Flying the TRMM Satellite in a general circulation model

[1] By incorporating the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) satellite orbital information into the Colorado State University General Circulation Model (CSU GCM), we are able to “fly” a satellite in the GCM and sample the simulated atmosphere in the same way as the TRMM sensors sample the real atmosphere. The TRMM-sampled statistics for precipitation and radiative fluxes at annual, intraseasonal, monthly mean, and seasonal-mean diurnal timescales are evaluated by comparing the satellite-sampled against fully sampled simulated atmospheres. The sampling rates of the TRMM sensors are significantly affected by the sensors' swath widths. The TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) and the Visible Infrared Scanner (VIRS) sample each 2.25° × 2.25° grid box in the tropics and subtropics about once per day, but at a different local time every day, while the precipitation radar (PR) and the Clouds and the Earth's Radiant Energy System (CERES) sensor visit each grid box about once every 3 days and twice per day, respectively. Besides inadequate samplings resulting from sensors' swath widths, there is a large, systematic diurnal undersampling associated with TRMM's orbital geometry for grid boxes away from the equator. When only 1 month of TRMM data are used, this diurnal undersampling can lead to more daytime samples relative to nighttime samples in one hemisphere and more nighttime samples relative to daytime samples in the other hemisphere. The resulting sampling biases (3–6 W m−2) are very pronounced in outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) over the subtropical landmasses. The sampling errors in OLR monthly and seasonal means are less than 8 W m−2 (5%) for each 2.25° × 2.25° grid box. The OLR monthly and seasonal means are not sensitive to diurnal undersamplings associated with the TRMM orbits and sensors' swath widths. However, this is not the case for total precipitation. Diurnal undersampling could produce errors as large as 20% in the tropics and 40% in the subtropics, for the zonally averaged monthly mean rain rates. The TRMM orbits sample each 2.25° × 2.25° grid box in the tropics and subtropics 1–6 times for each hour of the day within a single season. The seasonal-mean diurnal cycles of precipitation and OLR are not well sampled for any one grid box. By either accumulating the satellite data for a long enough period, or averaging the data over a large area with a relatively uniform diurnal signal, the diurnal cycles of precipitation and OLR can be satisfactorily sampled. The effects of TRMM sampling errors on the inferred tropical-mean hydrologic cycle and radiative fluxes are also evaluated. There are strong spurious oscillations associated with TRMM's orbital geometry, with periods of 23 days and 3–4 months, in tropical-mean daily and monthly precipitation. While the relative fluctuations of the sampled OLR are negligible, the relative fluctuations of the sampled precipitation have magnitudes similar to those of the observed climate variability. Caution must therefore be used when applying TRMM observations of tropical-mean precipitation to interpret climate variations at intraseasonal and interannual scales.