84th AMS Annual Meeting

Monday, 12 January 2004
AMSR Precipitation Validation Experiment (Wakasa 2003)
Hall AB
Masayuki Sasaki, National Space Development Agency of Japan, Tokyo, Japan
The solid precipitation experiment for AMSR/AMSR-E validation was conducted in the Wakasa Bay area in Fukui, Japan from January 12 to February 5, 2003. We chose Wakasa Bay area as the target region of the comprehensive observation because this area is within the TRMM coverage, and we often have heavy snowfall events in active winter monsoon periods (December-February). The Dual Polarization Doppler Radar was installed at Port of Fukui, and other ground-based instruments were installed at Fukui airport. This experiment sought to upgrade the AMSR/AMSR-E precipitation algorithm, with special focus on a solid precipitation retrieval algorithm. We compared the scattering index retrieved from AMSR 89GHz data, the absorption index retrieved from AMSR 37GHz data and the precipitation type retrieved from Dopper radar. The snow shown in the AMSR images correlates well with the heavy snow shown in the rain image retrieved from radar. Continued analysis of ground-based observation data and AMSR/AMSR-E data is needed for further studies on the solid precipitation retrieval algorithm. Improving the AMSR/AMSR-E solid precipitation retrieval algorithm will provide global precipitation data sets.

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