Global Precipitation Monitoring - Satellite-based Applications on Climate Change - page 86

DJF GPCP (1979 − 2008, mm/mon)

60N

30N

EQ

30s

60s

0 60E 120E 180 120W 60W 0

JJA GPCP (1979 − 2008, mm/mon)

60W 0

60N

30N

EQ

30s

60s

0 60E 120E 180 120W 60W 0

30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270

Fig. 6.3 GPCP December, January, and February ( top ) and June, July, and August ( bottom ) 30-
year rainfall climatology (mm per month)

largest changes in sea surface temperature (SST; not shown) occur during El Ni˜o/
La Ni˜a events. Most obvious in this figure are the large periods and areal coverage
of above/below normal rainfall associated with the SST changes with the El Ni˜o/
La Ni˜a phenomenon.
Although the monthly 2.5 products are most commonly used, higher-resolution
products also exist as part of the GPCP suite. A pentad (5-day mean) version of
GPCP combines similar satellite inputs as the monthly product with a different
gauge dataset (Xie et al. 2003 ). This experimental dataset is also produced on a 2.5
resolution grid and starts in 1979. A 1-degree, daily version of the GPCP dataset is
also available which starts in 1996 and combines IR from geosynchronous and low
orbits with the GPCP version 2 monthly product and AIRS and TOVS estimates
(Huffman et al. 2001 ). GPCP also plans on adding a 3-hourly global product to its
version 3 set of products, expected sometime in 2011.