Simulating radiometric observations of cylindrically-shaped precipitation along Earth-satellite microwave links

We describe a solution of the three dimensional radiative transfer equation for horizontally finite and vertically inhomogeneous precipitating cloud. For simplicity, we assume a cylindrical shape characterized by spherical raindrops having a negative-exponential drop size distribution. The simulated brightness temperature, the mean radiating temperature and the path attenuation can be evaluated in a three-dimensional geometry along any direction from the surface observation point. Simulation results are shown to illustrate the potential of the proposed model for different sets of frequency channels, observation geometries and precipitation intensities