A regional rainfall climatology over Mexico and the southwest United States derived from passive microwave and geosynchronous infrared data
- NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD (United States)
- NOAA/ERL National Severe Storms Laboratory, Norman, OK (United States)
- Science Systems and Applications, Inc., Lanham, MD (United States)
A three-year climatology of satellite-estimated rainfall for the warm season for the southwest United States and Mexico has been derived from data from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I). The microwave data have been stratified by month (June, July, August), year (1988, 1989, 1990), and time of day (morning and evening orbits). A rain algorithm was employed that relates 86-GHz brightness temperatures to rain rate using a coupled cloud-radiative transfer model. Results identify an early evening maximum in rainfall along the western slope of the Sierra Madre Occidental during all three months. A prominent morning rainfall maximum was found off the western Mexican coast near Mazatlan in July and August. Substantial differences between morning and evening estimates were noted. To the extent that three years constitute a climatology, results of interannual variability are presented. Results are compared and contrasted to high-resolution (8 km, hourly) infrared cloud climatologies, which consist of the frequency of occurrence of cloud colder than -38[degrees]C and -58[degrees]C. This comparison has broad implications for the estimation of rainfall by simple (cloud threshold) techniques. 18 refs., 44 figs.
- OSTI ID:
- 5442523
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Climate; (United States), Vol. 6:11; ISSN 0894-8755
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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