An examination of summer precipitation over Asia based on TRMM/TMI

A 6-year dataset of summer monthly mean precipitation derived from Tropical Precipitation Measure-ment Mission (TRMM)-Microwave Imager (TMI) was used to delineate the spatial distribution patterns of precipitation throughout Asian areas, which indicates that there are three rainfall centers located at the northern coast of the Bay of Bengal, the South China Sea and the western equatorial Pacific Warm Pool, respectively. Based upon the analysis of horizontal distribution, the capability of TMI for characterizing terrestrial and maritime precipitation has been evaluated and compared with Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) dataset. It was found that TMI and GPCP are well consistent with each other, while a few significant differences occur at several regions over land. By investigating rainfall esti-mates over six specific locations in Asia, a systematic underestimation of TMI was demonstrated, which could be explained by the inherent deficiency within TMI terrestrial algorithm relying on scat-tering signal from ice particles in a precipitation system. A further analysis shows that the highly in-homogeneous distribution of rain gauges employed by GPCP contributes a great deal to the significant discrepancy between GPCP and TMI, especially over regions surrounding the Tibetan Plateau where rain gauges are quite scarce.     

热带测雨卫星测雨雷达探测的亚洲夏季积雨云云砧

热带测雨卫星(TRMM)测雨雷达探测产品资料中\"其他\"类型降水一直被忽略,它具有什么物理含义也无从知晓。文中利用个例分析和统计分析方法,对10年夏季亚洲\"其他\"类型降水进行了研究。个例分析结果表明\"其他\"类型降水的平均廓线表现了积雨云云砧特征,其廓线峰值(约0.6—1.0 mm/h)高度位于8—10 km,且云砧顶部具有0.8以上的可见光平均反射率和低于215 K远红外平均亮温;根据个例中积雨云云砧廓线特点,文中定义5 km以上各层累计降水率大于1 mm/h为云砧廓线,对亚洲夏季积雨云云砧样本进行了统计,结果表明该地区夏季云砧样本占\"其他\"类型降水样本总数的近70%;统计结果还表明夏季亚洲积雨云云砧出现频次为0.1%—0.4%,它至少超过对流降水频次的十分之一,亚洲云砧出现频次的特点是陆面高于洋面;云砧的结构特点表明云砧平均厚度3—4 km,其底部高度约6 km,顶部高度在10—12 km;云砧的平均可见光反射率在0.8—0.9,远红外平均亮温低于220 K。     

CMORPH和TRMM 3B42降水估计产品的评估检验

文章利用2007-2010年中国2447个站点的逐小时降水观测数据对同期CMORPH和TRMM 3B42卫星降水估计产品进行了检验和评估。经过对比分析得出:CMORPH和TRMM 3B42卫星降水资料与地面台站资料的日平均降水量空间分布具有较好的相似性,3 h降水量的相关系数在大部分地区分别在0.5和0.4以上;偏差均在±0.25 mm之间,但CMORPH存在显著的南北差异;平均绝对误差、相对误差和均方根误差均存在明显的季节周期性变化;两种卫星资料能够较好反映我国大部分区域夏季降水日变化特征,但在部分地区存在大的偏差;CMORPH和TRMM 3B42总空演率分别为7.23%和2.63%,总漏演率分别为3.25%和5.50%。     

2000—2007年登陆台风中闪电活动与降水特征

利用TRMM卫星LIS, PR和TMI资料,对2000—2007年41个登陆我国的台风中闪电活动和降水特征进行分析。结果表明:台风中的闪电活动整体较弱,相对而言,外雨带中的闪电活动最强,其次是眼壁,内雨带最弱,而眼壁的闪电密度最大。闪电活动沿台风径向有两个明显的高值区,主峰出现在距台风眼375 km的外雨带,次峰出现在距台风眼55 km的眼壁和内雨带相交的边界附近。台风中对流云降水面积远小于层云降水面积,其中外雨带中的对流云降水面积最大,其次是眼壁,内雨带最小;但对流降水对总降水量的贡献与层云相当。眼壁和内雨带中的对流云和层云的降水回波平均高度都小于外雨带。分析表明:TMI观测到的85.5 GHz极化修正亮温 (T_PC85.5) 越低,闪电发生概率越大,外雨带具有最低的T_PC85.5。有、无闪电发生区域的平均6 km高度雷达反射率因子和T_PC85.5差异明显。台风区域内,闪电活动位置对应的平均6 km雷达回波强度普遍大于20 dBZ,而无闪电发生位置普遍低于30 dBZ。     

利用TRMM卫星资料对青藏高原地区强对流天气特征分析

利用热带测雨卫星TRMM（Tropical Rainfall Measure Mission）多种探测结果,结合NCEP再分析资料,研究了发生在青藏高原地区的一次强对流天气特征,综合分析了高原地区对流云特殊的水平、垂直结构特征。结果表明：（1）该强对流降水系统由几个孤立、零散的块状降水云团组成,以深厚弱对流降水为主,微波亮温的低值区也呈孤立、零散的块状分布,并且整个对流系统的云顶高度一致偏高,深厚强对流降水的雨谱主要集中在1～20mm.h-1的范围内,90%以上的深厚弱对流降水样本数和降水量都集中在0～5mm.h-1范围内,在垂直方向上呈被＂挤压＂状态。除云冰粒子集中在6～18km高度外,可降冰、可降水和云水粒子都集中在低层8km以下,冰雹天气表现为可降冰粒子在低层含量偏高。（2）高原地区强对流天气的特征与其他地方的不同,表现为雨强较小,比平原地区明显偏弱,且对流云降雨样本在不同降雨率范围内分布不均匀,降水云团雨顶高度也远低于平原地区的对流云,地表降水率大值区与微波辐射亮温低值区呈不完全对称分布,潜热释放呈单峰型。（3）高原地区强对流系统发生时,垂直上升运动在400hPa达到最大,水汽主要集中在400hPa高度以下的范围内。     

雨量计与星载测雨雷达资料结合的降水估算方法

利用华东地区97个气象站点,1998—2012年逐月降水资料和TRMM卫星降水产品,基于卫星结合雨量计降水估算方法,并考虑海拔高度对降水的影响,对华东地区的降水进行估算,得到研究区域降水的时空分布情况。通过误差验证,发现估算值与站点实测值之间具有较好的一致性,并且1、4、10月的估算值要好于7月的估算值。总体而言,该方法能够对华东地区进行较好的降水估算,并且能够反映研究区域的降水空间分布情况。     

TRMM3B42降水产品在鄱阳湖流域梅川江子流域的精度评价(英文)

在鄱阳湖流域的梅川江子流域,利用52个站点9年(2001-2005及2007-2010)的日降水数据对V6和V7两个版本的TRMM 3B42降水产品进行了精度评价。该评价针对多个时空尺度进行,包括栅格和流域两个空间尺度,日、月和年三个时间尺度。为避免尺度不匹配问题,本文利用泰森多边形方法将点尺度的站点观测数据转换到与TRMM数据相同的栅格尺度。评价结果表明,V6和V7两个版本的TRMM3B42降水产品差别较小,整体上均轻微高估了降水量(偏差均为0.04)。在日尺度,栅格和流域空间尺度上V6和V7TRMM3B42降水产品的精度均较差,相对均方根误差在135%-199%之间。因此,在该地区利用3B42数据进行日尺度的水文分析前需要对其进行校正。在月和年尺度,栅格和流域两个空间尺度上V6和V7两个版本的TRMM 3B42降水产品精度均较高,决定系数达到0.91-0.99,相对均方根误差在4%-23%之间。这表明TRMM 3B42降水产品在该地区月和年尺度的水文分析方面具有很好的应用前景。     

Uncertainty Reduction of Estimated Geostrophic Volume Transports with Altimeter Observations East of Taiwan

The common geostrophic estimation of ocean current velocity uses only water temperature and conductivity profiles. The geostrophic volume transport of a western boundary current, like the Taiwan Current (Kuroshio east of Taiwan), between the coast and its eastern boundary can be easily estimated based on hydrographic survey data. But the eastern boundary of the Taiwan Current is very uncertain due to extremely variable hydrographic conditions. This uncertainty is strongly correlated with the propagating mesoscale eddies originating from the interior of the western North Pacific Ocean. The uncertainty of estimated transport can be greatly reduced if eddy distribution is considered when determining the integration boundaries with the assistance of satellite altimeter measurements. Eight hydrographic surveys east of Taiwan between November 1992 and June 1996 are demonstrated in this study. The average geostrophic transport of the Taiwan Current with a reference set to 1000 dbar at 22°N between the east coast of Taiwan and 124°E is 22.9 ±14.2 Sv and changes to 22.1 ± 8.3 Sv, the uncertainty of which is nearly halved after taking account of the eddy distribution. The estimation uncertainty is insensitive to vertical displacements of the reference level within the depth range between 800 and 2000 dbar. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Diurnal patterns in lightning activity in northern tropical Africa

The study analyzes summertime lightning incidence data across northern tropical Africa from the TRMM satellite sensor during 1998–2011. It uses harmonic analyses to detect the spatial patterns in diurnal variations of lightning activity across the study area. The results are in conformity with previous studies examining diurnal patterns of convective weather processes in this region, with most lightning activity concentrated over land areas. The peak time of lightning activity over most of the study area was during late afternoon hours, from around 1700 to 1900 local standard time. The peak time of lightning activity was observed during early morning hours in some coastal areas, such as Cameroon, which can be a result of local-level convergence between the land and sea breeze. A general progression in the time of lightning activity from late afternoon to early evening hours was observed throughout the interior of the study area, which may be attributed to land-surface heating and associated mesoscale convective systems, and to upper-level circulation in the form of the African Easterly Jet Stream.