Satellite-borne active and passive instruments for remote sensing of heavy rain in China: A review

In this paper, the domestic research results of heavy rain in China by using instruments of spectral remote sensing, passive microwave remote sensing and active microwave radar on-board satellite are reviewed. In the study of heavy rain by satellite spectral remote sensing, the brightness temperature at infrared channels is applied to monitor the development of heavy rain cloud clusters, and conducted a lot of research with application value in combination with reanalysis data, rain gauge observation results and weather models. In the aspect of passive microwave research on heavy rain, studies on improving weather model prediction ability is mainly carried out by combining passive microwave brightness temperature with variational assimilation system, but rarely using passive microwave multi-channel brightness temperature to retrieve cloud parameters of heavy rain. Meanwhile, in the area of heavy rain structure measured by satellite precipitation radars, many heavy rain cases are analyzed, and the spatial and temporal distribution of heavy rain intensity and frequency in China are investigated. It is also pointed out that the combination of the satellite multi-instrument remote sensing signals with the radiation transfer model and the high resolution cloud model is expected to obtain the atmospheric dynamic parameters, atmospheric thermodynamic parameters and cloud parameters of the storm clouds in the future.