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Passive microwave radiometer channel selection basedoncloudandprecipitation information content
Author(s) -
Michele Sabatino Di,
Bauer Peter
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
quarterly journal of the royal meteorological society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.744
H-Index - 143
eISSN - 1477-870X
pISSN - 0035-9009
DOI - 10.1256/qj.05.164
Subject(s) - environmental science , snow , microwave , radiometer , water content , emissivity , meteorology , range (aeronautics) , climatology , remote sensing , atmospheric sciences , geography , geology , computer science , telecommunications , physics , geotechnical engineering , materials science , optics , composite material
The information content of microwave frequencies between 5 and 200 GHz for rain, snow and cloud water retrievals over ocean and land surfaces was evaluated using optimal estimation theory. The study was based on large datasets representative of summer and winter meteorological conditions over North America, Europe, Central Africa, South America and the Atlantic obtained from short‐range forecasts with the operational ECMWF model. The information content of rain, snow and cloud water was traded off against the uncertainties due to the natural variability of other variables that microwave observations are sensitive to. These are surface emissivity, land surface skin temperature, atmospheric temperature and moisture. The estimation of the underlying error statistics was based on ECMWF model forecast error statistics. The results suggest that a number of frequency bands are most suited for the retrieval of (i) rain over oceans: 15–18, 35–40, 80, 145, 118.75±10–14 GHz; rain over land: 85–100, 135–140 GHz, (ii) snow over land and oceans: 95–100, 140–150, 187 GHz, (iii) clouds over oceans: 40, 80–85 GHz; clouds over land: 90–100, 135–140 GHz. For radiometers designed for global and multi‐season applications, several channels in all of the above frequency ranges would be desirable for optimizing channel usage in hydrometeor retrievals depending on the observed situation. Copyright © 2006 Royal Meteorological Society.