Skip to main content
Book cover

Nile River Basin pp 93–107Cite as

Satellite Based Cloud Detection and Rainfall Estimation in the Upper Blue Nile Basin

  • Chapter

Abstract

In this study remote sensing for rainfall estimation is evaluated. For the Lake Tana basin in Ethiopia the diurnal cycle of rainfall is assessed using satellite observations at high temporal resolution and ground based observations. Also convective activity of a cloud system on the lake has been observed through satellite imagery and shows a potential to observe characteristics of a cloud that produced extreme rainfall intensity. These characteristics include the cloud area and a volume index as well as temporal evolution of distance and direction of the centroid of a cloud mass from a rain gauge at the Gurer Island in Lake Tana. In this work it is concluded that remote sensing can be very helpful in estimating rainfall, assessing the diurnal cycle and monitoring heavy rainfall producing clouds. The high potential of remote sensing observations is mainly because the observations are consistently available with spatially continuous coverage.

Keywords

  • Satellite rainfall estimation
  • Diurnal cycle
  • Cloud tracking
  • Lake Tana

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • DOI: 10.1007/978-94-007-0689-7_4
  • Chapter length: 15 pages
  • Instant PDF download
  • Readable on all devices
  • Own it forever
  • Exclusive offer for individuals only
  • Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout
eBook
USD   149.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • ISBN: 978-94-007-0689-7
  • Instant PDF download
  • Readable on all devices
  • Own it forever
  • Exclusive offer for individuals only
  • Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout
Softcover Book
USD   199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
Hardcover Book
USD   219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
Learn about institutional subscriptions
Fig. 4.1
Fig. 4.2
Fig. 4.3
Fig. 4.4
Fig. 4.5
Fig. 4.6

References

  • Arkin PA (1979) The relationship between fractional coverage of high cloud and rainfall accumulations during the GAGE over the B-scale array. Mon Wea Rev 107:1382–1387

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Arkin PA, Meisner BN (1987) The relationship between large scale convective rainfall and cold cloud over the Western Hemisphere during 1982–1984. Mon Wea Rev 115:51–74

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Arnaud Y, Desbois M, Maizi J (1992) Automatic tracking and characterization of African convective systems on Meteosat pictures. J Appl Meteor 31:443–453

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Ba MB, Nicholson SE (1998) Analysis of convective activity and its relationship to the rainfall over the Rift Valley lakes of East Africa during 1983–1990 using meteosat infrared channel. J Appl Meteor 37:1250–1264

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Barrett EC, Martin DW (1991) The use of satellite data in rainfall monitoring. Academic press, London, 340pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Barros AP, Kim G, Williams E, Nesbitt SW (2004) Probing orographic controls in the Himalayas during the monsoon using satellite imagery. Nat Hazards Earth Syst Sci 4:29–51

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Dai A (2001) Global precipitation and thunderstorm frequencies. Part II: diurnal variations. J Climate 14:1112–1128

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Feidas H, Cartalis C (2001) Monitoring mesoscale convective cloud systems associated with heavy storms using meteosat imagery. J Appl Meteor 40:491–512

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Gebremichael M, Krajewski WF, Over TM, Takayabu YN, Arkin P, Katayams M (2008) Scaling of tropical rainfall as observed by TRMM precipitation radar. Atmos Res 88:337–354

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Gebremichael M, Vivoni ER, Watts CJ, Rodríguez JC (2007) Submesoscale spatiotemporal variability of North American monsoon rainfall over complex terrain. J Climate 20:1751–1773

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Griffith CG, Woodley WL, Grube PG, Martin DW, Stout J, Sikdar DN (1978) Rain estimation from geosynchronous satellite imagery – visible and infrared studies. Mon Wea Rev 106:1153–1171

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Haile AT, Rientjes THM (2007) Spatio-temporal rainfall mapping from space: setbacks and strengths. Proceedings of the 5th International symposium on Spatial Data Quality SDQ, Modelling qualities in space and time, ITC, Enschede, The Netherlands, 13–15 June, 2007, 9 p

    Google Scholar 

  • Haile AT, Rientjes THM, Gieske A, Gebremichael M (2009) Rainfall variability over mountainous and adjacent lake areas: the case of Lake Tana basin at the source of the Blue Nile River. J App Meteorol Climatol 48:1696–1717

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Haile AT, Rientjes TH, Gieske A, Gebremichael M (2010) Rainfall estimation at the source of the Blue Nile: a multispectral remote sensing approach. Int J Appl Earth Obs Geoinf JAG 12(Suppl. 1):S76–S82

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Hong Y, Hsu KL, Sorooshian S, Gao X (2005) Improved representation of diurnal variability of rainfall retrieved from the tropical rainfall measurement mission MW imager adjusted precipitation estimation from remotely sensed information using artificial neural networks PERSIANN system. J Geophys Res 110:1–13

    Google Scholar 

  • Hsu KL, Gao X, Sorooshian S, Gupta HV (1997) Precipitation estimation from remotely sensed imagery using an artificial neural network. J Appl Meteorol 36:1176–1190

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Huffman GJ, Adler RF, Bolvin DT, Gu G, Nelkin EJ, Bowman KP, Hong Y, Stocker EF, Wolff DB (2007) The TRMM multisatellite precipitation analysis (TMPA): quasi-global, multiyear, combined-sensor precipitation estimates at fine scales. J Hydrometeor 8:38–55

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Imaoka K, Spencer RW (2000) Diurnal variation of precipitation over the tropical oceans observed by TRMM/TMI combined with SSM/I. J Climate 13:4149–4158

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Kidder SQ, Vonder Haar TH (1995) Satellite meteorology: an introduction. Academic Press, New York, 466pp

    Google Scholar 

  • Levizzani V, Amorati R, Meneguzzo F (2002) A review of satellite-based rainfall estimation methods. European commission project MUSIC report EVK1-CT-2000-00058. 66pp. http://www.isac.cnr.it/~meteosat/pub.html

  • Lovejoy S, Austin GL (1979) The delineation of rain areas from visible and IR satellite data from GATE and mid-latitudes. Atmos Ocean 17:77–92

    Google Scholar 

  • Nesbitt SW, Zipser EJ (2003) The diurnal cycle of rainfall and convective intensity according to the 3 years of TRMM measurements. J Climate 16:1456–1475

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Ohsawa T, Ueda H, Hayashi T, Watanabe A, Matsumota J (2001) Diurnal variations of convective activity and rainfall in Tropical Asia. J Meteor Soc Japan 79:333–352

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Petty GW (1995) The status of satellite-based rainfall estimation over land. Remote Sens Environ 51:125–137

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Sorooshian S, Hsu KL, Gao X, Gupta HV, Imam B, Braithwaite D (2000) Evaluation of PERSIANN system satellite–based estimates of tropical rainfall. Bull Am Meteor Soc 81:2035–2046

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Stephens GL, Kummerow CD (2007) The remote sensing of clouds and precipitation from space: a review. J Atmos Sci 64:3742–3765

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Todd MC, Barrett EC, Beaumont MJ, Green JL (1995) Satellite identification of rain days over the upper Nile River basin using an optimum IR rain/no-rain threshold temperature model. J Appl Meteorol 34(12):2600–2611

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Tsintikidis D, Georgakakos KP, Artan GA, Tsonis AA (1999) A feasibility study on mean areal rainfall estimation and hydrologic response in the Blue Nile region using METEOSAT images. J Hydrol 221:97–116

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Tsonis AA, Triantafyllou GN, Georgaakakos KP (1996) Hydrological applications of satellite data 1. Rainfall estimation. J Geophys Res 101:26517–26525

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Turk FJ, Miller SD (2005) Toward improving estimates of remotely-sensed precipitation with MODIS/AMSR-E blended data techniques. IEEE Trans Geosci Rem Sens 43:1059–1069

    CrossRef  Google Scholar 

  • Wale A, Rientjes THM, Gieske ASM, Getachew HA (2009) Ungauged catchment contributions to Lake Tana’s water balance. Hydrol Process 23(26):3682–3693

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Water Resources, Faculty of Geoinformation Science and Earth Observation (ITC), Twente University, 7500 AA, Enschede, The Netherlands

    Tom H.M. Rientjes, Alemseged T. Haile, Ambro S.M. Gieske & Ben H.P. Maathuis

  2. Department of Civil Engineering, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, LA, 70504, USA

    Emad Habib

Authors
  1. Tom H.M. Rientjes
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Alemseged T. Haile
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ambro S.M. Gieske
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ben H.P. Maathuis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Emad Habib
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tom H.M. Rientjes .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth and Environment, Florida International University, Modesto A. Maidique Campus, 33199, Miami, Florida, USA

    Dr. Assefa M. Melesse

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

Copyright information

© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Rientjes, T.H., Haile, A.T., Gieske, A.S., Maathuis, B.H., Habib, E. (2011). Satellite Based Cloud Detection and Rainfall Estimation in the Upper Blue Nile Basin. In: Melesse, A.M. (eds) Nile River Basin. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-0689-7_4

Download citation