Studies of Cloud, Convection and Precipitation Processes Using Satellite Observations

Clouds, convection and precipitation processes are central components of Earth's weather and climate. They are produced by atmospheric motions across a very wide range of space-time scales from local weather to long-term global climate variation. They feedback on these motions by perturbing the heating/cooling that drive the atmospheric circulation. These processes also perturb the oceanic circulation and land surface properties that affect the atmospheric circulation.

Because of the coupling of the atmosphere-ocean-land system across all scales by cloud, convection and precipitation processes, studying their behaviors requires measurements in space-time variations across all these scales simultaneously. Satellite constellations with global coverage and high time resolution offer the ideal platforms for such observations. This book summarizes some of the latest research using combinations of various satellite observations to study these processes and to evaluate their representations in global weather and climate models.

Included with this publication are downloadable electronic slides and accompanying notes of each lecture for students, teachers, and public speakers around the world to be better able to understand cloud, convection and precipitation processes.