Nowcasting of tropical rain using dual frequency atmospheric brightness temperatures at Kolkata

Abstract

Nowcasting of thunderstorm has important implication on minimizing the loss of properties and life. Conventional approaches for such purpose using radiometer measured brightness temperature of only water vapor line usually tend to overestimate the occurrence probability. In this paper, we demonstrate that use of brightness values of oxygen absorption lines in addition with the water vapor absorption lines can provide unique signature of heavy rain.