Satellite Services Division - Areal Tropical Rainfall Potential (TRaP)

Satellite Services Division banner image

DOC / NOAA / NESDIS / OSDPD / SSD

Disclaimer / Privacy Policy

Link to the Operational Special Events Imagery

SSD Volcano Products & the Washington VAAC

Link to the SSD Geographical Information Systems products

Mission Statement

SAB Areal Tropical Rainfall Potential

The Satellite Analysis Branch (SAB) of NOAA's Satellites and Information Service produces a graphical representation of the forecast Tropical Rainfall Potential (TRaP) for any tropical system in the Western Hemisphere and many in the Eastern Hemisphere. This is an objective analysis done by taking the latest microwave rain rate data from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program's (DMSP) Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I), the NOAA Advanced Microwave Sounder Unit (AMSU), or the NASA Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI) and performing an extrapolation of the rain rate values based on the latest forecast track and speed of the storm. Rain Rates depicted below are areal averages on the order of 15 KM for AMSU, 13x15 KM for SSM/I, and 5 KM for TRMM (at nadir). Therefore, the rain rates may seem lower than what is intuitive for a tropical cyclone. Official forecast bulletins issued by NOAA's National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Tropical Prediction Center (TPC) and the National Weather Service Central Pacific Hurricane Center for the Western Hemisphere are used in the extrapolation. In addition to performing the extrapolations for Eastern Hemisphere storms using Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) forecasts of storm speed and direction, TRaPs are now generated using forecasts from the Regional Specialized Meteorological Centers (RSMC) of Tokyo, La Reunion, Perth, Darwin, Brisbane, and Nadi. This can be done for tropical cyclones of an intensity of 35 knots (T2.5 on the Dvorak classification scale) or greater. Read about limitations of the Microwave TRaP technique.

Latest TRaP	Previous TRaP	Previous TRaP
Latest Rain Rate	Previous Rain Rate	Previous Rain Rate

View archived Areal-TRaPs and Rain Rate images.
View 2004 Archived TRaPs and Rain Rate Images.

LAST MODIFIED: November 20, 2004 at 16:35 UTC
Authors: Brian Hughes and Nancy Merckle
You are Here: http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/TROP/trap-img.html

Contact Information:

SSDWebmaster@noaa.gov