Studies of General Precipitation Features with TRMM PR Data: An Extensive Overview

Abstract

The Precipitation Radar (PR), the first space-borne precipitation radar onboard the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite, could observe three-dimensional precipitation in global tropical regions and acquire continuous rainfall information with moderate temporal and high spatial resolutions. TRMM PR had carried out 17 years of observations and ended collecting data in April, 2015. So far, comprehensive and abundant research results related to the application of PR data have been analyzed in the current literature, but overall precipitation features are not yet identified, a gap that this review intends to fill. Studies on comparisons with ground-based radars and rain gauges are first introduced to summarize the reliability of PR observations or estimates. Then, this paper focuses on general precipitation features abstracted from about 130 studies, from 2000 to 2018, regarding lightning analysis, latent heat retrieval, and rainfall observation by PR data. Finally, we describe the existing problems and limitations as well as the future prospects of the space-borne precipitation radar data.