Global Virga Precipitation Distribution Derived From Three Spaceborne Radars and Its Contribution to the False Radiometer Precipitation Detection Geophysical Research Letters

This study first quantifies the virga precipitation occurrence percentage using three spaceborneradarobservations,includingTropicalRainfallMeasuringMissionPrecipitationRadar(PR), Global Precipitation Measurement dual-frequency PR (Ku-band PR/Ka-band PR [KuPR/KaPR]), and CloudSatCloudProfilingRadar(CPR).PRandKuPR/KaPRshowthatvirgaoccurrencepercentageisover30% in arid regions (e.g., Sahara desert and deserts of Australia). CPR reveals similar virga geospatial distribution.However,thevirgapercentagebasedonCPRisabouttwiceaslargeasthatbasedonPRand KuPR/KaPRduetobetterdetectionsensitivity.Resultsalsoshowthatthemajorityofthevirgacloudsarealtostratusandcirrus.Second,weinvestigatethevirgaprecipitationcontributiontothepassivemicrowave radiometer false precipitation detection. Virga precipitation accounts for as much as 50% (30%) of