Full Citation
Title: A global satellite assisted precipitation climatology A global satellite assisted precipitation climatology
Citation Type: Journal Article
Publication Year: 2015
ISBN:
ISSN:
DOI: 10.5194/essdd-8-401-2015
NSFID:
PMCID:
PMID:
Abstract: Accurate representations of mean climate conditions, especially in areas of complex terrain, are an important part of environmental monitoring systems. As high-resolution satellite monitoring information accumulates with the passage of time, it can be increasingly useful in efforts to better characterize the earth's mean climatology. Current 5 state-of-the-science products rely on complex and sometimes unreliable relationships between elevation and station-based precipitation records, which can result in poor performance in food and water insecure regions with sparse observation networks. These vulnerable areas (like Ethiopia, Afghanistan, or Haiti) are often the critical regions for humanitarian drought monitoring. Here, we show that long period of record 10 geo-synchronous and polar-orbiting satellite observations provide a unique new resource for producing high resolution (0.05 •) global precipitation climatologies that perform reasonably well in data sparse regions. Traditionally, global climatologies have been produced by combining station observations and physiographic predictors like latitude, longitude, elevation, and slope. While 15 such approaches can work well, especially in areas with reasonably dense observation networks, the fundamental relationship between physiographic variables and the target climate variables can often be indirect and spatially complex. Infrared and microwave satellite observations, on the other hand, directly monitor the earth's energy emissions. These emissions often correspond physically with the location and intensity of precipi-20 tation. We show that these relationships provide a good basis for building global clima-tologies. We also introduce a new geospatial modeling approach based on moving window regressions and inverse distance weighting interpolation. This approach combines satellite fields, gridded physiographic indicators, and in situ climate normals. The resulting global 0.05 • monthly precipitation climatology, the Climate Hazards Group's Pre-25 cipitation Climatology version 1 (CHPclim v.1.0, http://dx.doi.org/10.15780/G2159X), is shown to compare favorably with similar global climatology products, especially in areas with complex terrain and low station densities. 402
Url: www.earth-syst-sci-data-discuss.net/8/401/2015/
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Authors: Funk, Christopher C.; Verdin, Andrew; Michaelsen, J; Peterson, P; Pedreros, D; Husak, Greg J
Periodical (Full): Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss
Issue:
Volume: 8
Pages: 401-425
Countries: