Ringerund Published on Improvements to NASA GPM

Assistant Research Scientist Sarah Ringerud has a paper that will be printed in this month’s edition of IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing.  Written alongside colleagues from Colorado State University, NOAA/NESDIS/STAR/Advanced Satellite Products Branch, and NASA, the paper discusses improvements to the NASA Global Precipitation Measurement (GLM) constellation precipitation products via improved modeling of ice particles.

Early versions of passive microwave products from GPM utilized methods that were later demonstrated to be insufficient for retrieval at the GPM radiometer frequencies.  This paper updates the retrieval in numerous ways, including the use of nonspherical particles and the improvement of simulated brightness temperature (Tb) agreement with observations across the high frequencies.

While modest in magnitude, these improvements advance the retrieval to more physical consistency which allows for deeper insight into ice particle properties associated with precipitation.

Ringerud joined ESSIC after a period as a NASA Post-Doctoral Fellow of passive microwave remote sensing of precipitation at Goddard Space Flight Center.  She is currently working on the Global Precipitation Measurement Mission Science Team focusing on passive microwave precipitation retrievals over land surfaces.

The paper is available online here: “Effects of Ice Particle Representation on Passive Microwave Precipitation Retrieval in a Bayesian Scheme”.