Annual total GPI rainfall is characterized by rainfall in
excess of 3 m over the equatorial landmasses, the ITCZ and SPCZ, the
eastern portion of the Indian Ocean. The largest totals, in excess of 4
meters, are found near islands and the Isthmus of Panama.
The GPI rainfall estimates are prepared by Robert Joyce of NOAA NCEP, and
span the latitudes within 40 degrees latitude of the equator north and
south. This version of the GPI has been processed to reduce
longitudinal discontinuities associated with different satellites, and
other corrections have also been applied (Joyce and Arkin, 1997). Questions concerning the method should be directed to Robert Joyce.
The data:
The data in netCDF format (1.2 Mbytes) (mm day-1). Obtained on 28 October 1996. Maps of "NaN"s are appended to the end of the file so that the file is for complete years.
GPI in terms of monthly rainfall amounts in netCDF format (1.2 Mbytes) (mm month-1). Obtained on 28 October 1996. Maps of "NaN"s are appended to the end of the file so that the file is for complete years.
All errors in the netCDF file are due to Todd Mitchell.
The latest version of the data:
The NCEP anonymous
ftp directory has both a README file and the data in binary
format. The file names begin with "gpi_mth_sat-merged_mmday_binxxxx"
where xxxx is either .README or some numbers to indicate the range of
months
included in the data file.
Climatological fields for 1986-95 in netCDF:
monthly climatology
annual total
References:
Janowiak, J. E., and P. A. Arkin, 1991: Rainfall variations in the tropics during 1986-1989, as estimated from observations of cloud-top temperature. J.Geophys. Res., 96 Suppl., 3359-3373.
Joyce, R., and P. A. Arkin, 1997: Improved
estimates of tropical and subtropical precipitation using the GOES
Precipitation Index. J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 10,
997-1011. (available online)
Online documenation.
