A description and evaluation of FAO satellite rainfall estimation algorithm

Tufa Dinku; Stefano Alessandrini; Mauro Evangelisti; Oscar Rojas

doi:10.1016/j.atmosres.2015.01.020

A description and evaluation of FAO satellite rainfall estimation algorithm

Tufa Dinku, Stefano Alessandrini, Mauro Evangelisti, Oscar Rojas

Weather Systems and Assessment Program

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

14 Scopus citations

Abstract

There are ongoing efforts to improve the accuracy of satellite rainfall estimates. One of these efforts comes from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. The FAO effort involves combining satellite rainfall estimates and meteorological model outputs with station measurements. The algorithm of the FAO satellite rainfall estimates (FAO-RFE) is presented and evaluated by comparing with raingauge data and other satellite rainfall products over eastern and western parts of Africa. The evaluations were done at daily and ten-daily time scales. The FAO-RFE has shown significant improvement over the individual inputs. However, comparison of FAO-RFE with other satellite rainfall products has shown a slight improvement only over areas with good station input. The main weakness of the FAO-RFE is that it overestimates rainfall occurrences, which is attributed to the forecast product used in the algorithm.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	48-60
Number of pages	13
Journal	Atmospheric Research
Volume	163
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2015.01.020
State	Published - Sep 5 2015

Keywords

Algorithm
Climate
Data
Estimation
Rainfall
Satellite

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10.1016/j.atmosres.2015.01.020

Cite this

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title = "A description and evaluation of FAO satellite rainfall estimation algorithm",

abstract = "There are ongoing efforts to improve the accuracy of satellite rainfall estimates. One of these efforts comes from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. The FAO effort involves combining satellite rainfall estimates and meteorological model outputs with station measurements. The algorithm of the FAO satellite rainfall estimates (FAO-RFE) is presented and evaluated by comparing with raingauge data and other satellite rainfall products over eastern and western parts of Africa. The evaluations were done at daily and ten-daily time scales. The FAO-RFE has shown significant improvement over the individual inputs. However, comparison of FAO-RFE with other satellite rainfall products has shown a slight improvement only over areas with good station input. The main weakness of the FAO-RFE is that it overestimates rainfall occurrences, which is attributed to the forecast product used in the algorithm.",

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AU - Dinku, Tufa

AU - Alessandrini, Stefano

AU - Evangelisti, Mauro

AU - Rojas, Oscar

PY - 2015/9/5

Y1 - 2015/9/5

N2 - There are ongoing efforts to improve the accuracy of satellite rainfall estimates. One of these efforts comes from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. The FAO effort involves combining satellite rainfall estimates and meteorological model outputs with station measurements. The algorithm of the FAO satellite rainfall estimates (FAO-RFE) is presented and evaluated by comparing with raingauge data and other satellite rainfall products over eastern and western parts of Africa. The evaluations were done at daily and ten-daily time scales. The FAO-RFE has shown significant improvement over the individual inputs. However, comparison of FAO-RFE with other satellite rainfall products has shown a slight improvement only over areas with good station input. The main weakness of the FAO-RFE is that it overestimates rainfall occurrences, which is attributed to the forecast product used in the algorithm.

AB - There are ongoing efforts to improve the accuracy of satellite rainfall estimates. One of these efforts comes from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. The FAO effort involves combining satellite rainfall estimates and meteorological model outputs with station measurements. The algorithm of the FAO satellite rainfall estimates (FAO-RFE) is presented and evaluated by comparing with raingauge data and other satellite rainfall products over eastern and western parts of Africa. The evaluations were done at daily and ten-daily time scales. The FAO-RFE has shown significant improvement over the individual inputs. However, comparison of FAO-RFE with other satellite rainfall products has shown a slight improvement only over areas with good station input. The main weakness of the FAO-RFE is that it overestimates rainfall occurrences, which is attributed to the forecast product used in the algorithm.

KW - Algorithm

KW - Climate

KW - Data

KW - Estimation

KW - Rainfall

KW - Satellite

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DO - 10.1016/j.atmosres.2015.01.020

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SN - 0169-8095

VL - 163

SP - 48

EP - 60

JO - Atmospheric Research

JF - Atmospheric Research

ER -

A description and evaluation of FAO satellite rainfall estimation algorithm

Abstract

Keywords

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