Synergy between Radar and Radiometer Observations of Precipitation from Space

This paper is a tribute to Prof Frank Marzano’s legacy. The objective of this study is to cross-validate radar (active sensor) and radiometer (passive sensor) satellite observations over tropical cyclones, typhoons and hurricanes. To accomplish this, Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) observations are compared with GPM Microwave Imager (GMI) and Temporal Experiment for Storms and Tropical Systems Demonstration (TEMPEST-D) CubeSat observations over precipitating systems. The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to demonstrate a methodology to show consistency between DPR and GMI, and second, to apply this method to demonstrate consistency between DPR and TEMPEST-D CubeSat observations. This paper also develops a Pearson correlation coefficient (r) metric between parameters derived from radar and radiometer observations. The corresponding correlation between DPR and GMI, as well as between TEMPEST-D and DPR, are 0.90 and 0.85, respectively.