A passive microwave technique for estimating rainfall and vertical structure information from space. Part I: algorithm description

Abstract

This paper describes a multichannel physical approach for retrieving rainfall and vertical structure information from satellite-based passive microwave observations. The algorithm makes use of statistical inversion techniques based upon theoretically calculated relations between rainfall rates and brightness temperatures. This paper focuses primarily on the theoretical aspects of the retrieval algorithm, which includes a procedure used to account for inhomogeneities of the rainfall within the satellite field of view as well as a detailed description of the algorithm as it is applied over both ocean and land surfaces. The residual error between observed and calculated brightness temperatures is found to be an important quantity in assessing the uniqueness of the solution. -from Authors