TRMM Field Campaigns

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) is a joint space project between NASA and the National Space Development Agency (NASDA) of Japan. TRMM is designed to determine the climatology of tropical precipitation, including its vertical structure as well as its horizontal distribution.

One of the greatest challenges standing in the way of reliable numerical model simulations of the global climate is knowing when the model gets the correct hydrological cycle. This requires a knowledge of the correct distribution of latent heating associated with tropical rainfall. The release of latent heat in tropical rainfall is one of the principal energy sources driving the atmospheric general circulation.

The NOAA Aeronomy Laboratory is working closely with the NASA TRMM Science Team to provide ground truth for TRMM using Doppler radar wind profilers. This research is taking place primarily within the TRMM Field Campaigns that are part of the TRMM Global Validation Program. Four major Field Campaigns under TRMM: