Satellite Rainfall Estimation Using Combined Passive Microwave and Infrared Algorithms

Abstract

The development of a combined infrared and passive microwave satellite rainfall estimation technique is outlined. Infrared data from geostationary satellites are combined with polar-orbiting passive microwave estimates to provide 30-min rainfall estimates. Collocated infrared and passive microwave values are used to generate a database, which is accessed by a cumulative histogram matching approach to generate an infrared temperature–rain-rate relationship. The technique produces initial estimates at 30-min and 12-km resolution ready to be aggregated to the user requirements. A 4-month case study over Africa has been chosen to compare the results from this technique with those of some existing rainfall techniques. The results indicate that the technique outlined here has statistical scores that are similar to other infrared/passive microwave combined algorithms. Comparison with the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) precipitation index shows that while these algorithms result in lower correlation scores, areal statistics are significantly better than either the infrared or passive microwave techniques alone.