanese Space Agency NASDA, the PSR is
providing data for calibration of the NASA-NASDA AMSR-E sensor on the
NASA Aqua satellite over the Sea of Japan and Pacific coastal region east
of Japan. Currently, NOAA/NESDIS plans to use the AMSR-E data in
operational algorithms and as a means of improving rainfall algorithms
in preparation for the launch of NPOESS at the end of the decade.
Data from high-resolution airborne instruments such as the PSR is
critical for both on-orbit assessment of the performance of sensors
such as AMSR-E, AMSU, and CMIS, as well as improving the accuracy of
operational satellite rainfall algorithms. The resolution of the PSR
is at least a factor of ten greater than that of satellites, and thus
provides a means of resolving the structure of rain-producing frontal
systems that are otherwise impossible to observe from space. Improved
rainfall estimation is essential for quantitative precipitation
forecasting (e.g., flash flood, hurricanes at landfall, other
high-impact weather such as coastal storms), drought monitoring and
prediction, and global climate change assessment.
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