# Presentation: 360546

## Hualan Rui1, Bill Teng1, Zhong Liu2, Long Chiu2, Gregory Leptoukh3, Stephen Berrick3, Steve Kempler3

- TRMM Rainfall Climatology

- Introduction

- The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) is a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) designed to monitor and study tropical rainfall and the  associated  release of energy. TRMM has acquired more than eight years of data since its launch in November 1997. All TRMM standard products are produced by TRMM Science Data and Information System (TSDIS) and archived at and distributed by the Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center ** **Distributed Active Archive Center (GES  DISC DAAC). The GES DISC has provided user-focused TRMM data support since the beginning of the mission. The eight years of TRMM data have proven invaluable to thousands of users in diverse communities, ranging from research to operational applications.

- TRMM Precipitation Data and Information Services at the DAAC

**Data access and Documentation:** http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/datapool/TRMM/, a quick and friendly access to preview, search, and download TRMM data.
**Giovanni TRMM Online Visualization ad Analysis System (TOVAS):**
- The GES-DISC Interactive Online Visualization ANd aNalysis Infrastructure (Giovanni) is the underlying infrastructure for a growing family of Web interfaces that allows users to analyze gridded data interactively online without having to download any data. Through Giovanni, users are invited to discover and explore our data using sophisticated analyses and visualizations. **TOVAS** is one member of the Giovanni family.** **(See rightmost panel of this poster.** **)
**Science Research and Application examples:** http://daac.gsfc.nasa.gov/precipitation/TDST_SCI/ , illustrating various uses of TRMM data for research and applications.** **
**HDF read software:** ftp://disc2.nascom.nasa.gov/software/trmm_software/Read_HDF/,  for reading  TRMM HDF data  and converting  any parameter to binary or ASCII format.

- TRMM Observations of El Nino and La Nina

- El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a coupled ocean and atmosphere phenomenon.  Not all El Nino's are the same nor does the atmosphere always react in the same way from one El Nino to another. TRMM has provided unprecedented details of the spatial and temporal distributions of rainfall in the tropical regions,  which could be used to better understand El Nino events. The El Nino and La Nina of 1998/1999 are very good examples.

**TRMM Views of El Nino/La Nina Evolution (1998 and 1999**)

**TRMM**, an initially planned 3-year mission, was specifically designed to monitor and study tropical and subtropical rainfall, which is one of the most important, but least understood, parameters in global change.
- To date, data from TRMM is **exceeding expectations in quantity and quality**. More than eight years of TRMM rainfall data have been widely used in various research and applications, including weather, climate, health, environment, and agriculture.
**TOVAS (****http://disc2.nascom.nasa.gov/Giovanni/tovas****)**, a direct access to the most popular rainfall products, and a simple and powerful tool for visualization and analysis of rainfall data,  has greatly facilitated many users in their research and applications.** **

*Eight Years of TRMM Precipitation Data and Giovanni TOVAS at the GES DISC DAAC*

**NASA Goddard Earth Sciences (GES)**
**Data and Information Services Center (DISC)**
**Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC)**
**help@daac.gsfc.nasa.gov**

**AGU Spring May 2006**

**Hualan Rui****1****, Bill Teng****1****, Zhong Liu****2****, Long Chiu****2****, Gregory Leptoukh****3****, Stephen Berrick****3****, Steve Kempler****3**
- (1Science Systems and Applications, Inc.; 2George Mason University; 3GSFC/NASA.)

- TRMM Application to Monitoring Tropical Cyclones

- With the Precipitation Radar (PR),** **, the first spaceborne instrument to provide three-dimensional maps of storm structure, TRMM has been able to produce more accurate measurements of rainfall type, intensity, and three-dimensional distribution, all of which contribute to improved tropical cyclone forecasts, more advanced preparations, and greater reductions in economic loss.

- Image courtesy of TRMM Project (_[http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/](http://trmm.gsfc.nasa.gov/)_)

- Conclusions

- TRMM Online Visualization and Analysis System (TOVAS)

- To facilitate the use of TRMM data by diverse user communities, the GES DISC DAAC has developed the TRMM Online Visualization and Analysis System (TOVAS). Since its first release in early 2002, TOVAS has benefited numerous users, ranging from research to operational applications. As a part of Giovanni efforts, TOVAS has recently been further extended with more precipitation data products and user functions.
**TOVAS:  ****http://disc2.nascom.nasa.gov/Giovanni/tovas**

**New Capabilities**
**Inter-comparison**
-  **Overlay of Lat/Lon Maps **
** ****Overlay of Time Series**
** ****Difference of Lat/Lon Maps**
** ****Difference of Time Series**
** ****Scatter Diagram**
**New options on resultant image page**
-  **Rainfall unit options**
** ****Nonlinear color scales**

**New Products in TOVAS**
** ****Daily TMPA-RT**
** **
** ****3B41RT (VAR)**
** ****3B40RT (HQ)**
** ****GPCP**
** ****IPWG**
** ****Daily 3B42 V6**
** **
** ****V6 Anomaly**
** ****V6 Climatology**

**Jan. 1998**
- Height of El Nino, with positive anomalies

**Jan. 1999**
- Height of La Nina, with negative anomalies

- The eight years of TRMM precipitation data have been used to better understand global climate.  They can be potentially valuable in providing verification of other spaceborne tropical rainfall measurements, and in examining water cycle in the tropics.

- mm/day

- TPWG TMPA-RT,
- gauge, and radar
- precipitation data
- visualization and
- inter-comparison

- TRMM V6 3B43
- rainfall anomaly
- and  normalized
-  rainfall anomaly

- Hurricane Katrina, made landfall Aug. 29th 2005 at Gulfport Beach, Mississippi, dumped heavy rain along her track. The above plot (Overlay of Lat/Lon Maps)  shows the average daily rainfall from Katrina during August 23 – 31, 2005 measured by TMPA-RT (colored) and rain gauges (contours).