Estimation of path-average rain drop size distribution using the NASA/TRMM microwave link

Author

Rincon, Rafael F. ; Lang, Roger ; Meneghini, Robert ; Bidwell, Steven ; Tokay, Ali

Author_Institution

George Washington Univ., Washington, DC, USA

Volume

3

fYear

2001

fDate

2001

Firstpage

1038

Abstract

Microwave attenuation measurements at 25 GHz, and 38 GHz on the NASA/TRMM 2.3-km microwave link permit the application of a dual-wavelength inversion technique to estimate parameters of a path-average gamma drop size distribution (DSD). Three Joss-Waldvogel disdrometers provide DSD measurements under the link path permitting direct comparison with the estimated DSD. Additionally, the estimated and measured DSDs are used to compute path-average rain rates and rainfall accumulation. These results are compared to path-average measurements from the network of optical and tipping bucket rain gauges

Keywords

atmospheric techniques; drops; inverse problems; microwave propagation; millimetre wave propagation; rain; tropospheric electromagnetic wave propagation; 25 GHz; 38 GHz; dual-wavelength inversion technique; microwave attenuation measurements; microwave link; path-average gamma drop size distribution; path-average rain rates; rainfall accumulation; Frequency; NASA; Optical attenuators; Optical fiber networks; Optical network units; Optical receivers; Optical sensors; Optical transmitters; Rain; Wavelength measurement;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, 2001. IGARSS '01. IEEE 2001 International

Conference_Location

Sydney, NSW

Print_ISBN

0-7803-7031-7

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/IGARSS.2001.976739

Filename

976739