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ISI Document Delivery No.: 164FG Times Cited: 0 Cited Reference Count: 48 Cited References: ARNAUD Y, 1992, J APPL METEOROL, V31, P443, DOI 10.1175/1520-0450(1992)0312.0.CO;2 Boer ER, 1997, J GEOPHYS RES-ATMOS, V102, P21383, DOI 10.1029/97JD00930 Bouniol D, 2010, Q J ROY METEOR SOC, V136, P323, DOI 10.1002/qj.557 Capderou M, 2009, METHA TROPIQUES SAMP Cetrone J, 2009, Q J ROY METEOR SOC, V135, P305, DOI 10.1002/qj.389 Chambon P, 2012, GEOSCI REMOTE SENS L, P1 Chambon P, 2012, Q J R METEOROL SOC, DOI 10.1002/qj.1907 COTTON WR, 1989, MON WEATHER REV, V117, P765, DOI 10.1175/1520-0493(1989)1172.0.CO;2 Del Genio AD, 2012, SURV GEOPHYS, V33, P637, DOI 10.1007/s10712-011-9148-9 Diongue A, 2002, Q J ROY METEOR SOC, V128, P1899, DOI 10.1256/003590002320603467 DUVEL JP, 1989, MON WEATHER REV, V117, P2782, DOI 10.1175/1520-0493(1989)1172.0.CO;2 Evans JL, 1996, J APPL METEOROL, V35, P638, DOI 10.1175/1520-0450(1996)0352.0.CO;2 Fiolleau T, 2010, THESIS Fiolleau T, 2009, D21CG AMMAEU Fiolleau T, 2013, IEEE T GEOSCIENCE RE, DOI 10.1109/TGRS.2012.2227762 Fiolleau T, 2012, COMPOSITE CONVECTIVE Futyan, 2007, J CLIMATE, V20, P5041 Grandpeix JY, 2010, J ATMOS SCI, V67, P881, DOI 10.1175/2009JAS3044.1 Hou AY, 2008, PRECIPITATION ADV ME HOUZE RA, 1982, J METEOROL SOC JPN, V60, P396 HOUZE RA, 1981, REV GEOPHYS, V19, P541, DOI 10.1029/RG019i004p00541 Houze RA, 2004, REV GEOPHYS, V42, P8755 Inoue T, 2009, J METEOROL SOC JPN, V87, P381, DOI 10.2151/jmsj.87A.381 Kirstetter P.-E., 2012, Q J R METEOROL SOC, DOI 10.1002/qj.1964 Kondo Y, 2006, MON WEATHER REV, V134, P1581, DOI 10.1175/MWR3132.1 Kummerow C, 2000, J APPL METEOROL, V39, P1965, DOI 10.1175/1520-0450(2001)0402.0.CO;2 Laing AG, 2011, MON WEATHER REV, V139, P2832, DOI 10.1175/2011MWR3500.1 Laing AG, 1997, Q J ROY METEOR SOC, V123, P389, DOI 10.1002/qj.49712353807 Liu CT, 2007, J CLIMATE, V20, P489, DOI 10.1175/JCLI4023.1 Machado LAT, 2004, MON WEATHER REV, V132, P714, DOI 10.1175/1520-0493(2004)1322.0.CO;2 Machado LAT, 1998, MON WEATHER REV, V126, P1630, DOI 10.1175/1520-0493(1998)1262.0.CO;2 MADDOX RA, 1980, B AM METEOROL SOC, V61, P1374, DOI 10.1175/1520-0477(1980)0612.0.CO;2 MAPES BE, 1993, MON WEATHER REV, V121, P1398, DOI 10.1175/1520-0493(1993)1212.0.CO;2 Mathon V, 2001, Q J R METEOROL SOC, V72, P105 MCANELLY RL, 1989, MON WEATHER REV, V117, P784, DOI 10.1175/1520-0493(1989)1172.0.CO;2 Mohr KI, 1996, B AM METEOROL SOC, V77, P1179, DOI 10.1175/1520-0477(1996)0772.0.CO;2 Nesbitt SW, 2006, MON WEATHER REV, V134, P2702, DOI 10.1175/MWR3200.1 Pritchard MS, 2011, J ATMOS SCI, V68, P1821, DOI 10.1175/2011JAS3699.1 Roca R, 2013, MON WEATER REP UNPUB Roca R, 2000, J CLIMATE, V13, P1286, DOI 10.1175/1520-0442(2000)0132.0.CO;2 Roca R, 2010, CR GEOSCI, V342, P390, DOI 10.1016/j.crte.2010.01.003 Szantai A, 2011, QUALITY GEOSTATIONAR Tomasini M, 2006, DU213A AMMAEU Viltard N, 2006, J APPL METEOROL CLIM, V45, P455, DOI 10.1175/JAM2346.1 Viollier M, 2009, J ATMOS OCEAN TECH, V26, P2161, DOI 10.1175/2009JTECHA1264.1 WILLIAMS M, 1987, MON WEATHER REV, V115, P505, DOI 10.1175/1520-0493(1987)1152.0.CO;2 Yuan JA, 2010, J CLIMATE, V23, P5864, DOI 10.1175/2010JCLI3671.1 Yuter SE, 1998, Q J ROY METEOR SOC, V124, P53, DOI 10.1256/smsqj.54503 Fiolleau, Thomas Roca, Remy CNES; CNRS Discussions with Drs N. Viltard, M. Capderou and D. Bouniol are greatly acknowledged. The long-lasting support of the Climserv team and of K. Ramage and S. Cloche, in particular, as well as the help of J. Aublanc with the processing of the data is very much appreciated. CNES and CNRS have supported this study. We thank the reviewers and QJRMS Editor for their insightful comments that improved the paper. 0 WILEY-BLACKWELL HOBOKEN Q J ROY METEOR SOC SI B; The ability of the current and upcoming space-borne microwave observing systems to document precipitation processes during the life cycle of tropical convective systems is investigated with emphasis on sampling considerations. A composite technique is introduced that will serve as a Day 1 algorithm for the Megha-Tropiques mission. It is exemplified using the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) satellite observations from the TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) instrument and the fleet of operational geostationary infrared images for the boreal summer 2009 over the whole intertropical belt. At the system scale, over both land and oceanic regions, rainfall is overall strong at the beginning (the first third) of the life cycle and then smoothly decreases as the system shrinks and dissipates. Larger rain yields are observed for the land systems (approximate to 6 mm h-1 maximum) compared to the systems over ocean (approximate to 4 mm h-1 maximum). An in-depth analysis of the sensitivity of the results to various aspects of the sampling is performed using simulated observations. The benefit of using various platforms is discussed, including considerations of constellation configuration. The entire Tropics as well as regional scales are explored, revealing the expected improvements from the inclusion of the Megha-Tropiques observations. The sampling results are also strongly supportive of the use of multiple-platform microwave observations from the upcoming Global Precipitation Mission constellation to build a mesoscale convective system precipitation composite life cycle, although the merging of the parameters derived from various resolution radiometers would deserve further investigations. Copyright (c) 2013 Royal Meteorological Society

International audience; Water vapor of the free troposphere is one of the dominant greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and is part of a strong feedback on climate change. One of the main processes that govern the distribution of water vapor in the tropical belt is deep convection that redistributes the moisture in the upper levels. The processes at play are nevertheless not well understood. In particular the relative role of the physics (convective detrainment) versus the microphysics (evaporation of cloud condensate) in building the moisture distribution in the free troposphere of the ITCZ deserves inquiry. Two channels onboard the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) satellites were designed to observed the water vapor of two overlapping layers of the free troposphere: in the upper levels (~500-200 hPa) with channel 5 (6.2µm) in the mid-levels (~700-300 hPa) with channel 6 (7.3µm). Under clear sky conditions or in the case of low-level cloudiness, the measured brightness temperatures are interpreted in terms of vertically integrated humidities "Upper Tropospheric Humidity" and "Free Tropospheric Humidity" (channels 5 and 6 resp.). MSG observations also provide documentation on the cloudiness through a cloud classification (upper, mid and low level clouds) developed by the meteorological center of Lannion and a mesoscale convective systems (MCS) tracking algorithm developed at LMD. These data have been retrieved during the Special Observing Period of AMMA at the MSG nominal resolution (3km at nadir, 15min), thus allowing to study the links between UTH/FTH and the cloudiness at the scale of the convective systems. The analyses are performed over the Niamey area (Niger), during the active phase of the 2006 monsoon (July 24th - 30th), and reveal a strong link between the variations of humidity (both UTH and FTH) and the frequency of high clouds, the maximum being reached for a lag of 6 to 7h, thus suggesting the role of detrainment from those clouds in the humidification of the free troposphere. Other analyses concerning a specific convective system observed near Djougou (Benin) on July 28th and the distribution of humidity in its close environment will be shown.