Question 6.47

12. Use spreadsheet software or a graphing calculator for this exercise. (Spotlight 6.1 on page 249 provides instruction for TI-83l84 graphing calculators and Excel.) Satellites are one of the many tools used for predicting flash floods, heavy rainfall, and large amounts of snow. Geostationary (GEOS) satellites collect data on cloud top brightness temperatures (measured in degrees Kelvin). It turns out that colder cloud temperatures are associated with higher and thicker clouds, which in turn are associated with heavier precipitation. Data consisting of temperature and rainfall rate measured by ground radar appear in Table 6.9. Because ground radar can be limited by location and obstructions, having an alternative for predicting the rainfall rates can be useful. (Save your data and work from this exercise for use in Exercise 32.)

Table 6.19: TABLE 6.9 Sixteen Data Pairs of (Temperature, Rain Rate) Data
Temperature (°K) Radar Rain Rate (mm/h) Temperature (°K) Radar Rain Rate (mm/h)
195 150 203 44
196 150 204 39
197 150 205 39
198 118 206 35
199 109 207 38
200 95 208 31
201 63 209 20
202 66 210 24
  1. You want to use cloud top temperature to explain rainfall rate. With this in mind, make a scatterplot of the data from Table 6.9.
  2. Is the association between cloud top temperature and radar rainfall rate positive or negative?
  3. Would you describe the form of the relationship as linear?