The eTRaP is a simple ensemble whose members are the 6-hourly totals from the single-orbit TRaPs. The eTRaP provides deterministic and probabilistic forecasts for each of four 6h time periods (e.g., 00-06h, 06-12h, 12-18h, 18-24h) as well as the 24 hour cumulative time period. Each eTRaP is made up of forecast using observations from potentially several microwave sensores--currently AMSU, SSMI and AMSRE--initiailized at several observation times, and possibly using several different track forecasts. An eTRaP will be produced, centered on the synoptic hours (e.g., 00Z, 06Z, 12Z, 18Z), from single-orbit TRaP segments with start times up to 3 hours after the synoptic hour.
The Hydro-Estimator (HE) algorithm uses infrared (IR) brightness temperatures to identify regions of rainfall and retrieve rainfall rate, while using National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Global Forecast System (GFS) model fields to account for the effects of moisture availability, evaporation, orographic modulation, and thermodynamic profile effects. Recently the HE has been extended to the entire globe equator-ward of 60 degrees to meet user community's need for support of global flash flood guidance efforts. The operational global HE products available include instantaneous rain rates and 1-hour, 3-hour, 6-hour, 24-hour and multi-day precipitation accumulations.
Ice Water Path is the integrated column amount of ice water in the cloud. It varies greatly from cloud to cloud and also depends on the cloud ice phase (cloud ice, hail, grauple, ice crystal). Cloud ice water plays an important role in the transport of energy (latent heat) in the earth-atmosphere system. The NESDIS operational IWP product is derived from AMSU-B/MHS 89 and 150 GHz channel measurements on board POES and Metop satellites, and is expressed in mm or kg/m2. The products are available at both pixel and grid levels.
Also referred to as Water Vapor, this product shows the total atmospheric moisture over oceans. The water vapor is derived from the passive microwave sensor SSM/IS, which has 7 channels of 19 GHz (H, V), 22 GHz (V), 37 GHz (H, V), and 85 GHz (H, V), where H is the horizontal polarization, V is the vertical polarization. The water vapor varies from 0 to 80 with accuracy of 0.1 kg/m^2. The product is updated once per day at 4 am EST.
This product is generated initially by the Fleet Numerical Meteorology and Oceanography Center (FNMOC). NOAA/NESDIS gets the product through an interagency program referred to as the Shared Processing Program in which NOAA, the US Air Force and US Navy participate. OSPO converts the product into HDF-EOS and WMO BUFR formats and distributed to users.