Constraining Microwave Brightness Temperatures by Radar Brightband Observations

Abstract

Multichannel microwave sensors make it possible to construct physically based rainfall retrieval algorithms. In these schemes, errors arising from the inaccuracy of the physical modeling of the cloud system under observation have to be accounted for. The melting layer has recently been identified as a possible source of bias when stratiform events are considered. In fact, Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI) observations reveal systematic differences in the observed brightness temperatures between similar rain profiles that often differ only by the presence or absence of a bright band.