A HydrologicallyConsistent MultiSatellite Climatology of Evaporation, Precipitation, and Water Vapor

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A Hydrologically-Consistent Multi-Satellite
Climatology of Evaporation, Precipitation, and
Water Vapor Transport Over the Oceans Project
team Frank Wentz (frank.wentz_at_remss.com) and
Kyle Hilburn (hilburn_at_remss.com)
Project status Year 1 2 (completed)
Evaporation developed algorithm, studied
uncertainties, published Science paper.
Precipitation rain algorithm intercalibration,
mid-latitude collaboration with George Huffman,
JAMC paper. Water vapor transport developed and
tested feature tracking, studied surface wind
relationship to water vapor transport, evaluated
Atlas/Ardizzone NASA DISCOVER winds. Year 3
(now) Complete and release Version-01 NEWS
Passive Microwave Water Cycle (PMWC) product to
the NEWS team for review. Year 45 Implement
suggestions from the NEWS team. Add uncertainty
estimates to product.
Science issue There is no product that provides
an accurate and consistent picture of the global
water cycle. We are developing a product that
combines data from several satellites to provide
a balanced water cycle characterization. Approach
We are using intercalibrated and validated
passive microwave satellite observations of wind
speed and water vapor to estimate water vapor
transport. Satellite-based data We are using
20-years of satellite data from 6 SSM/I on DMSP,
TMI on TRMM, and AMSR on Aqua and Midori-II.
NEWS linkages Get final-look Atlas/Ardizzone
wind product. Release Version-01 PMWC product to
the team for review. Collaborate with Pete
Robertson, Jay Famiglietti, Adam Schlosser, Steve
Nerem, and Tim Liu to assess evaporation and
water vapor transport parameters. We are
collaborating with Joe Ardizzone as we use and
study his NASA DISCOVER wind product. We are
also collaborating with Deborah Smith as we use
and study her NASA DISCOVER water vapor product.
Global evaporation balances global precipitation
E 962 mm/year and P 951 mm/year. The
imbalance is on the order of 1. Trends in
evaporation and precipitation have the same
magnitude as trends in water vapor E trend
1.3 / decade, P trend 1.5 / decade, and
water vapor trend 1.4 / decade. This is in
contrast with climate prediction models, which
predict a muted response by precipitation. See
Wentz et al., 2007, Science.
Updated October 31, 2007