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Retrieval of Precipitation from Satellites

  • Conference paper
Radiation and Water in the Climate System

Part of the book series: Nato ASI Series ((ASII,volume 45))

Abstract

For land areas, precipitation is one of the most important processes for the biosphere, including mankind. For the oceans, precipitation is a source for freshwater and thus an important forcing term for the thermohaline circulation. In the atmosphere, precipitation liberates latent energy, which is a main forcing term for atmospheric motions, especially in the tropics. The global average precipitation is equivalent to a water column of about 1m height. This amounts to a continuous energy supply to the atmosphere of about 80 Wm-2, which is roughly 30% of the incoming solar energy. Mainly caused by its strong coupling to the vertical velocity field, precipitation is extremely variable in space and time.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Meereskunde, Düsternbrooker Weg 20, 24105, Kiel, Germany

    C. Simmer

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  1. C. Simmer
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Atmosphärenphysik, GKSS-Forschungszentrum, D-21502, Geesthacht, Germany

    Ehrhard Raschke

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© 1996 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Simmer, C. (1996). Retrieval of Precipitation from Satellites. In: Raschke, E. (eds) Radiation and Water in the Climate System. Nato ASI Series, vol 45. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-03289-3_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-03289-3_11

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-08261-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-03289-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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