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- Title
Advancing Precipitation Estimation and Streamflow Simulations in Complex Terrain with X-Band Dual-Polarization Radar Observations.
- Authors
Anagnostou, Marios N.; Nikolopoulos, Efthymios I.; Kalogiros, John; Anagnostou, Emmanouil N.; Marra, Francesco; Mair, Elisabeth; Bertoldi, Giacomo; Tappeiner, Ulrike; Borga, Marco
- Abstract
In mountain basins, the use of long-range operational weather radars is often associated with poor quantitative precipitation estimation due to a number of challenges posed by the complexity of terrain. As a result, the applicability of radar-based precipitation estimates for hydrological studies is often limited over areas that are in close proximity to the radar. This study evaluates the advantages of using X-band polarimetric (XPOL) radar as a means to fill the coverage gaps and improve complex terrain precipitation estimation and associated hydrological applications based on a field experiment conducted in an area of Northeast Italian Alps characterized by large elevation differences. The corresponding rainfall estimates from two operational C-band weather radar observations are compared to the XPOL rainfall estimates for a near-range (10–35 km) mountainous basin (64 km2). In situ rainfall observations from a dense rain gauge network and two disdrometers (a 2D-video and a Parsivel) are used for ground validation of the radar-rainfall estimates. Ten storm events over a period of two years are used to explore the differences between the locally deployed XPOL vs. longer-range operational radar-rainfall error statistics. Hourly aggregate rainfall estimates by XPOL, corrected for rain-path attenuation and vertical reflectivity profile, exhibited correlations between 0.70 and 0.99 against reference rainfall data and 21% mean relative error for rainfall rates above 0.2 mm h−1. The corresponding metrics from the operational radar-network rainfall products gave a strong underestimation (50–70%) and lower correlations (0.48–0.81). For the two highest flow-peak events, a hydrological model (Kinematic Local Excess Model) was forced with the different radar-rainfall estimations and in situ rain gauge precipitation data at hourly resolution, exhibiting close agreement between the XPOL and gauge-based driven runoff simulations, while the simulations obtained by the operational radar rainfall products resulted in a greatly underestimated runoff response.
- Subjects
METEOROLOGICAL precipitation; STREAMFLOW; POLARIZATION (Nuclear physics); RAINFALL; REMOTE sensing
- Publication
Remote Sensing, 2018, Vol 10, Issue 8, p1258
- ISSN
2072-4292
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.3390/rs10081258