Synergizing high–resolution EOS Terra satellite data and S–POLKA radar reflectivity to assess trade wind cumuli precipitation

During the RICO field campaign, the EOS Terra Spacecraft and NCAR's S-POLKA radar collected coincident high-resolution visible and near-IR satellite data and S-band and K-band radar reflectivity data to understand trade wind cumuli cloud distributions and precipitation. In this paper, we compare trade wind cloud field's satellite-derived cloud properties and radar derived precipitation characteristics, specifically focusing on the relationship between radar reflectivity, derived rain rate, and the satellite visible radiance, cloud fraction, height and thickness. We will present analyses concerning the relationship between cloud area estimated by satellite and cloud area estimated by radar Bragg and Rayleigh scattering. The resolution effects between visible satellite data from the ASTER instrument at 15m ground-resolution and the S-POLKA radar data will be reviewed. The potential applications of these results to the estimation of trade wind cumuli's role in returning water to the ocean through precipitation, and to cloud and climate model parameterization will be discussed.