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Haddad, Z. S.

Publications and source records attributed to Haddad, Z. S..

At least 19 records

Retrieval of Latent Heating from TRMM Measurements

Precipitation, in driving the global hydrological cycle, strongly influences the behavior of the Earth's weather and climate systems and is central to their variability. Two-thirds of the global rainfall occurs over the Tropics, which leads to its profound effect on the general circulation of the atmosphere. This is because its energetic equivalent, latent heating (LH), is the tropical convective heat engine's primary fuel source as originally emphasized by Riehl and Malkus (1958). At low latitudes, LH stemming from extended bands of rainfall modulates large-scale zonal and meridional circulations and their consequent mass overturnings (e.g., Hartmann et al. 1984; Hack and Schubert 1990). Also, LH is the principal energy source in the creation, growth, vertical structure, and propagation of long-lived tropical waves (e.g., Puri 1987; Lau and Chan 1988). Moreover, the distinct vertical distribution properties of convective and stratiform LH profiles help influence climatic outcomes via their tight control on large-scale circulations (Lau and Peng 1987; Nakazawa 1988; Sui and Lau 1988; Emanuel et al. 1994; Yanai et al. 2000; Sumi and Nakazawa 2002; Schumacher et al. 2004). The purpose of this paper is to describe how LH profiles are being derived from satellite precipitation rate retrievals, focusing on those being made with Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite measurements.

Tao, W.-K.

Satellite Observations of Spatial and Interannual Variability of Lightning and Radar Reflectivity

The authors use satellite data to examine the relationship between lightning and upper-level radar reflectivity. They find correlations between average flash rates and upper-level reflectivities over both land and ocean, although both flash rates and reflectivities are much lower over ocean than land. Analysis of the data using Empirical Orthogonal Functions (EOFs) shows similar EOFs for averaged lightning and reflectivity. In contrast, the EOFs of the anomalies of lightning and reflectivity have different spatial patterns; however, both have principal component time series that are correlated with the Southern Oscillation Index and, hence, El Nino. Differences in behavior of the lightning and reflectivity anomaly EOFs and principal components suggest that El Nino plays a smaller role in lightning anomaly than precipitation anomaly.

lightning

Comparison of Radar Rainfall Retrieval Algorithms in Convective Rain During TOGA COARE

The authors compare deterministic and stochastic rain-rate retrieval algorithms by applying them to 14-GHz nadir-looking airborne radar reflectivity profiles acquired in tropical convective rain during the Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment, The deterministic algorithms both use the path-integrated attenuation (PIA), measured by the surface reference technique, as a constraint. One deterministic algorithm corrects the k-R relation, while the second corrects the Z-R relation. The stochastic algorithms are based on applying an extended Kalman filter to the reflectivity profile. One employs radar reflectivity only; the other additionally uses the PIA. The authors find that the stochastic algorithm, which uses the PIA, is the most robust algorithm with regard to incorrect assumptions about the drop size distribution (DSD). The deterministic algorithm that uses the PIA to adjust the Z-R relation is also fairly robust and produces rain rates similar to the stochastic algorithm that uses the PIA, The deterministic algorithm that adjusts only the k-R relation and the stochastic radar-only algorithm are more sensitive to assumptions about the DSD. It is likely that they underestimate convective rainfall, especially if the DSD is erroneously assumed to be appropriate for stratiform rain conditions.

Durden, Stephen L.

Effects of Nonuniform Beam Filling on Rainfall Retrieval for the TRMM Precipitation Radar

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) will carry the first spaceborne radar for rainfall observation. Because the TRMM Precipitation Radar (PR) footprint size of 4.3 km is greater than the scale of some convective rainfall events, there is concern that nonuniform filling of the PR antenna beam may bias the retrieved rain-rate profile. The authors investigate this effect theoretically and then observationally using data from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Airborne Rain Mapping Radar (ARMAR), acquired during Tropical Oceans Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Response Experiment in early 1993. The authors' observational approach is to simulate TRMM PR data using the ARMAR data and compare the radar observables and retrieved rain rate from the simulated PR data with those corresponding to the high-resolution radar measurements. The authors find that the path-integrated attenuation and the resulting path-averaged rain rate are underestimated. The reflectivity and rain rate near the top of the rainfall column are overestimated. The near-surface reflectivity can be overestimated or underestimated, with a mean error very close to zero. The near-surface rain rate, however, is usually underestimated, sometimes severely.

Durden, Stephen L.

Optimality of Empirical Z-R Relations

This paper attempts to justify mathematically the two empirical approaches to the problem of deriving Z-R relations from (Z,R) measurements, namely the power-law regression and the probability matching method (PMM). The basic mathematical assumptions that apply in each case are explicitly identified.

rainfall estimation radar reflectivity Z-R relatio