TRMM Precipitation Radar Original Research Article

The Precipitation Radar (PR) onboard the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite is the first spaceborne radar designed to measure the vertical structure of tropospheric precipitation. The PR, operating at 13.8 GHz, is a 128-element active phased array that allows fast and sophisticated cross-track scanning over a swath width of 215 km with a cross-range spatial resolution of about 4.3 km. The PR was designed to achieve a minimum detectable rain rate of 0.7 mm/h with a range resolution of 250 m. In order to achieve reliable and accurate rain echo data for a 3 year mission life, functions for internal and external calibrations have been implemented. After the launch of TRMM, a series of initial check-out was performed. In this presentation, we outline the PR system and the result of the initial check-out which confirms that the PR is functioning as expected.