Validation Of Quikscat Radiometric Estimates Of Rain Rate

The SeaWinds scatterometer on the QuikScat satellite simultaneously measures the active (scattering) and passive (emission) microwave characteristics of the earth\u27s surface. This paper describes the use of the QuikScat Radiometer (QRad) brightness temperature measurements to infer rain rate over the oceans. A discussion of the rain rate algorithm is presented, and comparisons are made with near-simultaneous integrated rain rate measurements from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI). These results demonstrate the potential for using QRad rain index to infer moderate to high rain rates over the ocean