Standard Deviation of Spatially Averaged Surface Cross Section Data From the TRMM Precipitation Radar

Author

Meneghini, Robert ; Jones, Jeffrey A.

Author_Institution

Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA, Greenbelt, MD, USA

Volume

8

Issue

2

fYear

2011

fDate

3/1/2011 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

293

Lastpage

297

Abstract

We investigate the spatial variability of the normalized radar cross section of the surface (NRCS or σ⁰) derived from measurements of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Precipitation Radar (PR) for the period from 1998 to 2009. The purpose of this letter is to understand the way in which the sample standard deviation (SSD) of the σ⁰ data changes as a function of spatial resolution, incidence angle, and surface type (land/ocean). The results have implications regarding the accuracy by which the path-integrated attenuation (PIA) from precipitation can be inferred by the use of surface-scattering properties.

Keywords

hydrological techniques; radar cross-sections; rain; remote sensing by radar; AD 1998 to 2009; TRMM precipitation radar; Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission; atmospheric attenuation; incidence angle; normalized radar cross section; path-integrated attenuation; sample standard deviation; spatial resolution; spatially averaged surface cross section data; surface type; surface-scattering properties; Atmospheric attenuation; Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Precipitation Radar (PR); normalized radar cross section (NRCS); surface cross section;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1545-598X

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LGRS.2010.2064755

Filename

5582200