Using TRMM and SSM/I Measurements to Critique Microphysical Features of Mesoscale Model Simulation of Hurricane Bonnie (1998)

This study is part of larger research project led by the third author designed to assimilate TRMM and SSM/I precipitation measurements into the microphysical physics package used in the University of Wisconsin Nonhydrostatic Modeling System (UW-NMS). The goal is to improve the representation of LWCs/IWCs and effective modal drop/ice particle sizes in the course of a model integration both for the benefit of the dynamical behavior of the model, and of the microphysical behavior. The latter is important if passive and active microwave measurements are ever to be used in an exacting fashion, based on radiative transfer modeling, to uncover basic weaknesses in microphysical parameterizations. To aid the overall study, we have obtained TRMM and SSM/I overpasses for a 48-hour simulation of Hurricane Bonnie as it approached landfall on September 26, 1998 in order to analyze the defects in how the model generates the statistical properties of the microphysical fields and the general orientation of the rain bands and ice loading near the core.