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(Reference retrieved automatically from Web of Science through information on FAPESP grant and its corresponding number as mentioned in the publication by the authors.)

Rainfall retrieval with commercial microwave links in Sao Paulo, Brazil

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Author(s):
Gaona, Manuel F. Rios [1] ; Overeem, Aart [1, 2] ; Raupach, Timothy H. [3, 4, 5] ; Leijnse, Hidde [2] ; Uijlenhoet, Remko [1]
Total Authors: 5
Affiliation:
[1] Wageningen Univ & Res, Dept Environm Sci, Hydrol & Quantitat Water Management Grp, NL-6708 PB Wageningen - Netherlands
[2] Royal Netherlands Meteorol Inst, R&D Observat & Data Technol, NL-3731 GA De Bilt - Netherlands
[3] Ecole Polytech Fed Lausanne, Environm Remote Sensing Lab, Lausanne - Switzerland
[4] Univ Bern, Inst Geog, Bern - Switzerland
[5] Univ Bern, Oeschger Ctr Climate Change Res, Bern - Switzerland
Total Affiliations: 5
Document type: Journal article
Source: Atmospheric Measurement Techniques; v. 11, n. 7, p. 4465-4476, JUL 26 2018.
Web of Science Citations: 3
Abstract

In the last decade there has been a growing interest from the hydrometeorological community regarding rainfall estimation from commercial microwave link (CML) networks. Path-averaged rainfall intensities can be retrieved from the signal attenuation between cell phone towers. Although this technique is still in development, it offers great opportunities for the retrieval of rainfall rates at high spatiotemporal resolutions very close to the Earth's surface. Rainfall measurements at high spatiotemporal resolutions are highly valued in urban hydrology, for instance, given the large impact that flash floods exert on society. Flash floods are triggered by intense rainfall events that develop over short time scales. Here, we present one of the first evaluations of this measurement technique for a humid subtropical climate. Rainfall estimation for subtropical climates is highly relevant, as many countries with few surface rainfall observations are located in such areas. The test bed of the current study is the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo. The open-source algorithm RAINLINK was applied to retrieve rainfall intensities from (power) attenuation measurements. The performance of RAINLINK estimates was evaluated for 145 of the 213 CMLs in the Sao Paulo metropolitan area for which we received data, for 81 days between October 2014 and January 2015. We evaluated the retrieved rainfall intensities and accumulations from CMLs against those from a dense automatic gauge network. Results were found to be promising and encouraging when it comes to capturing the city-average rainfall dynamics. Mixed results were obtained for individual CML estimates, which may be related to erroneous metadata. (AU)

FAPESP's process: 09/15235-8 - Cloud processes of the main precipitation systems in Brazil: a contribution to cloud resolving modeling and to the GPM (Global Precipitation Measurement)
Grantee:Luiz Augusto Toledo Machado
Support type: Research Projects - Thematic Grants