Spatial and temporal variations of mass-weighted mean diameter estimated by GPM/DPR

Mass-weighted mean diameter D
_m
is explicitly estimated in the GPM/DPR algorithms. The spatial and temporal variations of D
_m
are analyzed by fixing the range of precipitation rates R. Generally, D
_m
is higher over land than over ocean. In India, the seasonal variation in D
_m
is shown. Such spatial and temporal variations are clearly seen for heavy precipitation. Compared with the TRMM/PR algorithm, KuPR algorithm shows smaller D
_m
for heavy precipitation. It may be caused by the setting of upper limit of D
_m
as 3.0 mm in the latest GPM/DPR algorithms. For weak precipitation, D
_m
does not change significant variations in the single-frequency algorithms, but it shows spatial and temporal variations in dual-frequency algorithms.