This paper presents a practical application of an opportunistic technique for the estimation of rainfall intensity and accumulated precipitation. The proposed technique is based upon signal strength measurements made by commercial-grade interactive satellite terminals. By applying some processing, the rain-induced attenuation on the microwave downlink from the satellite is first evaluated; then the rain attenuation is eventually mapped into a rainfall rate estimate via a tropospheric model. This methodology has been applied to a test area of 30×30 km2 around the city of Dortmund (North Rhine-Westphalia, upper basin of Ermscher river), for the heavy rain event that devastated western Germany in July, 2021. A rainfall map on this area is obtained from the measurements collected by a set of satellite terminals deployed in the region, and successfully compared with a map obtained with a conventional weather radar.

Rainfall Field Reconstruction by Opportunistic Use of the Rain-Induced Attenuation on Microwave Satellite Signals: The July 2021 Extreme Rain Event in Germany as a Case Study

Sapienza, Fabiola
Co-primo
Writing – Review & Editing
;
Bacci, Giacomo
Co-primo
Writing – Review & Editing
;
Giannetti, Filippo
Co-primo
Writing – Review & Editing
;
Lottici, Vincenzo
Co-primo
Writing – Review & Editing
;
Colicelli, Antonio
Co-primo
Writing – Review & Editing
;
Rallo, Giovanni
Co-primo
Writing – Review & Editing
;
2022-01-01

Abstract

This paper presents a practical application of an opportunistic technique for the estimation of rainfall intensity and accumulated precipitation. The proposed technique is based upon signal strength measurements made by commercial-grade interactive satellite terminals. By applying some processing, the rain-induced attenuation on the microwave downlink from the satellite is first evaluated; then the rain attenuation is eventually mapped into a rainfall rate estimate via a tropospheric model. This methodology has been applied to a test area of 30×30 km2 around the city of Dortmund (North Rhine-Westphalia, upper basin of Ermscher river), for the heavy rain event that devastated western Germany in July, 2021. A rainfall map on this area is obtained from the measurements collected by a set of satellite terminals deployed in the region, and successfully compared with a map obtained with a conventional weather radar.
2022
979-8-3503-3152-3
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11568/1185332
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