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Large-scale precipitation estimation using Kalpana-1 IR measurements and its validation using GPCP and GPCC data

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Abstract

Large-scale precipitation estimation is very important for climate science because precipitation is a major component of the earth's water and energy cycles. In the present study, the GOES precipitation index technique has been applied to the Kalpana-1 satellite infrared (IR) images of every three-hourly, i.e., of 0000, 0300, 0600,…., 2100 hours UTC, for rainfall estimation as a preparatory to the INSAT-3D. After the temperatures of all the pixels in a grid are known, they are distributed to generate a three-hourly 24-class histogram of brightness temperatures of IR (10.5–12.5 μm) images for a 1.0° × 1.0° latitude/longitude box. The daily, monthly, and seasonal rainfall have been estimated using these three-hourly rain estimates for the entire south-west monsoon period of 2009 in the present study. To investigate the potential of these rainfall estimates, the validation of monthly and seasonal rainfall estimates has been carried out using the Global Precipitation Climatology Project and Global Precipitation Climatology Centre data. The validation results show that the present technique works very well for the large-scale precipitation estimation qualitatively as well as quantitatively. The results also suggest that the simple IR-based estimation technique can be used to estimate rainfall for tropical areas at a larger temporal scale for climatological applications.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Director of the Space Applications Centre, the Deputy Director of EPSA, and the Group Director of AOSG for the encouragement and their interest on the research work carried out in present study. The rainfall data from TRMM Online Visualization and Analysis System (TOVAS) and Daily/Weekly weather reports from IMD used in the study are thankfully acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences Group, Space Applications Centre, ISRO, Ahmedabad, 380 015, India

    Satya Prakash, Mahesh C. & Rakesh M. Gairola

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  1. Satya Prakash
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  2. Mahesh C.
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  3. Rakesh M. Gairola
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Correspondence to Satya Prakash.

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Prakash, S., C., M. & Gairola, R.M. Large-scale precipitation estimation using Kalpana-1 IR measurements and its validation using GPCP and GPCC data. Theor Appl Climatol 106, 283–293 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-011-0435-7

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