Engineering topics

Atlas, David

Publications and source records attributed to Atlas, David.

24 records · Page 2

NASA NTRS1989

Estimation of areal rainfall using the radar echo area time integral

The Area Time Integral (ATI) method of Doneaud et al. (1984) is extended to the measurement of cumulative areawide rainfall for periods up to 12 h. The extended ATI method is used to analyze data from the Florida Area Cumulus Experiment II. The relationship between radar estimated rain volume and radar-measured area covered with echoes is examined to test the possibility of obtaining values similar to conventional reflectivity-rainfall estimates of rainfall using only area measurements. The correlation between gage-estimated rain volume and radar estimated area covered with showers is also studied, focusing on the possible estimation of rain volume values using a small number of echo area observations.

Lopez, Raul E.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Climatology tuned reflectivity-rain rate relations

The climatologically-tuned relationships between reflectivity, Z, and rain rate, R, are examined. A method is presented which selects the Z-R relation that assures that the values of R are weighted according to their climatological frequency of occurrence. The method is an extension of the approach suggested by Calheiros and Zawadski (1987). Also, consideration is given to the method of optimizing Z-R relations by matching hourly gage and radar-deduced rain amounts proposed by Smith et al. (1975). These two methods are described and applied to data from Germany and from the GARP Atlantic Tropical Experiment. The differences in the Z-R relations obtained using the two approaches are discussed.

Short, David A.↗

NASA NTRS1989

A raingage, radar and satellite simulation study of the estimation of convective rainfall by area-time integrals

Correlations between area-averaged rainrates and the areal fraction of rainrates exceeding a preset threshold, F(T), are examined using data from a network of 22 raingages located within 120 km of the NOAA/Tropical Ocean-Global Atmosphere (TOGA) C-band meteorological radar at Darwin, Australia. The results show that the area averages of convective rainfall are highly correlated with the fraction F(T). To simulate the use of the relationship between area-averaged rainrates and F(T) to obtain space-time averaged rainrates from a satellite sensor, observations from the NOAA/TOGA radar observations are used to estimate F(T) using a reflectivity threshold. The use of area-time integral methods for inferring area-averaged rainrates from satellites is examined, noting the possible use of the methodology for the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission.

Short, David A.↗

NASA NTRS1988

The estimation of precipitation intensity in the presence of surface backscatter and the converse using a spaceborne radar

The 'rain-modified' surface backscattering coefficient and the rain intensity can be estimated simultaneously by analyzing the return echo waveforms obtained by a nonnadir pointing spaceborne radar. Preliminary simulation results, using system parameters for the TRMM rain mapping radar, indicate that path-averaged rain attenuation coefficient can be estimated to 20 percent by such technique.

Im, K. Eastwood↗

NASA NTRS1987

The measurement of precipitation with synthetic aperture radar

The radar equation for the measurement of precipitation by SAR is identical to that for a conventional radar. The achievable synthetic beamwidth, beta(s), is proportional to sigma(v)/U, the ratio of the spread of the precipitation Doppler spectrum to the platform velocity. Thus, a small beta(s) can be achieved only with small sigma(v) or from a fast-moving vehicle such as a spacecraft. Also, the along-track resolution is variable with sigma(v) and is not known. Nevertheless, the reflectivity is measured correctly. A possible approach to the measurement of sigma(v) is noted. The C-band SAR proposed for the SIR-C mission is capable of detecting a rain rate as small as 0.5 mm/h at nadir when the beam is filled. Because the cross-track beam dimension is about 20 km wide, the use of a high-resolution microwave radiometer to correct for the unfilled beam and the variation of gain across it is suggested. Alternatively, the cross-track dimension should be decreased to no more than about 5 km by increasing the antenna width and/or decreasing the wavelength.

Atlas, David↗

NASA NTRS1986

Simultaneous ocean cross section and rainfall measurements from space with a nadir-looking radar

In the case of a nadir-looking spaceborne or aircraft radar in the presence of rain, the return power corresponding to secondary surface scattering may provide information on the properties of the surface and the precipitation. The object of the study is to evaluate a method for determining simultaneously the rainfall rate and the backscattering coefficient of the surface. The method is based upon the mirror-reflected power, which corresponds to the portion of the incident power scattered from the surface to the precipitation, intercepted by the precipitation, and again returned to the surface where it is scattered a final time back to the antenna.

Meneghini, Robert↗