On the multi-frequency signature of precipitation water content as observed by passive and active sensors

Precipitation is one of the critical components of the Earth's hydrological cycle. It has the quality to affect every environmental issue and manages the availability of fresh water resources which is an important concern for our society.

Remote sensing methods from space-borne and ground-based instruments have been widely exploited to the study of precipitation. Traditionally weather radars have been the main tool to study precipitation, however the use of microwave radiometers on board of space-borne satellite like TRMM and the recently launched GPM, have highlighted the importance of having multi-sensor observation of different types of precipitation.

The present contribution focus on the liquid water content observed during different precipitation regimes which are retrieved by weather radar and/or radiometer. Uncertainties estimated from measurements related to rain attenuation, particle size distribution, melting layer are presented in order to give a better insight on the microphysics of precipitation.

Case studies from the recently international effort GPM ground validation experiments are selected. With focus on the observations by dual-pol radars and the microwave multi-frequency (10.7, 21.0 and 36.5 GHz) dual-pol radiometer ADMIRARI.