Tropical Rainfall And Global Warming Ask Dave a weather question

Dave Thurlow, Host

 

Yesterday on the show, we talked to Marshall Sheppard of the Goddard Space Center about the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, which uses satellite radar to measure rainfall in the tropics. Tropical rainfall is part the fuel supply for the world's entire climate engine. So Dr. Sheppard explained to me, there is a connection between tropical rainfall and global climate change:

TRMM Image Archive

MS: "The only real tool that we have to forecast whether the globe will warm or our climate is warming as a whole is numerical climate models. And right now there's a large error in the amounts of heating or initial heating that goes into these climate models that we use to predict whether global warming is occurring."

By measuring tropical rainfall now, Dr. Sheppard believes scientists will be able to provide better input to the global climate models and therefore improve the assessment of global warming for the future.

MS: "In order to make better prediction or forecasts of whether the earth will warm by one degree over the next five years or 2 degrees, we need a better assessment of the current state of the atmosphere and so TRMM provides that by providing a better look at the amount of heat supply or fuel supply in this important tropical band of the globe, which is the kind of the breeding ground or the origin for the global circulation itself."

Entering the 2nd year of its 3 year mission, the TRMM satellite has already provided valuable data on not only global warming, but hurricane structure and lightning distribution. And you can learn more about that on our website, which is weathernotebook.org. Thanks to Subaru and the National Science Foundation.