Oceanic Rain Column Height Derived from SSM/I

Abstract

The climatology of oceanic rain column height derived from 12 years (July 1987?June 1999) of Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I) data is presented. The estimation procedure is based on a technique developed by Wilheit et al. In the annual mean, the SSM/I-derived oceanic rain height shows a maximum of about 4.7 km in the Tropics and decreases toward the high latitudes to less than 3.5 km at 50°. Interannual variations exhibit seasonal dependency and show maxima of about 200?300 m in the oceanic dry zones and in the midlatitude storm track regions. The rain heights estimated from the morning passes of the SSM/I are lower than those computed from the afternoon passes by about 60 m in the Tropics but are higher north of 40°N. This small difference cannot change the conclusion about the morning maximum in rain rate. The nonsystematic error increases with decreasing rain column height and is estimated to be about 120 m for rain heights of 4?5 km and 200 m at 3.5 km. Comparison with the height of the 0°C isotherm derived from the Goddard Laboratory for Atmospheres general circulation model (GCM) results shows a mean zonal low bias (SSM/I lower than GCM freezing height) of about 200 m in the Tropics. Outside the Tropics, the SSM/I rain column heights are much higher, reaching a difference of 2 km at 50°N. The small bias in the Tropics is consistent with the notion that the melting layer extends over hundreds of meters below the freezing level. Outside the Tropics, the sampling of the SSM/I rain height and the inclusion of nonraining observations in GCM calculations may contribute to the large discrepancy. The freezing height is interpreted as the columnar water content and found to be consistent with columnar water vapor maps retrieved from SSM/I data.