Al Chang and the Global Precipitation Climatology Project

Phil Arkin
ESSIC
University of Maryland

The Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) was initiated in 1985 to provide the various activities of the World Climate Research Programme with analyses of global precipitation, which were particularly needed over the oceans.From the very beginning of the GPCP, Al Chang played a vital role.Along with Tom Wilheit, he was responsible for implementing the algorithm that obtained monthly total precipitation from SSM/I observations.He and his colleagues at Goddard accepted the commitment to provide oceanic precipitation for the GPCP on a regular schedule (really one of the earliest examples of operational climate data processing), and carried out that responsibility reliably ever since.Al contributed greatly to the GPCP Working Group for Data Management, and produced a number of excellent publications analyzing the ocean precipitation data.

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