Comparison of NOWRAD, AMSU, AMSR-E, TMI, and SSM/I surface precipitation rate Retrievals over the united states great plains

This paper compares surface precipitation rates retrieved for the United States Great Plains (USGP) during the summer of 2004 using the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU) aboard the United States NOAA-15 and -16 satellites with similar precipitation products produced by AMSR-E aboard the NASA Aqua satellite, SSM/I aboard the United States DMSP F-13, -14, and -15 satellites, TMI aboard the NASA TRMM satellite, and a doppler radar product (NOWRAD) of the Weather Services International Corporation (WSI). AMSU surface precipitation rates were retrieved using neural network algorithms trained with either a cloud-resolving MM5 physical model for 106 global storms (the AMSU/MM5 algorithm), or summer NEXRAD radar data for the USGP (the AMSU/NR algorithm). Observed correlation coefficients between log10(X + 0.01) for NOWRAD surface precipitation rates X (mm/h) at 0.25- degree resolution and those for other sensors were, in declining order, 0.82, 0.79, 0.78, 0.71, and 0.68 for TMI, SSM/I, AMSU/NR, AMSR-E, and AMSU/MM5, respectively. Higher correlation coefficients were obtained when TMI was regarded as truth: 0.86, 0.83, 0.82, 0.80, and 0.78 for SSM/I, AMSU/NR, NOWRAD, AMSU/MM5, and AMSR-E, respectively. Other sensor comparisons include false alarm statistics for all pairs of sensors, rms and mean differences with respect to NOWRAD, precipitation-rate distribution functions, and observed correlations between NOWRAD and AMSU/MM5 precipitation and hydrometeor water path retrievals.