The Results of Applying Different Methodologies to 10 Years of Quantitative Precipitation Estimation in Catalonia Using Weather Radar

Abstract

The single polarization C-Band weather radar network of the Meteorological Service of Catalonia covers the entire region (32,000 km2), which allows it to apply a series of corrections that improve preliminary estimations of the rainfall field (hourly and daily). In addition, an automatic re-processing using automatic weather stations helps to incorporate ground-based information. The last process of the quantitative precipitation estimation (QPE) is running the end-product again eight days later, when the data have been reviewed and corrected in the case of detecting anomalies in the radar or gauge data. These corrections are applied operationally, with the fields generated and stored automatically. The QPE fields are generated in the GeoTIFF format, allowing easy use with multiple applications and simplifying processes such as quality control. In this way, the analysis of a 10 year period of GeoTIFF QPE daily data compared with ground rainfall values is introduced. The results help to understand different points regarding the functioning of the network such as the dependance on the type of precipitation and the seasonality. In addition, the description of a heavy rainfall episode (22 October 2019) shows the variations and improvements in the different products. The main conclusions refer to how using GeoTIFF combined with point data (rain gauges), it is possible to ensure simple but effective quality control of an operational radar network.

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“…All the products are planar except the 3D CAPPI (Constant Altitude Plan Position Indicator) product, which consists of 40 planar fields with a height step of 0.5 km (from 0.5 to 20 km). Apart from the CAPPI, the other products are Echo Top of 12 dBZ reflectivity (TOP12) [32], and the 24 h Quantitative Precipitation Estimation (QPE) using radar and rain gauges of automatic weather stations [7,33]. Green points in the left panel of Figure 1 show the location of the different singlepol C-band radars of the Catalan network.…”

“…The region of interest is well-covered by the composition products, with scarce affectation caused by beam blockage. It is important to note that the QPE product is composed of radar and automatic weather station data, using geo-statistical techniques as it was introduced in [33]. That research showed that by combining both sources the QPE fields were very reliable because the new field introduces the quantitative information provided by rain gauges and the qualitative distribution of precipitation observed by radar.…”