Selected analyses of TRMM instantaneous rainfall data

Distributions of Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Version 5 (V5) and Version 6 (V6) data are presented. The fraction of pixels determined by the Precipitation Radar (PR) to be convective has increased by 5% from V5 to V6. In V6, PR contributes more rain in medium ( 4 to 20 mm/hr) but less in heavy ( >20 mm/hr) rainfall rates than the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI). Joint probability distributions show the V6 TRMM Combined Instrument rainfall more strongly related to PR than to TMI.