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PRECIPITATION MEASUREMENT MISSIONS

TRMM Documents

  • application/pdf iconEarthObserver_March2012_PMM_Summary.pdf
    2011 PMM Science Team Meeting Summary from the Earth Observer, March 2012
    Ellen Gray
    03/01/2012
    Earth Observer, GPM, PMM Science Team Meeting, TRMM
    Published Article

    This excerpt from the March-April 2012 edition of The Earth Observer provides a summary of the activities at the PMM Science Team Meeting which took place from November 7 - 10 2011. The meeting brought together over 150 participants from 10 countries, and included representatives from NASA, JAXA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), universities, industry, and other international partner agencies. During the first three days of the meeting, participants focused on TRMM/ GPM programmatic summaries, international activities, ground validation summaries, and science reports from science team members. In addition to 12 oral presentations, two afternoon poster sessions were held to facilitate discussion of research results in an interactive forum. The final day was devoted to GPM algorithm team meetings. Working groups that focused on hydrology, algorithm development, latent heating, and land-surface characterization met throughout the week.

  • application/pdf iconTRMMSenRevProp_v1.2.pdf
    TRMM Senior Review Proposal 2011
    Scott A. Braun
    09/01/2011
    senior review proposal, TRMM
    Science Paper

    Excerpt:

    "Although TRMM started as an experimental mission to study tropical rainfall, and was originally expected to last only 3-5 years, it has evolved into the primary satellite in a system of research and operational satellites monitoring precipitation on time scales from 3-hr to inter-annually and beyond. TRMM’s role as the primary satellite in this system is because of the high-quality precipitation information available from its combination of active-passive instruments and the inclined orbit visiting the entire diurnal cycle with frequent intersections with polar-orbiting satellites. Today TRMM data are used to calibrate and integrate precipitation information from multiple polar orbiting satellites/instruments (AMSR on Aqua, SSM/Is on DoD/DMSP and AMSU on NOAA platforms) and geosynchronous satellites into merged precipitation analyses being used both for research and applications. The real-time availability of TRMM products has also resulted in the use of TRMM data by operational weather agencies in the U.S. and around the world for monitoring and forecasting of tropical cyclones, floods and other hazardous weather."

  • application/pdf icon2007_WRR_TRMM_Global_Runoff.pdf
    A First Approach to Global Runoff Simulation using Satellite Rainfall Estimation
    George J. Huffman, Faisal Hossain, Robert F. Adler, Scott Curtis, Yang Hong
    08/11/2007
    Landslide, NRCS, Runoff
    Science Paper

    Motivated by the recent increasing availability of global remote sensing data for estimating precipitation and describing land surface characteristics, this note reports an approximate assessment of quasi-global runoff computed by incorporating satellite rainfall data and other remote sensing products in a relatively simple rainfall-runoff simulation approach: the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) runoff curve number (CN) method. Using an antecedent precipitation index (API) as a proxy of antecedent moisture conditions, this note estimates time-varying NRCS-CN values determined by the 5-day normalized API. Driven by a multiyear (1998–2006) Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis, quasi-global runoff was retrospectively simulated with the NRCS-CN method and compared to Global Runoff Data Centre data at global and catchment scales. Results demonstrated the potential for using this simple method when diagnosing runoff values from satellite rainfall for the globe and for medium to large river basins. This work was done with the simple NRCS-CN method as a first-cut approach to understanding the challenges that lie ahead in advancing the satellite-based inference of global runoff. We expect that the successes and limitations revealed in this study will lay the basis for applying more advanced methods to capture the dynamic variability of the global hydrologic process for global runoff monitoring in real time. The essential ingredient in this work is the use of global satellite-based rainfall estimation.

  • application/pdf iconTRMMSenRev2007_pub.pdf
    TRMM Senior Review Proposal 2007
    TRMM
    03/15/2007
    Science Paper

    Excerpt:

    "Enclosed is the 2007 TRMM Senior Review proposal in response to NASA's request. We are very excited about the continuation of the TRMM mission.

    The first-time use of both active and passive microwave instruments and the precessing, low inclination orbit (35 degrees) have made TRMM the world's foremost satellite for the study of precipitation and associated storms and climate processes in the tropics. TRMM has met and exceeded its original goal of advancing our understanding of the distribution of tropical rainfall and its relation to the global water/energy cycles and weather..."

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