Envisat - taking the measure of North Atlantic storms

Envisat carries a number of sensors able to provide quantitative information on raining clouds: AATSR delivers information on cloud microphysics (particle size, temperature etc.), MWR-2 gives columnar totals for liquid and vapour forms of water, and RA-2 yields rain rate and wind speed. This paper e...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Quartly, Graham D., Poulsen, Caroline A., Guymer, Trevor H.
Format: Conference Object
Language:English
Published: 2007
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/46521/
https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/46521/1/Montreux_rain_QPG.pdf
Description
Summary:Envisat carries a number of sensors able to provide quantitative information on raining clouds: AATSR delivers information on cloud microphysics (particle size, temperature etc.), MWR-2 gives columnar totals for liquid and vapour forms of water, and RA-2 yields rain rate and wind speed. This paper examines the complementarity of these sensors, with a focussed study on significant rain events in the N. Atlantic, covering both coherent large storms and fronts with smaller scale structure. The difference in liquid water estimates from the infra-red and passive systems appears to be related to the temperature and sizes of drops being detected.