Global Precipitation Estimation and Applications

2012 ◽  
pp. 371-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yang Hong ◽  
Sheng Chen ◽  
Xianwu Xue ◽  
Gina Hodges
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mojtaba Sadeghi ◽  
Phu Nguyen ◽  
Matin Rahnamay Naeini ◽  
Kuolin Hsu ◽  
Dan Braithwaite ◽  
...  

AbstractAccurate long-term global precipitation estimates, especially for heavy precipitation rates, at fine spatial and temporal resolutions is vital for a wide variety of climatological studies. Most of the available operational precipitation estimation datasets provide either high spatial resolution with short-term duration estimates or lower spatial resolution with long-term duration estimates. Furthermore, previous research has stressed that most of the available satellite-based precipitation products show poor performance for capturing extreme events at high temporal resolution. Therefore, there is a need for a precipitation product that reliably detects heavy precipitation rates with fine spatiotemporal resolution and a longer period of record. Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Networks-Cloud Classification System-Climate Data Record (PERSIANN-CCS-CDR) is designed to address these limitations. This dataset provides precipitation estimates at 0.04° spatial and 3-hourly temporal resolutions from 1983 to present over the global domain of 60°S to 60°N. Evaluations of PERSIANN-CCS-CDR and PERSIANN-CDR against gauge and radar observations show the better performance of PERSIANN-CCS-CDR in representing the spatiotemporal resolution, magnitude, and spatial distribution patterns of precipitation, especially for extreme events.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Hsu ◽  
Wan-Ru Huang ◽  
Pin-Yi Liu ◽  
Xiuzhen Li

The Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station data (CHIRPS), which incorporates satellite imagery and in situ station information, is a new high-resolution long-term precipitation dataset available since 1981. This study aims to understand the performance of the latest version of CHIRPS in depicting the multiple timescale precipitation variation over Taiwan. The analysis is focused on examining whether CHIRPS is better than another satellite precipitation product—the Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) final run (hereafter IMERG)—which is known to effectively capture the precipitation variation over Taiwan. We carried out the evaluations made for annual cycle, seasonal cycle, interannual variation, and daily variation during 2001–2019. Our results show that IMERG is slightly better than CHIRPS considering most of the features examined; however, CHIRPS performs better than that of IMERG in representing the (1) magnitude of the annual cycle of monthly precipitation climatology, (2) spatial distribution of the seasonal mean precipitation for all four seasons, (3) quantitative precipitation estimation of the interannual variation of area-averaged winter precipitation in Taiwan, and (4) occurrence frequency of the non-rainy grids in winter. Notably, despite the fact that CHIRPS is not better than IMERG for many examined features, CHIRPS can depict the temporal variation in precipitation over Taiwan on annual, seasonal, and interannual timescales with 95% significance. This highlights the potential use of CHIRPS in studying the multiple timescale variation in precipitation over Taiwan during the years 1981–2000, for which there are no data available in the IMERG database.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (19) ◽  
pp. 2193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Negin Hayatbini ◽  
Bailey Kong ◽  
Kuo-lin Hsu ◽  
Phu Nguyen ◽  
Soroosh Sorooshian ◽  
...  

In this paper, we present a state-of-the-art precipitation estimation framework which leverages advances in satellite remote sensing as well as Deep Learning (DL). The framework takes advantage of the improvements in spatial, spectral and temporal resolutions of the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) onboard the GOES-16 platform along with elevation information to improve the precipitation estimates. The procedure begins by first deriving a Rain/No Rain (R/NR) binary mask through classification of the pixels and then applying regression to estimate the amount of rainfall for rainy pixels. A Fully Convolutional Network is used as a regressor to predict precipitation estimates. The network is trained using the non-saturating conditional Generative Adversarial Network (cGAN) and Mean Squared Error (MSE) loss terms to generate results that better learn the complex distribution of precipitation in the observed data. Common verification metrics such as Probability Of Detection (POD), False Alarm Ratio (FAR), Critical Success Index (CSI), Bias, Correlation and MSE are used to evaluate the accuracy of both R/NR classification and real-valued precipitation estimates. Statistics and visualizations of the evaluation measures show improvements in the precipitation retrieval accuracy in the proposed framework compared to the baseline models trained using conventional MSE loss terms. This framework is proposed as an augmentation for PERSIANN-CCS (Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Network- Cloud Classification System) algorithm for estimating global precipitation.


Atmosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Merhala Thurai ◽  
Viswanathan Bringi ◽  
Patrick Gatlin ◽  
Walter Petersen ◽  
Matthew Wingo

The raindrop size distribution (DSD) is fundamental for quantitative precipitation estimation (QPE) and in numerical modeling of microphysical processes. Conventional disdrometers cannot capture the small drop end, in particular the drizzle mode which controls collisional processes as well as evaporation. To overcome this limitation, the DSD measurements were made using (i) a high-resolution (50 microns) meteorological particle spectrometer to capture the small drop end, and (ii) a 2D video disdrometer for larger drops. Measurements were made in two climatically different regions, namely Greeley, Colorado, and Huntsville, Alabama. To model the DSDs, a formulation based on (a) double-moment normalization and (b) the generalized gamma (GG) model to describe the generic shape with two shape parameters was used. A total of 4550 three-minute DSDs were used to assess the size-resolved fidelity of this model by direct comparison with the measurements demonstrating the suitability of the GG distribution. The shape stability of the normalized DSD was demonstrated across different rain types and intensities. Finally, for a tropical storm case, the co-variabilities of the two main DSD parameters (normalized intercept and mass-weighted mean diameter) were compared with those derived from the dual-frequency precipitation radar onboard the global precipitation mission satellite.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yalei You ◽  
Christa Peters-Lidard ◽  
Stephen Munchak ◽  
Sarah Ringerud

<p>Current microwave precipitation retrieval algorithms utilize the instantaneous brightness temperature (TB) from a single satellite to estimate the precipitation rate. This study proposed to add the time-dimension into the precipitation estimation process by using the TB (or emissivity) temporal variation (ΔTB or Δe) derived from the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) microwave radiometer constellation.  Results showed that (1) ΔTB can improve the precipitation estimation over the cold surfaces (i.e., snow-covered region) through minimizing the microwave land surface emissivity’s influence; (2) Δe under the clear-sky conditions can accurately estimate the daily rainfall accumulation; and (3) ΔTB can be used to identify the liquid raindrop signature over the low surface emissivity areas. This study highlights the importance of maintaining the current passive microwave satellite constellation.</p>


2007 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 1-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex C. Ruane ◽  
John O. Roads

Abstract Three-hourly time series of precipitation from three high-resolution precipitation products [Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) algorithm 3B-42, the Climate Prediction Center’s morphing method (CMORPH), and the Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information Using Artificial Neural Networks (PERSIANN)] and two reanalyses are examined for their frequency characteristics using broad and narrow variance categories. After isolating the diurnally forced peaks (at 24, 12, 8, and 6 h), the power spectra are divided into comprehensive broad bands comprising the annual (∼80 days–1 yr), intraseasonal (20 to ∼80 days), slow (6–20 days) and fast (36 h–6 days) synoptic, and high-frequency (6–36 h) periods. Global maps accounting for 100% of precipitation’s variance are analyzed to identify unique regional behaviors. Annual variability is strongest over regions affected by the seasonal migration of the intertropical convergence zone, as well as over monsoonal regions. The intraseasonal band displays off-equatorial evidence of the Madden–Julian oscillation (MJO), particularly in the Indian Ocean, but the MJO’s rainfall is partially manifested in the slow synoptic band and at higher frequencies. The fast synoptic band is particularly strong over the oceans, while high-frequency variability is enhanced over land by more extreme surface gradients. Diurnal variance is strongest at low latitudes and is pronounced over regions with well-known diurnal circulations, including mountains and coastlines. Interproduct and intermodel differences also indicate biases of the precipitation product algorithms and convective parameterizations, including a strong bias toward low-frequency variability in the relaxed Arakawa–Schubert parameterization employed by one of the reanalyses, as well as increased white-spectral characteristics over land in the precipitation products.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (18) ◽  
pp. 3676
Author(s):  
Satya Prakash ◽  
Jayaraman Srinivasan

Precipitation is one of the integral components of the global hydrological cycle. Accurate estimation of precipitation is vital for numerous applications ranging from hydrology to climatology. Following the launch of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory, the Integrated Multi-satellite Retrievals for GPM (IMERG) precipitation product was released. The IMERG provides global precipitation estimates at finer spatiotemporal resolution (e.g., 0.1°/half-hourly) and has shown to be better than other contemporary multi-satellite precipitation products over most parts of the globe. In this study, near-real-time and research products of IMERG have been extensively evaluated against a daily rain-gauge-based precipitation dataset over India for the southwest monsoon period. In addition, the current version 6 of the IMERG research product or Final Run (IMERG-F V6) has been compared with its predecessor, version 5, and error characteristics of IMERG-F V6 for pre-GPM and GPM periods have been assessed. The spatial distributions of different error metrics over the country show that both near-real-time IMERG products (e.g., Early and Late Runs) have similar error characteristics in precipitation estimation. However, near-real-time products have larger errors than IMERG-F V6, as expected. Bias in all-India daily mean rainfall in the near-real-time IMERG products is about 3–4 times larger than research product. Both V5 and V6 IMERG-F estimates show similar error characteristics in daily precipitation estimation over the country. Similarly, both near-real-time and research products show similar characteristics in the detection of rainy days. However, IMERG-F V6 exhibits better performance in precipitation estimation and detection of rainy days during the GPM period (2014–2017) than the pre-GPM period (2010–2013). The contribution of different rainfall intensity intervals to total monsoon rainfall is captured well by the IMERG estimates. Furthermore, results reveal that IMERG estimates under-detect and overestimate light rainfall intensity of 2.5–7.5 mm day−1, which needs to be improved in the next release. The results of this study would be beneficial for end-users to integrate this multi-satellite product in any specific application.


Author(s):  
Margaret Kimani ◽  
Joost Hoedjes ◽  
Zhongbo Su

Accurate and consistent rainfall observations are vital for climatological studies in support of better planning and decision making. However, estimation of accurate spatial rainfall is limited by sparse rain gauge distributions. Satellite rainfall products can thus potentially play a role in spatial rainfall estimation but their skill and uncertainties need to be under-stood across spatial-time scales. This study aimed at assessing the temporal and spatial performance of seven satellite products (TARCAT (Tropical Applications of Meteorology using SATellite and ground-based observations (TAMSAT) African Rainfall Climatology And Time series), Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station data (CHIRPS), Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM-3B43), Climate Prediction Center (CPC) Morphing (CMORPH), the Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Networks- Climate Data Record (PERSIANN-CDR), CPC Merged Analysis of Precipitation (CMAP) and Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) using gridded (0.05o) rainfall data over East Africa for 15 years(1998-2012). The products’ error distributions were qualitatively compared with large scale horizontal winds (850 mb) and elevation patterns with respect to corresponding rain gauge data for each month during the ‘long’ (March-May) and ‘short’ (October-December) rainfall seasons. For validation only rainfall means extracted from 284 rain gauge stations were used, from which qualitative analysis using continuous statistics of Root Mean Squared Difference, Standard deviations, Correlations, coefficient of determinations (from scatter plots) were used to evaluate the products’ performance. Results revealed rainfall variability dependence on wind flows and modulated by topographic influences. The products’ errors showed seasonality and dependent on rainfall intensity and topography. Single sensor and coarse resolution products showed lowest performance on high ground areas. All the products showed low skills in retrieving rainfall during ‘short’ rainfall season when orographic processes were dominant. CHIRPS, CMORPH and TRMM performed well, with TRMM showing the best performance in both seasons. There is need to reduce products’ errors before applications.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document