A Method for Combined Passive–Active Microwave Retrievals of Cloud and Precipitation Profiles

Three-dimensional tropical squall-line simulations from the Goddard cumulus ensemble (GCE) model are used as input to radiative computations of upwelling microwave brightness temperatures and radar reflectivities at selected microwave sensor frequencies. These cloud/radiative calculations form the basis of a physical cloud/precipitation profile retrieval method that yields estimates of the expected values of the hydrometeor water contents. Application of the retrieval method to simulated nadir-view observations of the aircraft-borne Advanced Microwave Precipitation Radiometer (AMPR) and NASA ER-2 Doppler radar (EDOP) produce random errors of 23%, 19%, and 53% in instantaneous estimates of integrated precipitating liquid, integrated precipitating ice, and surface rain rate, respectively. On 5 October 1993, during the Convection and Atmospheric Moisture Experiment (CAMEX), the AMPR and EDOP were used to observe convective systems in the vicinity of the Florida peninsula. Although the AMPR data alon...