Two and a half years of country-wide rainfall maps using radio links from commercial cellular telecommunication networks

作     者：Overeem, A. Leijnse, H. Uijlenhoet, R. 

作者机构：Royal Netherlands Meteorol Inst KNMI R&D Observat & Data Technol De Bilt Netherlands Wageningen Univ Hydrol & Quantitat Water Management Grp Wageningen Netherlands 

出 版 物：《WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH》 (水资源研究)

年 卷 期：2016年第52卷第10期

页      面：8039-8065页

核心收录：

学科分类：0710[理学-生物学] 0830[工学-环境科学与工程（可授工学、理学、农学学位）] 08[工学] 081501[工学-水文学及水资源] 0815[工学-水利工程] 

基　　金：Netherlands Technology Foundation STW 

主　　题：precipitation remote sensing microwave links measurement 

摘      要：Although rainfall estimation employing microwave links from cellular telecommunication networks is recognized as a new promising measurement technique, its potential for long-term large-scale operational rainfall monitoring remains to be demonstrated. This study contributes to this endeavor by deriving a continuous series of rainfall maps from a large 2.5 year microwave link data set of, on average, 3383 links (2044 link paths) covering Netherlands (approximate to 3.5 x 10(4) km(2)), a midlatitude country (approximate to 5 degrees E, approximate to 52 degrees N) with a temperate climate. Maps are extensively verified against an independent gauge-adjusted radar rainfall data set for different temporal (15 min, 1 h, 1 day, 1 month) and spatial (0.9, 74 km(2)) scales. The usefulness of different steps in the rainfall retrieval algorithm, i.e., a wet-dry classification method and a filter to remove outliers, is systematically assessed. A novel dew filter is developed to correct for dew-induced wet antenna attenuation, which, although a relative underestimation of 6% to 9% is found, generally yields good results. The microwave link rainfall estimation technique performs well for the summer months (June, July, August), even outperforming interpolation of automatic rain gauge data (with a density of approximate to 1 gauge per 1000 km(2)), but large deviations are found for the winter months (December, January, February). These deviations are generally expected to be related to frozen or melting precipitation. Hence, our results show the potential of commercial microwave links for long-term large-scale operational rainfall monitoring.