scholarly journals A Step towards Integrating CMORPH Precipitation Estimation with Rain Gauge Measurements

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Augusto José Pereira Filho ◽  
Felipe Vemado ◽  
Guilherme Vemado ◽  
Fábio Augusto Gomes Vieira Reis ◽  
Lucilia do Carmo Giordano ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Standard Deviation ◽  
Amazon Basin ◽  
Daily Rainfall ◽  
Rain Gauge ◽  
Brazilian Coast ◽  
Rainfall Estimation ◽  
Peruvian Andes ◽  
Positive Tendency ◽  
Analysis Scheme ◽  
Areal Rainfall

Accurate daily rainfall estimation is required in several applications such as in hydrology, hydrometeorology, water resources management, geomorphology, civil protection, and agriculture, among others. CMORPH daily rainfall estimations were integrated with rain gauge measurements in Brazil between 2000 and 2015, in order to reduce daily rainfall estimation errors by means of the statistical objective analysis scheme (SOAS). Early comparisons indicated high discrepancies between daily rain gauge rainfall measurements and respective CMORPH areal rainfall accumulation estimates that tended to be reduced with accumulation time span (e.g., yearly accumulation). Current results show CMORPH systematically underestimates daily rainfall accumulation along the coastal areas. The normalized error variance (NEXERVA) is higher in sparsely gauged areas at Brazilian North and Central-West regions. Monthly areal rainfall averages and standard deviation were obtained for eleven Brazilian watersheds. While an overall negative tendency (3 mm·h−1) was estimated, the Amazon watershed presented a long-term positive tendency. Monthly areal mean precipitation and respective spatial standard deviation closely follow a power-law relationship for data-rich watersheds, i.e., with denser rain gauge networks. Daily SOAS rainfall accumulation was also used to calculate the spatial distribution of frequencies of 3-day rainfall episodes greater than 100 mm. Frequencies greater than 3% were identified downwind of the Peruvian Andes, the Bolivian Amazon Basin, and the La Plata Basin, as well as along the Brazilian coast, where landslides are recurrently triggered by precipitation.

scholarly journals Performance of TRMM TMPA 3B42 V7 in Replicating Daily Rainfall and Regional Rainfall Regimes in the Amazon Basin (1998–2013)

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 1879 ◽  
Author(s):  
Véronique Michot ◽  
Daniel Vila ◽  
Damien Arvor ◽  
Thomas Corpetti ◽  
Josyane Ronchail ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Amazon Basin ◽  
Daily Rainfall ◽  
Rain Gauge ◽  
Rainfall Data ◽  
Annual Rainfall ◽  
Spatial Coverage ◽  
Rainfall Regimes ◽  
Trmm 3B42 ◽  
Good Agreement

Knowledge and studies on precipitation in the Amazon Basin (AB) are determinant for environmental aspects such as hydrology, ecology, as well as for social aspects like agriculture, food security, or health issues. Availability of rainfall data at high spatio-temporal resolution is thus crucial for these purposes. Remote sensing techniques provide extensive spatial coverage compared to ground-based rainfall data but it is imperative to assess the quality of the estimates. Previous studies underline at regional scale in the AB, and for some years, the efficiency of the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) 3B42 Version 7 (V7) (hereafter 3B42) daily product data, to provide a good view of the rainfall time variability which is important to understand the impacts of El Nino Southern Oscilation. Then our study aims to enhance the knowledge about the quality of this product on the entire AB and provide a useful understanding about his capacity to reproduce the annual rainfall regimes. For that purpose we compared 3B42 against 205 quality-controlled rain gauge measurements for the period from March 1998 to July 2013, with the aim to know whether 3B42 is reliable for climate studies. Analysis of quantitative (Bias, Relative RMSE) and categorical statistics (POD, FAR) for the whole period show a more accurate spatial distribution of mean daily rainfall estimations in the lowlands than in the Andean regions. In the latter, the location of a rain gauge and its exposure seem to be more relevant to explain mismatches with 3B42 rather than its elevation. In general, a good agreement is observed between rain gauge derived regimes and those from 3B42; however, performance is better in the rainy period. Finally, an original way to validate the estimations is by taking into account the interannual variability of rainfall regimes (i.e., the presence of sub-regimes): four sub-regimes in the northeast AB defined from rain gauges and 3B42 were found to be in good agreement. Furthermore, this work examined whether TRMM 3B42 V7 rainfall estimates for all the grid points in the AB, outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) and water vapor flux patterns are consistent in the northeast of AB.

scholarly journals Analysis of the Behavior of Daily Maximum Rainfall within the Department of Atlántico, Colombia

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 2453
Author(s):  
Orlando M. Viloria-Marimón ◽  
Álvaro González-Álvarez ◽  
Javier A. Mouthón-Bello
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Daily Rainfall ◽  
Information Criterion ◽  
Rain Gauge ◽  
Caribbean Region ◽  
Daily Maximum ◽  
Maximum Rainfall ◽  
Rain Gauges ◽  
Stationary Conditions ◽  
Areal Rainfall

In the Colombian Caribbean region, there are few studies that evaluated the behavior of one of the most commonly used variables in hydrological analyses: the maximum daily rainfall (Pmax-24h). In this study, multiannual Pmax-24h time series from 19 rain gauges, located within the department of Atlántico, were analyzed to (a) determine possible increasing/decreasing trends over time, (b) identify regions with homogeneous behavior of Pmax-24h, (c) assess whether the time series are better suited under either a stationary or non-stationary frequency analysis, (d) generate isohyetal maps under stationary, non-stationary, and mixed conditions, and (e) evaluate the isohyetal maps by means of the calculation of areal rainfall (Pareal) in nine watersheds. In spite of the presence of both increasing and decreasing trends, only the Puerto Giraldo rain gauge showed a significant decreasing trend. Also, three regions (east, central, and west) with similar Pmax-24h behavior were identified. According to the Akaike information criterion test, 79% of the rain gauges showed better fit under stationary conditions. Finally, statistical analysis revealed that, under stationary conditions, the errors in the calculation of Pareal were more frequent, while the magnitude of the errors was larger under non-stationary conditions, especially in the central–south region.

scholarly journals Areal rainfall estimation using moving cars as rain gauges – a modelling study

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 4737-4772
Author(s):  
U. Haberlandt ◽  
M. Sester
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Rain Gauge ◽  
Indicator Kriging ◽  
High Time Resolution ◽  
Rainfall Estimation ◽  
Time Step ◽  
Rain Gauges ◽  
Areal Rainfall ◽  
Rain Gauge Network

Abstract. Optimal spatial assessment of short-time step precipitation for hydrological modelling is still an important research question considering the poor observation networks for high time resolution data. The main objective of this paper is to present a new approach for rainfall observation. The idea is to consider motorcars as moving rain gauges with windscreen wipers as sensors to detect precipitation. This idea is easily technically feasible if the cars are provided with GPS and a small memory chip for recording the coordinates, car speed and wiper frequency. This study explores theoretically the benefits of such an approach. For that a valid relationship between wiper speed and rainfall rate considering uncertainty was assumed here. A simple traffic model is applied to generate motorcars on roads in a river basin. Radar data are used as reference truth rainfall fields. Rainfall from these fields is sampled with a conventional rain gauge network and with several dynamic networks consisting of moving motorcars. Those observed point rainfall data from the different networks are then used to calculate areal rainfall for different scales. Ordinary kriging and indicator kriging are applied for interpolation of the point data with the latter considering uncertain rainfall observation by cars e.g. according to a discrete number of windscreen wiper operation classes. The results are compared with the true values from the radar observations. The study is carried out for the 3300 km2 Bode river basin located in the Harz Mountains in Northern Germany. The results show, that the idea is theoretically feasible. Only a small portion of the cars needed to be equipped with sensors for sufficient areal rainfall estimation. Regarding the required sensitivity of the potential rain sensors in cars it could be shown, that often a few classes for rainfall observation are enough for satisfactory areal rainfall estimation. The findings of the study suggest also a revisiting of the rain gauge network optimisation problem.

scholarly journals Rainfall disaggregation for hydrological modeling: is there a need for spatial consistence?

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 (10) ◽  
pp. 5259-5280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannes Müller-Thomy ◽  
Markus Wallner ◽  
Kristian Förster
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Hydrological Modeling ◽  
Extreme Values ◽  
Daily Rainfall ◽  
Rain Gauge ◽  
Rainfall Time Series ◽  
Rainfall Runoff ◽  
Lower Saxony ◽  
Rainfall Characteristics ◽  
Areal Rainfall

Abstract. In this study, the influence of disaggregated rainfall products with different degrees of spatial consistence on rainfall–runoff modeling results is analyzed for three mesoscale catchments in Lower Saxony, Germany. For the disaggregation of daily rainfall time series into hourly values, a multiplicative random cascade model is applied. The disaggregation is applied on a station by station basis without consideration of surrounding stations; hence subsequent steps are then required to implement spatial consistence. Spatial consistence is represented here by three bivariate spatial rainfall characteristics that complement each other. A resampling algorithm and a parallelization approach are evaluated against the disaggregated time series without any subsequent steps. With respect to rainfall, clear differences between these three approaches can be identified regarding bivariate spatial rainfall characteristics, areal rainfall intensities and extreme values. The resampled time series lead to the best agreement with the observed ones. Using these different rainfall products as input to hydrological modeling, we hypothesize that derived runoff statistics – with emphasis on seasonal extreme values – are subject to similar differences as well. However, an impact on the extreme values' statistics of the hydrological simulations forced by different rainfall approaches cannot be detected. Several modifications of the study design using rainfall–runoff models with and without parameter calibration or using different rain gauge densities lead to similar results in runoff statistics. Only if the spatially highly resolved rainfall–runoff WaSiM model is applied instead of the semi-distributed HBV-IWW model can slight differences regarding the seasonal peak flows be identified. Hence, the hypothesis formulated before is rejected in this case study. These findings suggest that (i) simple model structures might compensate for deficiencies in spatial representativeness through parameterization and (ii) highly resolved hydrological models benefit from improved spatial modeling of rainfall.

scholarly journals Assessment of rain-gauge networks using a probabilistic GIS based approach

2013 ◽  
Vol 45 (4-5) ◽  
pp. 551-562 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mojtaba Shafiei ◽  
Bijan Ghahraman ◽  
Bahram Saghafian ◽  
Saket Pande ◽  
Shervan Gharari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Probabilistic Approach ◽  
Rain Gauge ◽  
Rainfall Estimation ◽  
Acceptance Probability ◽  
Rain Gauges ◽  
Basin Scale ◽  
Gis Environment ◽  
Areal Rainfall ◽  
Rain Gauge Network ◽  
Hydrological Applications

Rain-gauge networks provide estimates of areal rainfall as a crucial input for hydrological applications. Hence, it is important to quantify the performance of a rain-gauge network and evaluate the contribution of each rain-gauge to the overall accuracy of areal rainfall estimation at basin scale. This paper evaluates the performance and augmentation of a rain-gauge network in a large basin in Iran. A probabilistic approach combined with a geographic information system (GIS) framework is applied, in order to assess the accuracy of point rainfall in terms of acceptance probability. A simple equation for calculating the acceptance probability is presented which facilitates the application of the probabilistic approach in a GIS environment. This approach analyzes the number and location of rain-gauges and quantifies each gauge's contribution to the accuracy of rainfall estimation over the study area. Results show that among 33 existing gauges, only 21 have significant effect on areal rainfall estimation while other 12 gauges have marginal contribution to the accuracy of the network. Also, by applying an augmentation algorithm, an optimal rain-gauge network with 28 gauges is formed.

scholarly journals Areal rainfall estimation using moving cars as rain gauges – a modelling study

2010 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 1139-1151 ◽  
Author(s):  
U. Haberlandt ◽  
M. Sester
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Research Question ◽  
Rain Gauge ◽  
Indicator Kriging ◽  
High Time Resolution ◽  
Rainfall Estimation ◽  
Time Step ◽  
Rain Gauges ◽  
Areal Rainfall ◽  
Rain Gauge Network

Abstract. Optimal spatial assessment of short-time step precipitation for hydrological modelling is still an important research question considering the poor observation networks for high time resolution data. The main objective of this paper is to present a new approach for rainfall observation. The idea is to consider motorcars as moving rain gauges with windscreen wipers as sensors to detect precipitation. This idea is easily technically feasible if the cars are provided with GPS and a small memory chip for recording the coordinates, car speed and wiper frequency. This study explores theoretically the benefits of such an approach. For that a valid relationship between wiper speed and rainfall rate considering uncertainty was assumed here. A simple traffic model is applied to generate motorcars on roads in a river basin. Radar data are used as reference rainfall fields. Rainfall from these fields is sampled with a conventional rain gauge network and with several dynamic networks consisting of moving motorcars, using different assumptions such as accuracy levels for measurements and sensor equipment rates for the car networks. Those observed point rainfall data from the different networks are then used to calculate areal rainfall for different scales. Ordinary kriging and indicator kriging are applied for interpolation of the point data with the latter considering uncertain rainfall observation by cars e.g. according to a discrete number of windscreen wiper operation classes. The results are compared with the values from the radar observations. The study is carried out for the 3300 km2 Bode river basin located in the Harz Mountains in Northern Germany. The results show, that the idea is theoretically feasible and motivate practical experiments. Only a small portion of the cars needed to be equipped with sensors for sufficient areal rainfall estimation. Regarding the required sensitivity of the potential rain sensors in cars it could be shown, that often a few classes for rainfall observation are enough for satisfactory areal rainfall estimation. The findings of the study suggest also a revisiting of the rain gauge network optimisation problem.

scholarly journals Assessment of Near-Real-Time Satellite Precipitation Products from GSMaP in Monitoring Rainfall Variations over Taiwan

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 202
Author(s):  
Wan-Ru Huang ◽  
Pin-Yi Liu ◽  
Jie Hsu ◽  
Xiuzhen Li ◽  
Liping Deng
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Complex Terrain ◽  
Daily Rainfall ◽  
Rainfall Estimation ◽  
Rainfall Events ◽  
Satellite Precipitation ◽  
Different Seasons ◽  
Daily Scale ◽  
Rainfall Variations ◽  
Southwestern Taiwan

This study assessed four near-real-time satellite precipitation products (NRT SPPs) of Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation (GSMaP)—NRT v6 (hereafter NRT6), NRT v7 (hereafter NRT7), Gauge-NRT v6 (hereafter GNRT6), and Gauge-NRT v7 (hereafter GNRT7)— in representing the daily and monthly rainfall variations over Taiwan, an island with complex terrain. The GNRT products are the gauge-adjusted version of NRT products. Evaluations for warm (May–October) and cold months (November–April) were conducted from May 2017 to April 2020. By using observations from more than 400 surface gauges in Taiwan as a reference, our evaluations showed that GNRT products had a greater error than NRT products in underestimating the monthly mean rainfall, especially during the warm months. Among SPPs, NRT7 performed best in quantitative monthly mean rainfall estimation; however, when examining the daily scale, GNRT6 and GNRT7 were superior, particularly for monitoring stronger (i.e., more intense) rainfall events during warm and cold months, respectively. Spatially, the major improvement from NRT6 to GNRT6 (from NRT7 to GNRT7) in monitoring stronger rainfall events over southwestern Taiwan was revealed during warm (cold) months. From NRT6 to NRT7, the improvement in daily rainfall estimation primarily occurred over southwestern and northwestern Taiwan during the warm and cold months, respectively. Possible explanations for the differences between the ability of SPPs are attributed to the algorithms used in SPPs. These findings highlight that different NRT SPPs of GSMaP should be used for studying or monitoring the rainfall variations over Taiwan for different purposes (e.g., warning of floods in different seasons, studying monthly or daily precipitation features in different seasons, etc.).

Application of SIGMA model for landslide forecasting in Darjeeling Himalayas

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuele Segoni ◽  
Minu Treesa Abraham ◽  
Neelima Satyam ◽  
Ascanio Rosi ◽  
Biswajeet Pradhan
Keyword(s):  
Sigma Model ◽  
Confusion Matrix ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Geographical Location ◽  
Daily Rainfall ◽  
Rain Gauge ◽  
Integrated System ◽  
Rainfall Thresholds ◽  
Skill Scores ◽  
Landslide Forecasting

<p>SIGMA (Sistema Integrato Gestione Monitoraggio Allerta – integrated system for management, monitoring and alerting) is a landslide forecasting model at regional scale which is operational in Emilia Romagna (Italy) for more than 20 years. It was conceived to be operated with a sparse rain gauge network with coarse (daily) temporal resolution and to account for both shallow landslides (typically triggered by short and intense rainstorms) and deep seated landslides (typically triggered by long and less intense rainfalls). SIGMA model is based on the statistical distribution of cumulative rainfall values (calculated over varying time windows), and rainfall thresholds are defined as the multiples of standard deviation of the same, to identify anomalous rainfalls with the potential of triggering landslides.</p><p>In this study, SIGMA model is applied for the first time in a geographical location outside of Italy, i.e. Kalimpong town in India. The SIGMA algorithm is customized using the historical rainfall and landslide data of Kalimpong from 2010 to 2015 and has been validated using the data from 2016 to 2017. The model was validated by building a confusion matrix and calculating statistical skill scores, which were compared with those of the state-of-the-art intensity-duration rainfall thresholds derived for the region.</p><p>Results of the comparison clearly show that SIGMA performs much better than the other models in forecasting landslides: all instances of the validation confusion matrix are improved, and all skill scores are higher than I-D thresholds, with an efficiency of 92% and a likelihood ratio of 11.28. We explain this outcome mainly with technical characteristics of the site: when only daily rainfall measurements from a spare gauge network are available, SIGMA outperforms other approaches based on peak measurements, like intensity – duration thresholds, which cannot be captured adequately by daily measurements. SIGMA model thus showed a good potential to be used as a part of the local Landslide Early Warning System (LEWS).</p>

scholarly journals Daily precipitation records over mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 2483-2491 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Ramis ◽  
V. Homar ◽  
A. Amengual ◽  
R. Romero ◽  
S. Alonso
Keyword(s):  
Extreme Events ◽  
Extreme Values ◽  
Daily Rainfall ◽  
Rain Gauge ◽  
Balearic Islands ◽  
Precipitation Event ◽  
Similar Distribution ◽  
Major Interest ◽  
Precipitation Records ◽  
Different Characteristics

Abstract. Understanding the spatial distribution of extreme precipitations is of major interest in order to improve our knowledge of the climate of a region and its relationship with society. These analyses inevitably require the use of directly observed values to account for the actual extreme amounts rather than analyzed gridded values. A study of daily rainfall extremes observed over mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands is performed by using records from 8135 rain gauge stations from the Spanish Weather Agency (AEMET). Results show that the heaviest daily precipitations have been observed mainly on the coastal Mediterranean zone from Gibraltar to the Pyrenees. In particular, a record value of 817 mm was recorded in the Valencia region in 1987. The current map of daily records in Spain, which updates the pioneering work of the Spanish meteorologist Font, shows similar distribution of extreme events but with notably higher amounts. Generalized extreme values distributions fit the Mediterranean and Atlantic rain gauge measurements and shows the different characteristics of the extreme daily precipitations in both regions. We identify the most extreme events (above 500 mm per day) and provide a brief description of a typical meteorological situation in which these damaging events occur. An analysis of the low-level circulation patterns producing such extremes – by means of simple indices such as NAO, WeMOi and IBEI – confirms the relevance of local flows in the generation of either Mediterranean or Atlantic episodes. WeMOi, and even more IBEI, are good discriminants of the region affected by the record precipitation event.

scholarly journals Precipitation Classification and Quantification Using X-Band Dual-Polarization Weather Radar: Application in the Hydrometeorology Testbed

2013 ◽  
Vol 30 (9) ◽  
pp. 2108-2120 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Lim ◽  
R. Cifelli ◽  
V. Chandrasekar ◽  
S. Y. Matrosov
Keyword(s):  
Quality Control ◽  
Phase Retrieval ◽  
Estimation Method ◽  
Rain Gauge ◽  
Dual Polarization ◽  
Rainfall Estimation ◽  
Differential Phase ◽  
Melting Region ◽  
X Band ◽  
Fuzzy Logic Technique

Abstract This paper presents new methods for rainfall estimation from X-band dual-polarization radar observations along with advanced techniques for quality control, hydrometeor classification, and estimation of specific differential phase. Data collected from the Hydrometeorology Testbed (HMT) in orographic terrain of California are used to demonstrate the methodology. The quality control and hydrometeor classification are specifically developed for X-band applications, which use a “fuzzy logic” technique constructed from the magnitude of the copolar correlation coefficient and the texture of differential propagation phase. In addition, an improved specific differential phase retrieval and rainfall estimation method are also applied. The specific differential phase estimation is done for both the melting region and rain region, where it uses a conventional filtering method for the melting region and a self-consistency-based method that distributes the total differential phase consistent with the reflectivity factor for the rain region. Based on the specific differential phase, rainfall estimations were computed using data obtained from the NOAA polarimetric X-band radar for hydrometeorology (HYDROX) and evaluated using HMT rain gauge observations. The results show that the methodology works well at capturing the high-frequency rainfall variations for the events analyzed herein and can be useful for mountainous terrain applications.

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