2012 AGU Chapman Conference on Remote Sensing of the ...

fraction of the fresh water resources for agricultural use andhuman consumption yet despite recent advances in globalprecipitation measurement, many contemporary satellitesensors inherently lack the required sensitivity to accuratelyquantify these light precipitation regimes. Millimeterwavelengthcloud radars, such as the Cloud Profiling Radar(CPR) aboard CloudSat, may provide a means of filling thisgap in current precipitation observing systems. Cloud radarsexhibit sensitivity to the full spectrum of atmosphericcondensed water phenomena providing a missing linkbetween optical sensors that are primarily sensitive to clouddroplets and centimeter-wavelength microwave sensors thatare best suited to measuring more intense rainfall. Thispresentation will review several key insights into the globaldistribution of light precipitation that have emerged fromthree new CloudSat precipitation algorithms. The physicalconsiderations for retrieving rain and snowfall frommillimeter-wavelength cloud radar will be discussed and newmulti-year climatologies of continental light rainfall andsnowfall will be presented. The results underscore the valueof using CloudSat and complementary A-Train observationsto quantify the contribution of light rainfall to theterrestrial water cycle and to better understand the factorsthat may modify its distribution in a changing climate.Lakshmi, VenkataramanClimate Studies of intertidal using MODIS surfacetemperaturesLakshmi, Venkataraman 1 ; Price, Jessica 11. Dept Earth and Ocean Sciences, Univ South Carolina,Columbia, SC, USAStudies have shown that the intertidal zones areenvironments are extremely vulnerable to changes intemperature due to periods of alternating aerial and marinesubmergence. MODIS Aqua and Terra satellites produceboth land surface temperatures (LST) and sea surfacetemperatures (SST) using calibrated algorithms. In thispaper, LST and Intertidal Surface Temperatures (IST) wereretrieved during clear-sky (non-cloudy) conditions at a 1square kilometer resolution (overpass time at 10:30 am and1:30 pm) whereas the SST are also retrieved during clear-skyconditions at approximately 4 square kilometer resolution(overpass time approximately at 10:30 am and 1:30 pm). Wehave studied 10 years of MODIS surface temperature datafor the intertidal as well as the sea surface temperature attwo locations on the rocky western coast of United States.This paper will attempt to study the trends in the IST, LSTand SST for these locations and their impact on theCalifornia mussel populations.Lakshmi, VenkataramanDownscaling of passive microwave soil moistureusing vegetation and surface temperatureLakshmi, Venkataraman 1 ; Fang, Bin 11. Dept Earth and Ocean Sciences, Univ South Carolina,Columbia, SC, USASoil moisture derived using passive microwave remotesensing is a reliable hydrological product that is used invarious aspects of hydrology, land-atmosphere interactions,meteorology and agricultural applications. However, thespatial scale of the radiometer derived soil moisture isinadequate for these and many other scientific applications.The following proposal will use vegetation and surfacetemperature data at a higher spatial resolution in order todisaggregate the soil moisture retrieved using a radiometer.This disaggregated soil moisture product will be at spatialresolutions of 1-10 km and help in applications as comparedto the 10s of kilometers (30-60km) as soil moisture derivedfrom radiometer data.In our proposal, we will use the theoryof thermal inertia and satellite sensor derived vegetation andsurface temperature data to downscale passive microwavesoil moisture retrievals over the contiguous United States.We will use existing MODIS vegetation and surfacetemperature data to downscale AMSR-E soil moistureretrievals.Landerer, Felix W.Assessing water storage, winter precipitation anddischarge of Arctic drainage basins using GRACEand Global Precipitation AnalysesLanderer, Felix W. 1 ; Swenson, Sean C. 21. Jet Propulsion Laboratory / Caltech, Pasadena, CA, USA2. NCAR - Climate and Global Dynamics Division, Boulder,CO, USAThe Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment missionnow provides nearly 9 years of continuous, globalobservations of the total, aggregate terrestrial water storagevariations down to scales of about 300 km. While GRACEmeasures terrestrial water storage without respect to from(ice, snow or liquid) or position relative to the surface(surface, soil or ground water), it is uniquely suitable toestimate drainage-basin-wide terrestrial water balances, and -in combination with complementary information fromobservations or model data – can be used to identify relevanthydrological processes as well as potential biases in thebudget components. In one application of GRACEobservations, we have performed such an analysis for thePan-Arctic drainage basins by combining GRACE data withatmospheric moisture convergence estimates from reanalysisand observations of discharge from river gauges.The results show that river discharge can be calculated togood accuracy from the combination of GRACE andatmospheric moisture convergence, thus providing dischargeestimates from otherwise unobserved regions. The observedincreases from 2003 to 2007 of both gauged discharge and87