An eight-year (1987-1994) time series of rainfall, clouds, water vapor, snow cover, and sea ice derived from SSM/I measurements

Journal Article · Wed May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1996 · Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0477(1996)077<0891:AEYTSO>2.0.CO;2· OSTI ID:258912

Ferraro, R R; Weng, F; Grody, N C ^[1]

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1. Satellite Research Lab., Camp Springs, MD (United States); and others

The Special Microwave Sensor/Imager (SSM/I), first placed into operation in July 1987, has been making measurements of earth-emitted radiation for over eight years. These data are used to estimate both atmospheric and surface hydrological parameters and to generate a time series of global monthly mean products averaged to a 1{degrees} lat x 1{degrees} long grid. Specifically, this includes monthly estimates of rainfall and its frequency, cloud liquid water and cloud frequency, water vapor, snow cover frequency, and sea ice frequency. This study uses seasonal mean values to demonstrate the spatial and temporal distributions of the hydrological variables. Examples of interannual variability such as the 1993 flooding in the Mississippi Valley and the 1992-93 snow coverage changes over the United States are used to demonstrate the utility of these data for regional application. 28 refs., 16 figs., 4 tabs.

• OSTI ID: 258912
• Journal Information: Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Journal Name: Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 77; ISSN 0003-0007; ISSN BAMIAT
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
ANNUAL VARIATIONS
ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATIONS
CLOUDS
GLOBAL ASPECTS
HYDROLOGY
ICE
WATER VAPOR