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- PR is the first spaceborne instrument designed to provide 3-D maps of storm structure. The measurements yield invaluable information on the intensity and distribution of the rain, the rain type, the storm depth and the height at which the snow melts into rain. The estimates of the heat released into the atmosphere at different heights based on these measurements can be used to improve models of the global atmospheric circulation.
PR has a horizontal resolution at the ground of about 4 km and a swath width of 220 km. One of its most important features is its ability to provide vertical profiles of the rain and snow from the surface to a height of about 20 km. PR is able to detect fairly light rain rates down to about 0.7 mm/hr. For intense rain rates, where the attenuation effects can be strong, new methods of data processing have been developed that help correct for this effect. PR is able to separate out rain echoes for vertical sample sizes of about 250 m when looking straight down.
NASA Earth Science Reference Handbook [ Mission: TRMM ]
Group: Instrument_Details
Entry_ID: PR
Group: Instrument_Identification
Instrument_Category: Earth Remote Sensing Instruments
Instrument_Class: Active Remote Sensing
Instrument_Type: Profilers/Sounders
Instrument_Subtype: Radar Sounders
Short_Name: PR
Long_Name: TRMM Precipitation Radar
End_Group
Group: Instrument_Associated_Sensors
Short_Name: PR
End_Group
Group: Associated_Platforms
Short_Name: TRMM
End_Group
Group: Spectral_Frequency_Information
Wavelength_Keyword: Radio
Spectral_Frequency_Coverage_Range: 13.8 GHz horizontal polarization; 220-km swath.
Spectral_Frequency_Resolution: 4.3 Km horizontal resolution instantaneous field-of-view (nadir), 0.25 km vertical resolution (nadir)
End_Group
Online_Resource: http://www.eorc.jaxa.jp/TRMM/channel/earth/index_e.htm
Online_Resource: http://www.eorc.jaxa.jp/TRMM/channel/instruments/index_e.htm
Online_Resource: http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/overview_dir/pr.html
Online_Resource: http://pmm.nasa.gov/TRMM/PR
Sample_Image: http://www.eorc.jaxa.jp/TRMM/channel/instruments/pr/image/pr2.jpg
Creation_Date: 2007-05-08
Group: Instrument_Logistics
Data_Rate: 93.2 Kbps
Instrument_Owner: JAPAN/JAXA
Instrument_Owner: Communications Research Laboratory - Japan
End_Group
End_Group
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