Observations of Deep Convection during MC3E using Ground-Based Radars and Airborne Radiometers and Implementation in GPM DPR Off-Nadir Simulations

One of the goals of the Mid-latitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E) field campaign was to provide constraints for space-based rainfall retrieval algorithms over land. This study used datasets collected during the 2011 field campaign to combine radiometer and ground-based radar polarimetric retrievals in order to better understand hydrometeor type, habit and distribution for deep continental convection. Cross-track and conically scanning nadir views from the Conical Scanning Millimeter-wave Imaging Radiometer (CoSMIR) and Advanced Microwave Precipitation Radiometer (AMPR) were compared with ground-based polarimetric radar retrievals along the ER-2 flight track. Polarimetric signatures for both airborne radiometers and ground-based radars were well co-located with deep convection to relate radiometric signatures with low-level polarimetric radar data for hydrometeor identification and diameter estimation. The high-resolution radar and radiometer observations of deep continental convection can be used for comparison with simulations of space-borne precipitation radars and radiometers from the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission.