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Science Meetings

Rain Rates Measured Acoustically in the Central Equatorial Pacific Using STS/PAL Drifters
Yang, J., Nystuen, J.A., Asher, W.E., and Jessup, A.T. (14-Nov-13)

Knowledge of rainfall frequency, intensity, and duration over the ocean is critical in both understanding the global hydrological cycle and calibrating and validating ocean surface salinity measured by instruments such as Aquarius and SMOS. Five STS profiling drifters equipped with PAL passive acoustic rain gauges were deployed in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean in 2011. The 2-year long set acoustic spectra data from these floats now provide time series from which rainfall statistics in this region can be estimated. Here, initial results from the application of an improved data classification scheme to the STS/PAL data are presented. Rainfall statistics from the PALs are compared with rainfall climatologies derived from either satellite measurements or data from the TOGA-TAO array buoys in the same region. [Research supported by NASA under the Aquarius Mission and Sea Surface Salinity science team.]