Demonstrating the Impact of AMSU Hydrological Product CDR's for Merged Product Time Series

As part of NOAA/NESDIS/National Climatic Data Center (NCDC)/Climate Data Record (CDR) program, an 11 year CDR time series for AMSU/MHS window channels (that are most useful for hydrological cycle products, e.g., rainrate, snow cover, water vapor, etc.) and their associated products is nearing completion and is being transitioned to NCDC. Currently, an 11-year data set (2000-2010) for NOAA-15 through -19 and Metop-A has been completed and is undergoing final evaluation. Plans are to extend this time series through at least 2015. Details on the two main components of the fundamental CDR's – one for AMSU-A, the other for AMSU-B/MHS – are provided in companion papers submitted to the conference.

The AMSU/MHS CDR's are best suited for incorporation into merged data sets that contain measurements from other sensors that have a longer period of record (i.e., the SSM/I time series that starts in 1987, the TRMM time series that starts in 1997, etc.). Because of the excellent diurnal sampling of the NOAA and EUMETSAT polar orbiting satellites, improved global products can be generated, especially those that exhibit strong diurnal variability like precipitation and water vapor. This paper will provide some preliminary results that demonstrate the improvement of the globally merged products when incorporating the AMSU/MHS CDR's on regional and global spatial scales, and at various time scales. The impact will be assessed through intercomparisons with other satellite data sets, as well as in-situ and model reanalysis.