Determination of relationships between radar reflectivity and rain rate
by
Kunio Shimizu
Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University
Coauthors: Megumi Yoshii (Department of Mathematics, Keio University)

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), proposed as a United States-Japan joint venture and launched by a Japanese H-II rocket on November 28, 1997, provides monthly rainfall data sets in the areas 5 by 5 degrees (latitude-longitude) between approximately plus-minus 37 degrees (latitude). The TRMM is expected to help to clarify the mechanisms that cause weather anomalies related to phenomena such as El Nino and the Southern Oscillation. The so-called threshold method and multiple-threshold method are known as statistical methods for estimating area-average rainfall rates (mm/hour). In this paper, we focus on the methods of determining relationships between radar-reflectivity and rain-gage data to retrieve rain rates from reflectivity measured by radar. Maximum likelihood estimation of the parameters in the framework of functional and structural relationships and probability matching methods are proposed.

Date received: November 2, 2000

Copyright © 2000 by the author(s). The author(s) of this document and the organizers of the conference have granted their consent to include this abstract in Atlas Conferences Inc. Document # cafr-88.