Comparison of the GPM DPR Single- and Double-Frequency Products Over the Mediterranean Area

The NASA/JAXA Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory (CO) carries, for the first time, a dual-frequency precipitation radar (DPR) designed to provide insights into the 3-D structure of precipitating clouds and rain intensity by using its Ka- and Ku-band frequencies. Single-frequency...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on geoscience and remote sensing 2019-12, Vol.57 (12), p.9724-9739
Main Authors: D'Adderio, Leo Pio, Porcu, Federico, Panegrossi, Giulia, Marra, Anna Cinzia, Sano, Paolo, Dietrich, Stefano
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Atmospheric precipitations
Clouds
Convective precipitation
Diameters
drop size distribution (DSD)
Dual-frequency precipitation radar (DPR) algorithms
Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM)
Hydrologic data
Intercomparison
Liquids
Parameters
Particle size distribution
Precipitation
Products
Profiles
Quality assessment
Radar
Radar measurements
Rain
Rainfall
Rainfall rate
Reflectance
reflectivity
Reliability analysis
remote sensing
Sea measurements
Sea surface
Size distribution
Spaceborne radar
Storms
Vertical profiles
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Summary:The NASA/JAXA Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory (CO) carries, for the first time, a dual-frequency precipitation radar (DPR) designed to provide insights into the 3-D structure of precipitating clouds and rain intensity by using its Ka- and Ku-band frequencies. Single-frequency (SF) (both Ku- and Ka-only) and double-frequency (DF) based products provide particle-size distribution (PSD) parameters, as well as precipitation rates. Background surface type, precipitation type and phase, and vertical extension of the storm are also provided. In this paper, an intercomparison between the SF and DF DPR outputs over the Mediterranean area during rainfall events in the first four years of GPM-CO mission is carried out. The goal is to investigate the reliability of SF-based products by assessing their quality compared to the DF-based ones, treated as a reference. The vertical profiles and the near-surface values of the corrected reflectivity of the PSD parameters (mean mass-weighted diameter and normalized intercept) and of the rainfall rate have been analyzed. The data have been categorized for surface type (land and sea) and precipitation type (stratiform and convective). The results show a more marked difference between the DF and SF Ka-only based products than between DF and SF Ku-only based products. The feature is confirmed by the analysis of vertical profiles of the SF- and DF-based retrieved parameters. The statistical scores do not differ significantly between land and sea while they differ noticeably between stratiform and convective precipitation.
ISSN:0196-2892
1558-0644
DOI:10.1109/TGRS.2019.2928871