AMSR-E/Aqua Monthly L3 5x5 deg Rainfall Accumulations

View Catalog Page

Entry ID

AE_RnGd

Summary

The Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer - Earth Observing System (AMSR-E) instrument on the NASA EOS Aqua satellite provides global passive microwave measurements of terrestrial, oceanic, and atmospheric variables for the investigation of water and energy cycles.

This Level-3 rainfall accumulation product (AE_RnGd) consists of two grids of 28 rows by 72 columns of monthly averaged rainfall accumulation over ocean and land. Both grids are 5 degree by 5 degree resolution. Monthly ocean rainfall accumulation (mm) is derived from the Wilheit, Kummerow, and Ferraro (1991) algorithm, using Level-2A brightness temperatures as input. Monthly land rainfall accumulation (mm) is derived from the McCollum and Ferraro (2003) algorithm, using Level-2B rainfall data as input. Data are stored in HDF-EOS format, and are available from 19 June 2002 to the present via FTP.

Data Set Citation

Dataset Creator: R. Adler, T. Wilheit, Jr., C. Kummerow, R. Ferraro
Dataset Title: AMSR-E/Aqua Monthly L3 5x5 deg Rainfall Accumulations
Dataset Release Date: 2004-01-01
Dataset Release Place: Boulder, CO U.S.A.
Dataset Publisher: National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC)
Version: 2
Online Resource: http://nsidc.org/data/ae_rngd.html

Temporal Coverage

Start Date: 2002-06-19

Data Resolution

Latitude Resolution: 5 deg
Longitude Resolution: 5 deg
Temporal Resolution: monthly

Location Keywords

• Geographic Region Global

Science Keywords

• Atmosphere Precipitation Precipitation Amount
• Atmosphere Precipitation Rain

Ancillary Keywords

• AE_RnGd
• AMSR-E
• Aqua
• BRIGHTNESS TEMPERATURES
• DAAC
• EOS PM-1
• EOSDIS
• Ferraro algorithm
• GSFC
• GSFC profiling algorithm
• Imagery
• NASA
• NSIDC
• Passive Microwave
• Precipitation Accumulation
• Precipitation Amount
• Precipitation Total
• Radiance
• Rain Accumulation
• Rain Amount
• Rain Over Land
• Rain Over Oceans
• Rainfall Amount
• Rainfall Total
• Remote Sensing
• Tb
• Total Precipitation
• Total Rainfall

ISO Topic Category (View Definitions)

• Climatology/Meteorology/Atmosphere

Platform

• AQUA Earth Observing System, AQUA

Instrument

• AMSR-E Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer-EOS

Project

• EOS Earth Observing System

Quality

The investigators perform quality control through visual examination of rainfall products on various temporal and spatial scales to ensure that rainfall maps are consistent with climate records, and that there are no gross errors. They also compare their rainfall estimates with ground-based radar estimates.

Data Set Progress

IN WORK

Data Center

National Snow and Ice Data Center
Data Center URL: http://nsidc.org
Data Set ID: AE_RnGd1

Data Center Personnel

Name: NSIDC User Services
Phone: +1 (303) 492-6199
Fax: +1 (303) 492-2468
Email: nsidc@nsidc.org
Contact Address:
National Snow and Ice Data Center
CIRES, 449 UCB
University of Colorado
City: Boulder
Province or State: CO
Postal Code: 80309-0449
Country: USA

NSIDC Distributed Active Archive Center
Data Center URL: http://nsidc.org/daac/index.html
Data Set ID: AE_RnGd1

Data Center Personnel

Name: NSIDC DAAC User Services
Phone: +1 (303) 492-6199
Fax: +1 (303) 492-2468
Email: nsidc@nsidc.org
Contact Address:
National Snow and Ice Data Center
CIRES, 449 UCB
University of Colorado
City: Boulder
Province or State: CO
Postal Code: 80309-0449
Country: USA

Distribution

Distribution Media: FTP
Distribution Size: 88 KB per monthly granule
Distribution Format: HDF-EOS

Personnel

Thomas Wilheit, Jr.
Role: INVESTIGATOR
Contact Address:
Department of Atmospheric Sciences
Texas A&M University
3150 TAMU
City: College Park
Province or State: TX
Postal Code: 77843-3150

Christian Kummerow
Role: INVESTIGATOR
Contact Address:
Department of Atmospheric Science
Colorado State University
200 West Lake Street
City: Fort Collins
Province or State: CO
Postal Code: 80523

Ralph Ferraro
Role: INVESTIGATOR
Contact Address:
ESSIC/CICS
2207 Computer and Space Sciences Building
University of Maryland
City: College Park
Province or State: MD
Country: USA

Robert Adler
Role: INVESTIGATOR
Contact Address:
Mesoscale Atmospheric Processes Branch
Laboratory for Atmospheres
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, MD, USA
USA

NSIDC USER SERVICES
Role: TECHNICAL CONTACT
Phone: +1 (303) 492-6199
Fax: +1 (303) 492-2468
Email: nsidc@nsidc.org
Contact Address:
National Snow and Ice Data Center
CIRES, 449 UCB
University of Colorado
City: Boulder
Province or State: CO
Postal Code: 80309-0449
Country: USA

Related URL

VIEW PROJECT HOME PAGE
AMSR-E Web site at NSIDC

VIEW RELATED INFORMATION
NASA AMSR-E Web site

Reference

Conway, D. 2002. Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer - EOS Quality Assurance Plan. Huntsville, AL: Global Hydrology and Climate Center.

Kedam, B., L. Chiu, and G. North. 1990. Estimation of Mean Rain Rates: Applications to Satellite Observations. J. Geophys Res. 95: 1965-1972

Marshall, T. S. and W. M. Palmer. 1948. The Distribution of Raindrops with Size. J. Meteorol 5: 165-166.

Mie, G. 1908. Beiträge zur Optik Trüber Medien, speziell kolloidaler Metalösungen. Ann. Phys. 26: 597-614.

McCollum, J., and R. Ferraro. 2003. Next generation of NOAA/NESDIS TMI, SSM/I, and AMSR-E microwave land rainfall algorithms. Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres 108(D8): art. no. 8382.

Tesmer, J. R., and T. T. Wilheit. 1997. An Improved Microwave Radiative Transfer Model for Tropical Oceanic Precipitation. Journal of Atmospheric Science 55:1674-1688. Wang, S. A. 1995. Modeling the Beam Filling Correction for Microwave Retrieval of Oceanic Rainfall. PhD dissertation. Dept of Meteorology; Texas A&M University Wilheit, Thomas, C. Kummerow, and R. Ferraro. 2007. Supplement AMSR-E Monthly Level-3 Rainfall Accumulations Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document. College Park, TX, USA: Texas A&M University. (View PDF)

Wilheit, T., C. Kummerow, and R. Ferraro. 2003. Rainfall algorithms for AMSR-E. IEEE Transactions on Geosciences and Remote Sensing 41(2): 204-214.

Wilheit, T., C. Kummerow, and R. Ferraro. 1999. Algorithm Theoretical Basis Document for EOS/AMSR Rainfall. College Park, TX, USA: Texas A&M University.

Wilheit, T. T., A. T .C. Chang, and L. S. Chiu. 1991. Retrieval of monthly rainfall indices from microwave radiometric measurement using probability distribution functions. Journal of Atmospheric Oceanic Technology 8: 118-136.

For more information regarding related publications, see the Research Using AMSR-E Data Web page.

Metadata Name and Version

Metadata Name: CEOS IDN DIF
Metadata Version: 9.7

Creation and Review Dates

DIF Creation Date: 2004-04-19
Last DIF Revision Date: 2008-08-26

DIF Text-Only

Directory Interchange Format (DIF) in plain text

DIF XML

Directory Interchange Format (DIF) in Extensible Markup Language (XML)

FGDC HTML

U.S. Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC) Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (CSDGM)