Precipitation, both liquid and solid, is a central element of the global water/energy cycle through its coupling with clouds, water vapor, atmospheric motions, ocean circulation, and land surface processes. Precipitation is also the primary source of freshwater, while it can have tremendous socio-economic impacts associated with extreme weather events such as hurricanes, floods, droughts, and landslides. Accurate and timely knowledge of precipitation characteristics at regional and global scales is essential for understanding how the Earth system operates under changing climatic conditions and for improved societal applications that range from numerical weather prediction to freshwater resource management. This session will host papers on all aspects of precipitation, especially contributions in the following four research areas: Precipitation measurements (amount, duration, intensity etc) by ground-based in situ sensors (e.g., rain gauges, disdrometers); estimation of accuracy of measurements, comparison of instrumentation. Precipitation climatology at regional to global scales; areal distribution of measured precipitation; classification of precipitation patterns; spatial and temporal characteristics of precipitation; methodologies adopted and their uncertainties; comparative studies. Precipitation Remote sensing of precipitation (spaceborne, airborne, ground-based, underwater, or shipborne sensors); methodologies to estimate areal precipitation (interpolation, downscaling, combination of measurements and/or estimates of precipitation); methodologies used for the estimation (e.g., QPE), validation, and assessment of error and uncertainty of precipitation as estimated by remote sensors. A special focus will be on international contributions to the exploitation of the international Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission and preparations for new missions, such as Atmospheric Observing System (AOS), EUMETSAT Polar System-Second Generation (EPS-SG), and Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats (TROPICS), as well as new space-borne instrumentation (AMSR-3).