Shipboard Radar Rainfall Patterns within the TOGA COARE IFA

Abstract

Abstract Radar rainfall measurements over the equatorial western Pacific warm pool were collected by two shipboard Doppler radars as part of the Tropical Oceans Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Response Experiment during the intensive observing period (November 1992–February 1993). A comprehensive dataset of gridded rainfall fields, convective/stratiform identification maps, and vertical structure products has been produced, covering an area approximately 400 km (E–W) by 300 km (N–S) within the Intensive Flux Array (IFA), centered near 2°S, 156°E. The radar rainfall product, which was used as validation for the Third Algorithm Intercomparison Project of the Global Precipitation Climatology Project, indicates an overall average of 4.8 mm day−1; however, correction for range dependence increases the total to 5.4 mm day−1. Rainfall patterns varied considerably during the experiment with isolated convection dominating periods of light winds, while squall lines and organized mesoscale systems were ab...