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Quantitative Rainfall Estimation with a Mobile XPOL Weather Radar

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Abstract

The increased frequency of flooding in the metropolitan area of São Paulo (MASP), São Paulo, Brazil, makes it necessary to have an accurate precipitation monitoring and nowcasting system to mitigate socioeconomic impacts. This research is on the use of remote sensing with dual Doppler X-band weather radar (MXPOL) to improve the high spatiotemporal resolution rainfall rates estimation in MASP. The methodology includes an initial correction of the polarimetric data, namely, the specific differential phase (KDP) to estimate the attenuation correction, the adjustment of rainfall rates by polarimetric variables relationships, and the error estimation by cross-validation with rain gauges. Results show that the five relationships have similar performance with just a slight difference between the use of power relationships (e.g., reflectivity (Z) and differential reflectivity (ZDR)) or frequency (e.g., specific differential phase) variables. The average error was 1.1 mm for the mean square error, 29% for the relative error, and 0.8 for the correlation coefficient. An adjustment of coefficient specifically for MXPOL was significantly advantageous for the rainfall rate estimation with R (Z, ZDR) and R (ZDR, KDP) relationships.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to Departamento de Energia Elétrica (DAEE) for providing the rain gauge datasets. The first author was supported by Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) and the second by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), under grant 302349/2017-6. The MXPOL system and research were sponsored by The State of Sao Paulo Research Support Foundation (FAPESP) under granted 13952-2.

Funding

The Funding has been received from Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior; Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico with Grant no. 302349/2017-6.

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  1. Departamento de Ciências Atmosféricas, Instituto de Astronomia, Geofísica E Ciências Atmosféricas - IAG, Universidade de São Paulo - USP, Rua Do Matão, 1226, São Paulo, 05508-090, Brazil

    Darsys Agüero Morell, Augusto José Pereira Filho & Raidiel Puig Beltrán

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  1. Darsys Agüero Morell
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Correspondence to Darsys Agüero Morell.

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Morell, D.A., Pereira Filho, A.J. & Beltrán, R.P. Quantitative Rainfall Estimation with a Mobile XPOL Weather Radar. Pure Appl. Geophys. 179, 2957–2968 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-022-03037-5

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