This is a new (GPM-formated) TRMM product. The equivalent old TRMM legacy product is TRMM_2H31.

Version 07 is the current version of the data set. Older versions will no longer be available and have been superseded by Version 07.

Estimating vertical profiles of latent heating released by precipitating cloud systems is one of the key objectives of TRMM, together with accurately measuring the horizontal distribution of tropical rainfall.

The method uses TRMM PR information [precipitation-top height (PTH), precipitation rates at the surface and melting level, and rain type] to select heating profiles from lookup tables. Heating-profile lookup tables for the three rain types—convective, shallow stratiform, and anvil rain (deep stratiform with a melting level)—were derived from numerical simulations of tropical cloud systems from the Tropical Ocean and Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Response Experiment (TOGA COARE) utilizing a cloud-resolving model (CRM). The CSH algorithm is severely limited by the inherent sensitivity of the TRMM PR. For latent heating, the quantity required is actually cloud top, but the PR can detect only precipitation-sized particles.

Because observed information on precipitation depth is used in addition to precipitation type and intensity, differences between shallow and deep convection are more distinct in the CSH algorithm in comparison with the CSH algorithm.