Precipitation Characteristics over the Mid-Latitude Oceans with 3 Years of GPM DPR Data

Precipitation systems along Northern Hemisphere oceanic storm tracks are key weather and climate phenomena in the middle and high latitudes. They are formed in response to dynamic and thermodynamic forcings of extratropical cyclones and fronts. As frontal cyclones evolve across the Northern Pacific and Atlantic basins, characteristics of the precipitation systems may vary. However, due to a lack of accurate three-dimensional observations over the oceans, a quantitative understanding of the characteristics of these precipitation systems and their variations along the storm track is limited.

The Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) on the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) core satellite provides high-accuracy three-dimensional observations of precipitation over the globe. The observations of precipitation systems over the mid-latitude oceans are unprecedented. We use 3 years of DPR data (from 2014 to 2017) to study the characteristics and structures of wintertime precipitation systems along the storm track in the Northern Pacific.

Observations and retrieved variables from the GPM Ku- and Ka- band radars and the dual-frequency algorithms are used to investigate precipitation intensities and microphysical properties of precipitation hydrometeors across the ocean basins. Analysis related to storm structures and ice/liquid phases of hydrometeors will be carried out.