OBSERVATION RESEARCH FOR THE MEASURING RAINFALL CAPACITY OF TRMM/TMI-85.5G BASED ON PRECIPITATION DATA DURING THE HEAVY RAIN EXPERIMENT IN SOUTHERN CHINA

The capacity of Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Satellite for measuring rainfall was examined by using TMI-85.5 GHz microwave image data and precipitation data during a heavy rainfall experiment in southern China. From comparisons with the distribution of rain amount in an hour with BB T of 85.5 GHz microwave, it is clear that the center of heavy rain corresponds with an area of low BB T value. The location and shape of BB T distribution is similar to that of precipitation, and the larger the rainfall rates, the lower the BB T . A statistic analysis shows that the correlation coefficients between BB T and rain rates is negative and significant. Especially, when the rain rate is over 7 mm/h, the correlation degree between BB T and rain rates is more significant. The results shows that TRMM/TMI-85.5 G has great ability to measure convective heavy rain.