Estimates of Random Error in Satellite Rainfall Averages

Abstract

Satellite rain estimates are most accurate when obtained with microwave instruments on low earth-orbiting satellites. Estimation of daily or monthly total areal rainfall, typically of interest to hydrologists and climate researchers, is made difficult, however, by the relatively poor coverage generally available from such satellites. Intermittent coverage by the satellites leads to random "sampling error" in the satellite products. The inexact information about hydrometeors inferred from microwave data also leads to random "retrieval errors" in the rain estimates. In this talk we will review approaches to quantitative estimation of the sampling error in area/time averages of satellite rain retrievals using ground-based observations, and methods of estimating rms random error, both sampling and retrieval, in averages using satellite measurements themselves.