GPM SAPHIR on MT1 (PRPS) Climate-based Radiometer Precipitation Profiling L3 1 day 0.25 x 0.25 degree V06 (GPM_3PRPSMT1SAPHIR_DAY_CLIM)

However, the limitations of the DPR instrument are transferred through the retrieval scheme to the resulting precipitation products. Fundamental to the design of the PRPS is the independence from any dynamic ancillary data sets: the retrieval is based solely upon the satellite radiances, a static a priori radiance-rainrate database (and index), and (static) topographical data. Critically, the technique is independent of any model information, unlike the retrievals generated through the Goddard PROFiling (GPROF) scheme: this independence is advantageous when generating products across time scales from near real-time (inaccessibility to model data) to climatological scales (circumventing trends in model data).

The algorithm is designed to generate instantaneous estimates of precipitation at a constant resolution (regardless of scan position), for all scan positions and scan lines. In addition to the actual precipitation estimate, an assessment of the error is made, and a measure of the ‘fit’ of the observations to the database provided. A quality flag is also provided, with any bad data generating a ‘missing flag’ in the retrieval.