The multidimensional morphological characteristics (including scale, horizontal shape and 3D morphology) of precipitation areas over the Tibetan Plateau in summer were studied using 15 years (1998–2012) of observational data from the precipitation radar onboard the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite. As the scale of the precipitation area increased from 20 to 150 km, the near-surface rain rate (RR_av) of the precipitation area increased by up to 78% (from ∼1.12 to ∼2 mm h⁻¹). Linear precipitation areas had the lowest median RR_av (∼1 mm h⁻¹ over the eastern Tibetan Plateau), whereas square-shaped precipitation areas had the highest median RR_av (∼1.58 mm h⁻¹ over the eastern Tibetan Plateau). The 3D morphology was defined as the ratio of the average vertical scale to the average horizontal scale, where a large value corresponds to thin and tall, and a small value corresponds to plump and short. Thin-and-tall precipitation areas and plump-and-short precipitation areas had a greater median RR_av, whereas the precipitation areas with a moderate 3D morphology had the lowest median RR_av. The vertical structure of the precipitation-area reflectivity was sensitive to both size and 3D morphology, but was not sensitive to the horizontal shape. The relationship between RR_av and the morphological characteristics was most significant over the southern slopes of the Tanggula Mountains and the Tibetan Plateau east of 100°E. The morphological characteristics of precipitation areas are therefore closely related to the intensity of precipitation and could potentially be used to forecast precipitation and verify numerical models.

利用热带雨量测量任务卫星上的降水雷达的15年（1998-2012）观测数据，研究了夏季青藏高原降水区域的多维形态特征（包括尺度，水平形状和3D形态）。随着降水区的规模从20 km增加到150 km，降水区的近地表降雨率（RR _av）增加了高达78％（从〜1.12到〜2 mm h ^-1）。线性降水区的中值RR _av最低（整个青藏高原东部约1 mm h ^-1），而方形降水区的中值RR _av最高（〜1.58 mm h ^-1）在青藏高原东部）。3D形态定义为平均垂直比例与平均水平比例之比，其中大值对应于薄和高，而小值对应于丰满和短。薄而高的降水区和丰满而短的降水区的中值RR _av较大，而具有中等3D形态的降水区的中值RR _av最低。降水区反射率的垂直结构对大小和3D形态均敏感，但对水平形状不敏感。RR _av之间的关系形态特征在唐古拉山南坡和100°E以东的青藏高原上最为明显。因此，降水区的形态特征与降水强度密切相关，可以潜在地用于预测降水和验证数值模型。