Taking the E-Field Retrieval to Global Scales

The passive microwave electric field and Wilson current retrieval algorithm was buit using high-resolution 37 GHz and 85 GHz measurements from the AMPR instrument on NASA's high-altitude ER-2 aircraft. This JTECH article describes how we migrate the retrieval to global satellite datasets

Peterson et al. (2015) developed an algorithm for estimating the electric field vector at any point above an electrified cloud from passive microwave observations. The present study constructs versions of the Peterson et al. (2015) algorithm that can be used with a diverse collection of satellite passive microwave datasets.

Such satellites provide global coverage for more than three decades, and can be used to monitor long-term variations in the electrified cloud “batteries” for the Global Electric Circuit. Moreover, the intercalibrated passive microwave measurements provided by the 10 member satellites of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) constellation can be used to create an updated global map of electrified weather every ~3 hours in near real time.

In addition to a direct update of the Peterson et al. (2015) algorithm for satellite passive microwave scan geometries, we also present two variations on the algorithm that respond to anticipated use cases. The first of these uses the coincident Precipitation Radar (PR) data available on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and GPM Core Observatory satellites to accurately represent the vertical extent of electrified clouds. The second variation approximates the total Wilson current supplied from a storm based on satellite feature data rather than orbital swath data. It is intended to be a first guess approximation.