Southern Ocean precipitation: Toward a process-level understanding

Abstract

Large differences continue to exist between current precipitation products over the Southern Ocean (SO). This limits our ability to close the hydrological cycle over the SO and Antarctica, as well as limiting our understanding of a range of climatological and meteorological processes. This uncertainty arises from the absence of long-term, high-quality surface observational records of precipitation suitable for evaluation across a range of temporal and spatial scales. We have no “truth” for precipitation across this region that covers ~15% of the Earth's surface. These differences extend to spatial and temporal distributions and trends. Precipitation products that have been calibrated and eva..