Satellite Rainfall Applications for Surface Hydrology (eBook)

Dr. Mekonnen Gebremichael is Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Connecticut. He has extensively published in the field of satellite remote sensing of hydrology. His research projects are funded by NASA, NSF and USAID, among others. Dr. Gebremichael is the recipient of awards including NASA‘s New Investigator Program. Dr. Faisal Hossain is Associate Professor of Water Resources in the Civil Engineering department of Tennessee Technological University. He has over 50 peer-reviewed publications in the fields of groundwater contamination mapping, flood prediction, satellite precipitation, transboundary water resources issues and engineering education. He is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions such as NASA New Investigator Program, American Society of Engineering Education Outstanding New Faculty Research Award and Top Performer Rating by NSF Alan T Waterman Award Committee.

Preface 4
Contents 7
Contributors 9
Part I Evolution of High Resolution Precipitation Products 12
The TRMM Multi-Satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) 13
1 Introduction 13
2 Instruments and Input Datasets 16
3 General Methodology 18
3.1 Combined Microwave Estimates 18
3.2 Microwave-Calibrated IR Estimates 20
3.3 Merged Microwave and IR Estimates 21
3.4 Rescaling to Monthly Data 21
3.5 RT Algorithm Adjustments 21
4 Current Status on Algorithm Development 22
5 Comparisons and Examples 23
5.1 Prior Results 23
5.2 Climatological Calibration of the RT 25
6 Future Plans/Conclusions 27
References 30
CMORPH: A Morphing Approach for High Resolution Precipitation Product Generation 33
1 Introduction 33
2 Description of the CMORPH Data and Methodology 34
2.1 Infrared Data 34
2.2 Passive Microwave Data 35
2.3 Rainfall Mapping 36
2.4 Intercalibration of the Various PMW-Derived Precipitation Estimates 37
2.5 CMORPH Methodology 38
3 Applications 40
4 CMORPH Improvements 43
4.1 Backward Extension and Reprocessing 43
4.2 Backward Extension of the CMORPH Period of Record 43
4.3 Kalman Filter 43
4.4 Bias Reduction 44
5 CMORPH Data Availability and Performance 44
References 46
The Self-Calibrating Multivariate Precipitation Retrieval (SCaMPR) for High-Resolution, Low-Latency Satellite-Based Rainfall Estimates 48
1 Introduction 48
2 Instruments and Input Datasets 49
3 General Methodology 50
4 Current Status on Algorithm Development 51
5 Comparisons and Examples 54
6 Future Plans and Conclusions 55
References 56
Extreme Precipitation Estimation Using Satellite-Based PERSIANN-CCS Algorithm 58
1 Introduction 58
2 Methodology 59
2.1 Cloud Image Segmentation 60
2.2 Input Feature Extraction 61
2.3 Image Classification 62
2.4 Mapping Patch to Pixel Rainfall 63
3 Application Examples 65
3.1 Hurricane Ernesto 65
3.2 Hurricane Katrina 67
4 Real-Time High Resolution Global Precipitation Server 68
4.1 Map Navigation 70
4.2 Query Functions 72
4.3 Data Access 73
5 Conclusions and Future Directions 73
References 75
The Combined Passive Microwave-Infrared (PMIR) Algorithm 77
1 Background 77
2 Algorithm Description 80
2.1 Data Ingest and Preparation 80
2.2 Database Management 82
2.3 Results Generation 82
3 Application and Results 82
4 Conclusions 88
References 89
The NRL-Blend High Resolution Precipitation Product and its Application to Land Surface Hydrology 92
1 High Resolution Precipitation Products (HRPP) 92
2 NRL-Blend HRPP Technique 93
2.1 Time-Space Colocation of LEO and GEO Datasets 94
2.2 Instantaneous Rainrate Adjustment 95
2.3 Accumulations Procedure 96
2.4 Comparisons with Numerical Weather Prediction Models 97
3 Ground Validation 98
3.1 Verification Efforts of the International Precipitation Working Group (IPWG) 99
3.2 Satellite Omission Experiments 99
4 Sensitivity of Land Surface Parameters 102
5 Land Surface Model Response 102
5.1 Configuration of Land Surface Models 103
5.2 Soil Water Content Sensitivity 104
6 Conclusions 109
References 110
Kalman Filtering Applications for Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation (GSMaP) 112
1 Introduction 112
2 Data 114
3 Methodology 115
4 Current Status of the System 118
5 Comparisons and Examples 123
5.1 Example 123
5.2 Comparison and Validation 126
6 Future Plans and Conclusions 128
References 129
Part II Evaluation of High Resolution Precipitation Products 131
Neighborhood Verification of High Resolution Precipitation Products 132
1 Introduction 132
2 Neighborhood Verification Methods 134
3 Neighborhood Verification of CMORPH and TMPA Precipitation Estimates 138
4 Discussion 145
References 147
A Practical Guide to a Space-Time Stochastic Error Model for Simulation of High Resolution Satellite Rainfall Data 149
1 Introduction 149
2 Why SREM2D? 151
3 General Modeling Structure Of SREM2D 152
4 Formulation of SREM2D Error Metrics 154
4.1 Probabilities of Detection (Rain and No-Rain) (Metrics 1 and 2) 154
4.2 False Alarm Rain Rate Distribution (Metric 3) 155
4.3 Correlation Lengths (Metrics 4, 5 and 8) 155
4.4 Conditional Rain Rate Distribution (Metrics 6 and 7) 156
4.5 Lag-One Temporal Correlation (Metric 9) 158
5 Data QA/QC and Calibration of Metrics for SREM2D 158
5.1 Quality Assessment and Quality Control 158
5.2 Error Metric Calibration 159
6 SREM2D Simulation And Reproducibility Of Error Statistics 162
6.1 Simulation Issues 163
6.2 Reproducibility of SREM2D Error Statistics 165
6.2.1 Checking the Consistency of Ensemble of Cumulative Hyetograph Against Actual Satellite Rainfall Data 166
6.2.2 Checking Reproducibility of Error Metrics 166
7 Conclusions 168
References 170
Regional Evaluation Through Independent Precipitation Measurements: USA 172
1 Introduction 172
2 Results From IPWG Daily US Validation Site 176
3 Sub-Daily Validation 181
4 Evaluation of Warm Season US Precipitation Using Gauges From NAME 184
5 Discussion 191
References 193
Comparison of CMORPH and TRMM-3B42 over Mountainous Regions of Africa and South America 195
1 Introduction 195
2 Study Regions and Data 196
2.1 Study Region 197
2.2 Gauge Data 199
2.3 Satellite Data 200
3 Comparison of the Satellite Rainfall Products 201
4 Conclusion 204
References 205
Evaluation Through Independent Measurements: Complex Terrain and Humid Tropical Region in Ethiopia 207
1 Introduction 207
2 Data and Methods 208
2.1 Study Region 208
2.2 Types of High-Resolution Satellite Products Used 209
2.3 Rainfall Field Experiment 209
2.4 Method of Analysis 210
3 Results and Discussion 210
4 Conclusions 215
References 216
Error Propagation of Satellite-Rainfall in Flood Prediction Applications over Complex Terrain: A Case Study in Northeastern Italy 217
1 Introduction 217
2 Methodology 219
2.1 Study Area and Data 219
2.2 Satellite-Rainfall Ensembles 221
2.3 Hydrologic Simulations 221
3 Results 224
4 Conclusions 226
References 228
Probabilistic Assessment of the Satellite Rainfall Retrieval Error Translation to Hydrologic Response 230
1 Introduction 230
2 Methodology 232
3 Generating Satellite Precipitation Ensemble 232
4 Study Basin and Datasets 234
5 Hydrologic Model and Ensemble Streamflow Simulation 235
6 Results with Statistical Ensemble Verification 236
7 Summary and Conclusion 240
References 241
Part III Real Time Operations for Decision Support Systems 244
Applications of TRMM-Based Multi-Satellite Precipitation Estimation for Global Runoff Prediction: Prototyping a Global Flood Modeling System 245
1 Introduction 245
2 A Quasi-Global Flood Modeling Framework 247
2.1 Satellite-Based Precipitation Products 248
2.2 A Central Geospatial Database 248
2.3 A Cost-Effective Hydrological Simulation Model 249
3 Modified NRCS-CN Method for Global Rainfall-Runoff Simulation 250
3.1 Mapping a Spatially Distributed Global NRCS-CN 250
3.2 Time-Variant NRCS-CN 251
4 Implementation of the GFM 253
4.1 Retrospective Simulation 254
4.2 Implementation Interface 258
5 Summary and Discussion 259
5.1 Summary 260
5.2 Discussion and Directions of Alternative Flood Modeling Work 260
Refernces 262
Real-Time Hydrology Operations at USDA for Monitoring Global Soil Moisture and Auditing National Crop Yield Estimates 266
1 USDAs Global Agriculture Economic Information System 268
2 Operational Precipitation Products Utilized by USDA/FAS 270
2.1 Ground Station Data From the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) 273
2.2 AGRMET From the Air Force Weather Agency (AFWA) 273
2.3 TMPA-RT From National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) 274
2.4 CMORPH From National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) 275
2.5 NEXRAD From National Weather Service (NWS) 276
2.6 Other Precipitation Data Sets (National, Regional and Commercial) 276
3 Operational Soil Moisture Products Utilized by USDA/FAS 277
3.1 Modified Palmer Two-Layer Soil Moisture Model 279
3.2 Surface Wetness 279
4 Global Agriculture Monitoring (GLAM) System 282
4.1 Corrected Soil Moisture Model With Passive Microwave (PMW) 283
4.2 Operational Surface Water Heights From Satellite Radar Altimetry 284
4.3 Operational Yield-Regression and Analog-Year Analysis 286
5 Future Outlook 289
References 290
Real-Time Decision Support Systems: The Famine Early Warning System Network 293
1 Introduction 293
1.1 The Three Components of the FEWS NET Planning Process 295
1.2 Focus on Eastern African Food Insecurity in 2009 295
2 Background 295
2.1 A Brief History of FEWS NET 296
2.2 The FEWS NET Early Warning System 297
2.3 A Synopsis of USGS FEWS NET Early Warning Research 298
2.4 A Synopsis of FEWS NET-Related Climate Change and Food Security Research 299
3 Techniques for Evaluating Hydrologic Risk 300
3.1 Low Frequency and High Frequency Models for Food Security Risk Monitoring 300
3.2 Evaluating Low Frequency Changes in Food Security Risks with Food and Water Balance Models 301
3.3 Combining Long-Term and Real-Time Satellite Rainfall Records 303
3.4 Monitoring High Frequency Shocks Using Water Requirement Satisfaction Index Maps 307
4 Analysis of Kenyan Agricultural Hydrologic Conditions 310
4.1 WRSI Anomalies for the 2007 and 2008 Long and Short Rains 310
4.2 The 2007 and 2008 Seasons in Historical Context 311
4.3 1979--2008 Trends in Kenyan Rainfall and WRSI 312
5 Summary and Discussion 315
References 316
Index 319