A novel methodology for remote sensing retrieval of rainfall rates

We propose a new methodology for rainfall rate retrieval from remote sensing observations using 166 datasets from 76 different locations on Earth's surface. The method rests upon the data science parametrization of the drop size distribution [Ignaccolo and De Michele (2022) : https://doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-21-0211.1]. It retrieves the possible triplets (drop count, mean diameter of the drop size distribution, skewness of the drop size distribution) associated with given values of the horizontal and vertical reflectivities. We demonstate how this novel approach is superior to a standard one based upon the mass weighted diameter, normalized intercept and gamma functional form for the drop size distribution.