21st Conference on Weather Analysis and Forecasting/17th Conference on Numerical Weather Prediction

14B.7

Multi-Spectral Classification of Hydrometeors Using AMSU-B Data

Abolhassan Gheiby, University of Hormozgan, Bandar Abbas, Hormozgan, Iran

Abstract: The Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit-B (AMSU-B), flying on the NOAA-15, 16, and 17 satellites, is the new generation of a series of microwave imagers/sounders that can sense atmospheric moisture and other hydrometeors through clouds. This paper demonstrates the potential of multi-frequency AMSU-B data for classifying different types of hydrometeors. Ten of these classes have been found using data (station report, radiosonde, and infrared and water vapour images) over Iran. Co-located AMSU-B data are used to perform a quantitative classification of these meteorological situations. Three main classes, heavy precipitating, moderate precipitating, and non-precipitating hydrometeors are found based on the multi-frequency brightness temperature signatures. The results suggest that the signatures of precipitating and non-precipitating hydrometeors are sufficiently reliable. The distinguishing points, for this type of analysis, are: (a) brightness temperature at 89 GHz, (b) slops between 89 and 150 GHz and (c) cross over of brightness temperature curves at 183 GHz with respect to 89 GHz.

extended abstract  Extended Abstract (240K)

Supplementary URL: http://ams.confex.com/

Session 14B, Data Assimilation II
Thursday, 4 August 2005, 3:30 PM-5:30 PM, Ambassador Ballroom

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