Spring 2013 Water Seminar Series - Global Precipitation in the 21st Century

Over the past two decades there has been vigorous development in the satellite assets and the algorithms necessary to estimate precipitation around the globe.  In particular the highly successful joint NASA/JAXA Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and the upcoming Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission, also joint between NASA and JAXA, have driven these issues.  At the same time, the long-running Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) continues to extend a stable, climate-oriented view of global precipitation.  This talk will provide an overview of these projects, sketch plans for next-generation products, and provide some examples of the best use for the different products.  You will see that it takes a range of data sets to address the variety of issues that need precipitation data, including detailed 3-D views of hurricanes, flash flood forecasting, drought analysis, and global change.