EUMETSAT Precipitation Week 2013Precipitation Week Image

From 4 to 8 February 2013 EUMETSAT organised an event week on Precipitation. More than 150 sites participated this event.

You can find the programme and details of the event below.

Registration is now closed. 

You may find slides of each presentation and download recordings in the EUMETSAT Online Training Library.

Preliminary Programme:

This event consisted of three topics:

I VIS/IR Precipitation Estimates
II Microwave Precipitation Estimates
III Multi-sensor Precipitation Estimates

MON 4 February

TUE 5 February

WED 6 February

THU 7 February

FRI 8 February

       

0900 - 1000

UTC

Nowcasting SAF: Convective Rainfall Rate (CRR) and Precipitating Clouds (PC) products

Cecilia Marcos, AEMET

Detecting the formation of various precipitation types in clouds

Daniel Rosenfeld, HUJ

Other Precipitation missions:

TRMM / Megha-Tropiques / GPM

Remy Roca, LMD

Hydrology SAF  Precipitation Products

Vincenzo Levizzani, ISAC-CNR

1400 - 1500

UTC

Use of the Hydroestimator in South Africa

Estelle de Coning, SAWS

Overview of Microwave Precipitation Products

Ralf Bennartz, UWI

Microwave Products and Applications Overview for Precipitation Analysis and Forecasts

Sheldon Kusselsson, NOAA

The Multisensor Precipitation Estimate (MPE) Product

Thomas Heinemann, EUMETSAT

 

Best wishes,

Jochen Kerkmann (jochen.kerkmann@eumetsat.int)
Vesa Nietosvaara(vesa.nietosvaara@eumetsat.int)

Session I: VIS/IR Precipitation Estimates

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Nowcasting SAF: Convective Rainfall Rate (CRR) and Precipitating Clouds (PC) products

Cecilia Marcos, AEMET, Monday, 4 Feb 2013, 09 UTC

To provide the forecasters with tools for severe weather events monitoring with a suitable spatial and temporal resolution is very important. The NWCSAF project develops several products to make easier forecasters their nowcasting tasks.

The NWCSAF/MSG software package contains two products devoted to precipitation. Precipitating Clouds (PC) product assigns a probability of precipitation occurrence on each SEVIRI pixel. Convective Rainfall Rate (CRR) product estimates rain rates on convective, and stratiform associated to convection, events. The algorithms, on which those products are based, have currently a different approach.

PC product takes advantage of surface temperatures and of those SEVIRI spectral features which have the highest correlation with precipitation, to construct a Precipitation Index (PI). According to this PI, which has been calibrated against rain gauges, a likelihood of precipitation occurrence is assigned to each SEVIRI pixel.

CRR algorithm assigns rain rates to each pixel according to some SEVIRI channel information and some calibration matrices, which have been calibrated using radar data. The influences of environmental and orographic effects on the precipitation distribution are taken into account through some corrections that use NWP data.

The algorithms of both products will tend to have the same base in the next NWCSAF phase taking advantage of cloud microphysical properties.

 

Estelle de Coning

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Use of the Hydroestimator in South Africa

Estelle de Coning, SAWS, Monday, 4 Feb 2013, 14 UTC

Comprehensive and accurate measurement of precipitation is a challenge all over the world, but even more so in data sparse regions such as Africa. The obvious disadvantages of point measurements by rain gauges are driving meteorologists towards remotely sensed precipitation methods.

In South Africa more sophisticated and expensive technology such as radar rainfall is also an option and this is supported by a fairly dense rain gauge network of about 1500 daily gauges. In the rest of southern Africa rainfall measurements are more difficult to obtain due to the lack of rain gauges and radar systems.

The local version of the Unified Model and the Meteosat Second Generation satellite data are ideal components of precipitation estimation in data sparse regions. Accurate hourly accumulations of satellite based precipitation are crucial for all hydro-meteorological application such as floods and flash floods. Various options for the measurement of precipitation using satellite data as well as numerical weather prediction fields will be presented. Results show the benefit of using the bias corrected and adjusted methods and more options are still explored.

 

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Detecting the formation of various precipitation types in clouds

Daniel Rosenfeld, HUJ, Tuesday, 5 Feb 2013, 09 UTC


 

II         Microwave Precipitation Estimates

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Overview of Microwave Precipitation Products

Ralf Bennartz, UWI, Tuesday, 5 Feb 2013, 14 UTC

Abstract:

To Be Added.

 

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Microwave Products and Applications Overview for Precipitation Analysis and Forecasts

Sheldon Kusselsson, NOAA, Wednesday, 6 Feb 2012, 14 UTC

Since 1992 operational NOAA forecasters and satellite analysts have used polar orbiting microwave products to complement and supplement geostationary satellite, observational and computer model data to further improve precipitation forecasts. My session will provide an overview of current SSMIS and NOAA/MetOp MHS and AMSU polar orbiting microwave products, like Total Precipitable Water (TPW) and Rain Rate (RR) and how they can be used to help enhance precipitation forecasts. One product that will be briefly discussed that uses polar orbiting microwave rain rates will be the eTRaP product (http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/PS/TROP/etrap.html ).

From the different individual satellite sensor microwave TPW and RR products have come a new generation of satellite product called “the blended or merged product” that will also be discussed, displayed and compared with EUMETSAT geostationary satellite imagery.

A case study showing these blended/merged TPW and RR products for the February 2010 Madeira heavy rain storm will also be shown.

 

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Other Precipitation missions: TRMM / Megha-Tropiques / GPM

Remy Roca, LMD, Thursday, 7 Feb 2013, 09 UTC

In this lecture, I will focus on the rainfall in the tropical regions. After a brief overview of the central scientific and operational questions for the tropical climate, including climate change, I will present the multi-platforms products that are available or will be soon available. I will explain the functionning of the retrievals and will put the emphasis on the caracterisation of the errors and uncertainties associated with the satellite products. The propagation of the instantaneous retrievals uncertainty to the accumulated rainfall will also be discussed.

I will illustrate my lectures with results for validation campaigns in West Africa and over the Indian Ocean mainly. A short time of the lecture will be dedicated to the Megha-Tropiques mission. Finally, I will provide an outlook to the near future and present the upcoming Global Precipitation Measurements Mission.

 

III         Multi-sensor Precipitation Estimates

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The Multisensor Precipitation Estimate (MPE) Product

Thomas Heinemann, EUMETSAT, Thursday, 7 Feb 2013, 14 UTC

The Multisensor Precipitation estimate (MPE) is an instantaneous rain rate product, which is derived from a combination of passive microwave imager measurements and infrared data from a geostationary satellites. The product is intended for users with real-time requirements, e.g. in the context of nowcasting or short term forecasting. It is especially useful in regions where no precipitation-radar data are available, as it is the case in large areas of Africa or Asia.

The applied algorithm is supporting these applications by delivering the data only 5 minutes after the end of the geo-stationary measurement. It is based on a classical blending approach using the rain-rates derived from the microwave sensors to continuously calibrate the rain-rate retrieval from the infrared measurements. Only geo-stationary data with their high spatial and temporal resolution allow the rain-rate retrieval in the required coverage and frequency. The re-calibration with the higher quality microwave rain-rate data increases the accuracy of the retrievals. The basic assumptions that colder clouds produce more rain makes the algorithm suitable mainly for convective precipitation events.

The MPE product is produced for the METEOSAT-7 and METEOSAT-9 full disk as well as for the METEOSAT-8 rapid scanning area and distributed in Near-real time to the users via the satellite based EUMETCast data distribution system. In the future the MPE product will be replaced by a similar H-SAF product.

 

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Hydrology SAF Precipitation Products

Vincenzo Levizzani, ISAC-CNR, Friday, 8 Feb 2013, 09 UTC

The EUMETSAT Satellite Application Facility on Support to Operational Hydrology and Water Management (H-SAF) was established in September 2005 as part of the EUMETSAT Saf Network. Its objectives are:

- provide new satellite-derived products from existing and future satellites for precipitation, soil moisture and snow cover;

- perform independent validation of the new products for fighting against floods, landslides, avalanches, and evaluating water resources.

The H-SAF precipitation products cover the full range of instantaneous microwave-based estimates (both from conical and cross track sensors), blended and morphing algorithms, and cumulated products. The satellite sensors for the quasi-real time product retrieval range from AMSU-B, MHS, SSMIS, AMSR-E to geostationary SEVIRI and ancillary data sources such as lightning detection and NWP forecasts. During the present Second Continuous Development and Operation Phase (CDOP-2) the existing algorithms are entering their maturity stage while new algorithms are being proposed, such as those for the retrieval of light precipitation and for experimental snowfall detection.

The lecture will provide a comprehensive account of the algorithms and of the H-SAF precipitation products with accounts on the validation efforts and availability of the data for research and operational use.

 

 

Last modified: Monday, 6 January 2014, 3:45 PM