Open AccessApplicability of satellite‐based rainfall algorithms for estimating flood‐related rainfall events in the mid‐latitudes. Part I: spatial integration
Author(s) -
Görner C.,
Jatho N.,
Bernhofer C.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of flood risk management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.049
H-Index - 36
ISSN - 1753-318X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1753-318x.2011.01102.x
Subject(s) - flood myth , satellite , climatology , environmental science , latitude , meteorology , remote sensing , algorithm , geology , computer science , geography , geodesy , archaeology , aerospace engineering , engineering
This paper presents a study of the applicability of four satellite‐based rainfall algorithms using highly resolved data from the first Meteosat Second‐Generation satellite to derive hourly rain intensities. Saxony serves as an example of the mid‐latitude regions. The focus is on the suitability of these algorithms to detect and to monitor (flash) flood‐related rain intensities. For this purpose, 9 days with high rainfall amounts between May and August 2006 were analysed by comparing the satellite rain intensities to gauge adjusted radar data. Five different spatial resolutions were used to examine the effects of spatial integration from small scale (18 km 2 ) to large scale (57 600 km 2 ) on (i) the quality of the satellite rain intensities (amounts and locations); (ii) the related loss of spatial information; and (iii) possible applications for flood risk management. The results show that spatial integration leads to improvements of rain intensities and evaluation scores; however, it also leads to decreased applicability for estimating high‐intensity rainfall events that affect small‐ and medium‐scale basins.