The Global Precipitation Climatology Project: First Algorithm Intercomparison Project
The Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) was established by the World Climate Research Programme to produce global analyses of area- and time-averaged precipitation for use in climate research. To achieve the required spatial coverage, the GPCP uses simple rainfall estimates derived from IR and microwave satellite observations. In this paper, the authors describe the GPCP and its first Algorithm Intercomparison Project (AIP/1), which compared a variety of rainfall estimates derived from Geostationary Meteorological Satellite visible and IR observations and Special Sensor Microwave/Imager microwave observations with rainfall derived from a combination of radar and raingage data over the Japanese islands and the adjacent ocean regions during the June and mid-July through mid-August periods of 1989. To investigate potential improvements in the use of satellite IR data for the estimation of large-scale rainfall for the GPCP, the relationship between rainfall and the fractional coverage of cold clouds in the AIP/1 dataset is examined. The results show distinct differences in the character of the relationship for different portions of the area. The proportional coefficients relating rainfall to fractional coverage at cold thresholds differ greatly between the two periods and both differ significantly from those found for the GARP (Global Atmospheric Research Program) Atlanticmore » Tropical Experiment. These results suggest that the simple IR-based estimation technique currently used in the GPCP can be used to estimate rainfall for global tropical and subtropical areas, provided that a method for adjusting the proportional coefficient for varying areas and seasons can be determined. 52 refs., 11 figs., 8 tabs.« less