Feasibility study of the precipitation radar boarded on the medium earth orbit satellite

Abstract

The spaceborne precipitation radar has the capability of monitoring three dimensional rain profiles and it can provide important data for understanding water cycle and climate change on the earth. However, the sampling frequency for the same area on the earth is only once per several days. Therefore, more frequent measurement is required to improve the accuracy of short term weather forecast and to monitor typhoons and severe storms. In this paper, the use of the medium earth orbit satellite is studied to observe the same area with short sampling interval of several hours.