On the potential of sub-mm passive MW observations from geostationary satellites to retrieve heavy precipitation over the Mediterranean Area

摘要

The general interest in the potential use of the mm and sub-mm frequenciesup to 425 GHz resolution from geostationary orbit is increasing due to thefact that the frequent time sampling and the comparable spatial resolutionrelative to the "classical" (≤89 GHz) microwave frequencies wouldallow the monitoring of precipitating intense events for the assimilation ofrain in now-casting weather prediction models.In this paper, we use the simulation of a heavy precipitating event in frontof the coast of Crete island (Greece) performed by the University ofWisconsin - Non-hydrostatic Modeling System (UW-NMS) cloud resolving modelin conjunction with a 3D-adjusted plane parallel radiative transfer model tosimulate the upwelling brightness temperatures (TB's) at mm and sub-mmfrequencies. To study the potential use of high frequencies, we firstanalyze the relationships of the simulated TB's with the microphysicalproperties of the UW-NMS simulated precipitating clouds, and then explorethe capability of a Bayesian algorithm for the retrieval of surface rainrate, rain and ice water paths at such frequencies.