Assessment of the Benefits of Extending the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission A Perspective from the Research and Operations Communities: Interim Report (2006) / Chapter Skim
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3 Achievements of TRMM to Date
3 Achievements of TRMM to Date
Pages 25-42
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developed the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) primarily to demonstrate the utility of space-based radar and passive microwave sensors for measuring precipitation and associated hydrological processes.
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.1 The TRMM launch triggered a flood of research that led to significant improvements in our understanding of tropical weather systems and their prediction, as well as quantification of key 1Note that the true impact of TRMM goes significantly beyond publications that specifically mention TRMM. Much research has been facilitated by TRMM support, but there is no reasonable way to grasp the full extent of TRMM's influence.
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They include contributions to increasing the basic scientific knowledge needed for future applications (e.g., descriptive and diagnostic studies) as well as operational applications (e.g., monitoring weather features, notably tropical cyclone activity, climate monitoring, numerical weather prediction and climate model development, and model assimilation of TRMM data in forecast operations)
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In this approach, data from microwave sensors are compared with the TRMM PR or TMI data over 10- to 30-day intervals rather than for individual overpasses because of inherent fluctuations and differences at the single-overpass timescale. For added detail, the 10- to 30-day datasets are divided into latitude bins (e.g., 0 to 10 degrees, 10 to 20 degrees, etc.)
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GSFC studied the wear-out mechanisms and concluded that the probability of TRMM's life limited by various failure mechanisms such as radiation, atomic oxygen, or gyro failures through 2010 is "very low."5 In a separate analysis of the PR, there was no indication that it is likely to fail in the near future.6 The reliability of the TRMM PR has not only demonstrated the feasibility of operating such technology in space but it has also demonstrated the potential of this technology for future operational systems. The TMI, VIRS, and LIS sensors can fully operate at any altitude prior to a deorbit burn as long as the solar array is configured to provide sufficient sensor power.7 The PR can only provide partial data during the descent if power is available because the sensor's attributes dictate specific altitude windows in which full data fidelity is possible.
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10Recall that we use a single asterisk to differentiate applications that use TRMM data only, or as the primary component of a research or operational activity, from those that use TRMM data as a complementary component of an operational or research activity (marked with a double asterisk)
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* that draw on quantitative precipitation climatology of tropical cyclones and the precipitation characteristics of tropical cyclones as a function of intensity, propagation speed, sea surface temperature, stage of El Niño-Southern Oscillation cycle, ocean basin, and other physical parameters;12 12For instance, analysis of TRMM data has revealed asymmetries in the rain pattern with respect to the track resulting from wind shear in the lower atmosphere (F.
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This reflects their professional judgment of the value of doing so based on their experiences of improvements in such things as fixing the location of tropical cyclones and estimating storm intensity (see Appendix K)
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· Monitoring hurricanes with TMI data at the National Weather Service's Tropical Prediction Center. The Tropical Prediction Center in Miami uses nearreal-time TMI data to help fix hurricane center positions (see Appendix K)
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The TRMM data are particularly important for monitoring storms in the East Pacific basin, where there are few reconnaissance aircraft observations. · Rainfall estimates for flood forecasts using TMI data at the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service Satellite Analysis Branch.
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. · Near-real-time use of TMI sea surface temperatures by the Tropical Prediction Center to help map cold wakes created by tropical cyclones.
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tropical cyclone Web pages since 1998. Since 1999, JTWC has processed and displayed TMI data internally (Lee et al., 1999)
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The agency provides near-real-time tropical cyclone fixes globally to JTWC; NOAA's Tropical Prediction Center, Satellite Analysis Branch, and Tropical Satellite Analysis Branch; the Central Pacific Hurricane Center; and the Navy's regional center at Norfolk, Virginia.
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. International Uses of TRMM Tropical Cyclone Forecasting Numerous agencies worldwide, including the six World Meteorological Organization Regional Specialized Meteorological Centers (Japan Meteorological Agency, India Meteorological Center, Meteo France, NOAA's National Hurricane Center and Central Pacific Hurricane Center, and the Fiji Meteorological Service)
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And nowcasting has reached new levels of fidelity by incorporating microwave remotely sensed data. Earlier infrared-only algorithms were limited by the poor correlations between cloud-top temperatures and actual rainfall and thus physical retrievals using passive microwave imagers such as SSM/I and TMI data brought greater accuracy.
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27Ibid. 28TMI data can also gauge convection, but the PR and LIS data are principally used for this.
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; and 2. applied research (e.g., a wealth of climatological and diagnostic information on tropical rainfall; insight into the physical processes of precipitation formation; unique, fine-scaled information on hurricane and typhoon structure linked to rapid intensification; calibration of a long-term satellite precipitation dataset and multisatellite three-hour analyses; experimental tropical cyclone forecast methods; enhanced SST nowcasting applications using TRMM TMI data; integration of TRMM data into forecast model initialization procedures; enhanced understanding of tropical cyclone inner eyewall dynamics and tropical cyclone intensity)
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FINDING 3.5: TRMM's potential to help improve forecasts -- especially through increased use of PR data in models -- has not been fully realized because of · the PR data having only recently become available in near real time to the broader community outside of NASA and JAXA, · the new and unique nature of the PR data and the learning required to exploit them, · the perceived experimental nature and finite lifetime of the PR, and · the lack of sophistication in the representation of cloud and precipitation physics in current operational forecast models and global climate models such that they cannot yet take advantage of the native resolution of the PR data.
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