Articles | Volume 17, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-863-2013
© Author(s) 2013. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-863-2013
© Author(s) 2013. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Technical note
| 
28 Feb 2013
Technical note |
| 28 Feb 2013
Technical Note: An open source library for processing weather radar data (wradlib)
M. Heistermann
University of Potsdam, Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24–25, 14476 Potsdam, Germany
S. Jacobi
University of Potsdam, Institute of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24–25, 14476 Potsdam, Germany
T. Pfaff
University of Stuttgart, Institut für Wasser- und Umweltsystemmodellierung, Stuttgart, Germany
Related authors
Xiaoxiang Guan, Dung Viet Nguyen, Paul Voit, Bruno Merz, Maik Heistermann, and Sergiy Vorogushyn
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2024-143, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2024-143, 2024
Preprint under review for NHESS
Short summary
Short summary
We evaluated a multi-site stochastic regional weather generator (nsRWG) for its ability to capture the cross-scale extremity of high precipitation events (HPEs) in Germany. We generated 100 realizations of 72 years of daily synthetic precipitation data. The performance was assessed using WEI and xWEI indices, which measure event extremity across spatio-temporal scales. Results show nsRWG simulates well the extremity patterns of HPEs, though it overestimates short-duration, small-extent events.
Till Francke, Cosimo Brogi, Alby Duarte Rocha, Michael Förster, Maik Heistermann, Markus Köhli, Daniel Rasche, Marvin Reich, Paul Schattan, Lena Scheiffele, and Martin Schrön
Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2024-106, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2024-106, 2024
Preprint under review for GMD
Short summary
Short summary
Multiple methods for measuring soil moisture beyond the point scale exist. Their validation generally hindered by lack of knowing the truth. We propose a virtual framework, in which this truth is fully known and the sensor observations for Cosmic Ray Neutron Sensing, Remote Sensing, and Hydrogravimetry are simulated. This allows the rigourous testing of these virtual sensors to understand their effectiveness and limitations.
Georgy Ayzel and Maik Heistermann
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1945, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1945, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Forecasting rainfall over the next hour is an essential feature of early warning systems. Deep learning has emerged as a powerful alternative to conventional nowcasting technologies, but it still struggles to adequately predict impact-relevant heavy rainfall. We think that DL could do much better if the training tasks were defined more specifically, and that such a specification presents an opportunity to better align the output of nowcasting models with actual user requirements.
Paul Voit and Maik Heistermann
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2024-119, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2024-119, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for NHESS
Short summary
Short summary
Floods have caused significant damage in the past. To prepare for such events, we rely on historical data, but face issues due to rare rainfall events, lack of data, and climate change. Counterfactuals, or "what if" scenarios, simulate historical rainfall in different locations to estimate flood levels. Our new study refines this by deriving more plausible local scenarios, using the June 2024 Bavaria flood as a case study. This method could improve future flood preparation.
Paul Voit and Maik Heistermann
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 2147–2164, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-2147-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-2147-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
To identify flash flood potential in Germany, we shifted the most extreme rainfall events from the last 22 years systematically across Germany and simulated the consequent runoff reaction. Our results show that almost all areas in Germany have not seen the worst-case scenario of flood peaks within the last 22 years. With a slight spatial change of historical rainfall events, flood peaks of a factor of 2 or more would be achieved for most areas. The results can aid disaster risk management.
Maik Heistermann, Till Francke, Martin Schrön, and Sascha E. Oswald
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 989–1000, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-989-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-989-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) is a non-invasive technique used to obtain estimates of soil water content (SWC) at a horizontal footprint of around 150 m and a vertical penetration depth of up to 30 cm. However, typical CRNS applications require the local calibration of a function which converts neutron counts to SWC. As an alternative, we propose a generalized function as a way to avoid the use of local reference measurements of SWC and hence a major source of uncertainty.
Gerd Bürger and Maik Heistermann
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 3065–3077, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-3065-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-3065-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Our subject is a new catalogue of radar-based heavy rainfall events (CatRaRE) over Germany and how it relates to the concurrent atmospheric circulation. We classify reanalyzed daily atmospheric fields of convective indices according to CatRaRE, using conventional statistical and more recent machine learning algorithms, and apply them to present and future atmospheres. Increasing trends are projected for CatRaRE-type probabilities, from reanalyzed as well as from simulated atmospheric fields.
Maik Heistermann, Till Francke, Lena Scheiffele, Katya Dimitrova Petrova, Christian Budach, Martin Schrön, Benjamin Trost, Daniel Rasche, Andreas Güntner, Veronika Döpper, Michael Förster, Markus Köhli, Lisa Angermann, Nikolaos Antonoglou, Manuela Zude-Sasse, and Sascha E. Oswald
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3243–3262, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3243-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3243-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) allows for the non-invasive estimation of root-zone soil water content (SWC). The signal observed by a single CRNS sensor is influenced by the SWC in a radius of around 150 m (the footprint). Here, we have put together a cluster of eight CRNS sensors with overlapping footprints at an agricultural research site in north-east Germany. That way, we hope to represent spatial SWC heterogeneity instead of retrieving just one average SWC estimate from a single sensor.
Katharina Lengfeld, Paul Voit, Frank Kaspar, and Maik Heistermann
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 1227–1232, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-1227-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-1227-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Estimating the severity of a rainfall event based on the damage caused is easy but highly depends on the affected region. A less biased measure for the extremeness of an event is its rarity combined with its spatial extent. In this brief communication, we investigate the sensitivity of such measures to the underlying dataset and highlight the importance of considering multiple spatial and temporal scales using the devastating rainfall event in July 2021 in central Europe as an example.
Omar Seleem, Georgy Ayzel, Axel Bronstert, and Maik Heistermann
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 809–822, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-809-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-809-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Data-driven models are becoming more of a surrogate that overcomes the limitations of the computationally expensive 2D hydrodynamic models to map urban flood hazards. However, the model's ability to generalize outside the training domain is still a major challenge. We evaluate the performance of random forest and convolutional neural networks to predict urban floodwater depth and investigate their transferability outside the training domain.
Alberto Caldas-Alvarez, Markus Augenstein, Georgy Ayzel, Klemens Barfus, Ribu Cherian, Lisa Dillenardt, Felix Fauer, Hendrik Feldmann, Maik Heistermann, Alexia Karwat, Frank Kaspar, Heidi Kreibich, Etor Emanuel Lucio-Eceiza, Edmund P. Meredith, Susanna Mohr, Deborah Niermann, Stephan Pfahl, Florian Ruff, Henning W. Rust, Lukas Schoppa, Thomas Schwitalla, Stella Steidl, Annegret H. Thieken, Jordis S. Tradowsky, Volker Wulfmeyer, and Johannes Quaas
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 3701–3724, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-3701-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-3701-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
In a warming climate, extreme precipitation events are becoming more frequent. To advance our knowledge on such phenomena, we present a multidisciplinary analysis of a selected case study that took place on 29 June 2017 in the Berlin metropolitan area. Our analysis provides evidence of the extremeness of the case from the atmospheric and the impacts perspectives as well as new insights on the physical mechanisms of the event at the meteorological and climate scales.
Paul Voit and Maik Heistermann
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 2791–2805, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-2791-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-2791-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
To better understand how the frequency and intensity of heavy precipitation events (HPEs) will change with changing climate and to adapt disaster risk management accordingly, we have to quantify the extremeness of HPEs in a reliable way. We introduce the xWEI (cross-scale WEI) and show that this index can reveal important characteristics of HPEs that would otherwise remain hidden. We conclude that the xWEI could be a valuable instrument in both disaster risk management and research.
Maik Heistermann, Heye Bogena, Till Francke, Andreas Güntner, Jannis Jakobi, Daniel Rasche, Martin Schrön, Veronika Döpper, Benjamin Fersch, Jannis Groh, Amol Patil, Thomas Pütz, Marvin Reich, Steffen Zacharias, Carmen Zengerle, and Sascha Oswald
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 2501–2519, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-2501-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-2501-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents a dense network of cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) to measure spatio-temporal soil moisture patterns during a 2-month campaign in the Wüstebach headwater catchment in Germany. Stationary, mobile, and airborne CRNS technology monitored the root-zone water dynamics as well as spatial heterogeneity in the 0.4 km2 area. The 15 CRNS stations were supported by a hydrogravimeter, biomass sampling, and a wireless soil sensor network to facilitate holistic hydrological analysis.
Till Francke, Maik Heistermann, Markus Köhli, Christian Budach, Martin Schrön, and Sascha E. Oswald
Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst., 11, 75–92, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-11-75-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-11-75-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) is a non-invasive tool for measuring hydrogen pools like soil moisture, snow, or vegetation. This study presents a directional shielding approach, aiming to measure in specific directions only. The results show that non-directional neutron transport blurs the signal of the targeted direction. For typical instruments, this does not allow acceptable precision at a daily time resolution. However, the mere statistical distinction of two rates is feasible.
Maik Heistermann, Till Francke, Martin Schrön, and Sascha E. Oswald
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 4807–4824, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-4807-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-4807-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) is a powerful technique for retrieving representative estimates of soil moisture in footprints extending over hectometres in the horizontal and decimetres in the vertical. This study, however, demonstrates the potential of CRNS to obtain spatio-temporal patterns of soil moisture beyond isolated footprints. To that end, we analyse data from a unique observational campaign that featured a dense network of more than 20 neutron detectors in an area of just 1 km2.
Benjamin Fersch, Till Francke, Maik Heistermann, Martin Schrön, Veronika Döpper, Jannis Jakobi, Gabriele Baroni, Theresa Blume, Heye Bogena, Christian Budach, Tobias Gränzig, Michael Förster, Andreas Güntner, Harrie-Jan Hendricks Franssen, Mandy Kasner, Markus Köhli, Birgit Kleinschmit, Harald Kunstmann, Amol Patil, Daniel Rasche, Lena Scheiffele, Ulrich Schmidt, Sandra Szulc-Seyfried, Jannis Weimar, Steffen Zacharias, Marek Zreda, Bernd Heber, Ralf Kiese, Vladimir Mares, Hannes Mollenhauer, Ingo Völksch, and Sascha Oswald
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 2289–2309, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2289-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2289-2020, 2020
Georgy Ayzel, Tobias Scheffer, and Maik Heistermann
Geosci. Model Dev., 13, 2631–2644, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-2631-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-2631-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we present RainNet, a deep convolutional neural network for radar-based precipitation nowcasting, which was trained to predict continuous precipitation intensities at a lead time of 5 min. RainNet significantly outperformed the benchmark models at all lead times up to 60 min. Yet, an undesirable property of RainNet predictions is the level of spatial smoothing. Obviously, RainNet learned an optimal level of smoothing to produce a nowcast at 5 min lead time.
Irene Crisologo and Maik Heistermann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 645–659, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-645-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-645-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Archives of radar observations often suffer from errors, one of which is calibration. However, it is possible to correct them after the fact by using satellite radars as a calibration reference. We propose improvements to this calibration method by considering factors that affect the data quality, such that poor quality data gets filtered out in the bias calculation by assigning weights. We also show that the bias can be interpolated in time even for days when there are no satellite data.
Georgy Ayzel, Maik Heistermann, and Tanja Winterrath
Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 1387–1402, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-1387-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-1387-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
How much will it rain within the next hour? To answer this question, we developed rainymotion – an open source Python software library for precipitation nowcasting. In our benchmark experiments, including a state-of-the-art operational model, rainymotion demonstrated its ability to deliver timely and reliable nowcasts for a broad range of rainfall events. This way, rainymotion can serve as a baseline solution in the field of precipitation nowcasting.
Magdalena Uber, Jean-Pierre Vandervaere, Isabella Zin, Isabelle Braud, Maik Heistermann, Cédric Legoût, Gilles Molinié, and Guillaume Nord
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 6127–6146, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-6127-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-6127-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
We investigate how rivers in a flash-flood-prone region in southern France respond to rainfall depending on initial soil moisture. Therefore, high-resolution data of rainfall, river discharge and soil moisture were used. We find that during dry initial conditions, the rivers hardly respond even for heavy rain events, but for wet initial conditions, the response remains unpredictable: for some rain events almost all rainfall is transformed to discharge, whereas this is not the case for others.
Irene Crisologo, Robert A. Warren, Kai Mühlbauer, and Maik Heistermann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 5223–5236, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-5223-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-5223-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
The calibration of ground-based weather radar (GR) can be improved a posteriori by comparing observed GR reflectivity to well-established spaceborne radar platforms (SR), such as TRMM or GPM. Our study shows that the consistency between GR and SR reflectivity measurements can be enhanced by considering the quality of GR data from areas where signals may have been blocked due to the surrounding terrain, and provides an open-source toolset to carry out corresponding analyses.
Berry Boessenkool, Gerd Bürger, and Maik Heistermann
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 1623–1629, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-17-1623-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-17-1623-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Rainfall is more intense at high temperatures than in cooler weather, as can be seen in summer thunder storms. The relationship between temperature and rainfall intensity seems to invert at very high temperatures, however. There are some possible meteorological explanations, but we propose that part of the reason might be the low number of observations, due to which the actually possible values are underestimated. We propose a better way to estimate high quantiles from small datasets.
Maik Heistermann
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 3455–3461, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-3455-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-3455-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
In 2009, the "planetary boundaries" were introduced. They consist of nine global control variables and corresponding "thresholds which, if crossed, could generate unacceptable environmental change". The idea has been very successful, but also controversial. This paper picks up the debate with regard to the boundary on "global freshwater use": it argues that such a boundary is based on mere speculation, and that any exercise of assigning actual numbers is arbitrary, premature, and misleading.
K. Vormoor, D. Lawrence, M. Heistermann, and A. Bronstert
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 913–931, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-913-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-913-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
Projected shifts towards more dominant autumn/winter events during a future climate correspond to an increasing relevance of rainfall as a flood generating process in six Norwegian catchments. The relative role of hydrological model parameter uncertainty, compared to other uncertainty sources from our applied ensemble, is highest in those catchments showing the largest shifts in flood seasonality which indicates a lack in parameter robustness under non-stationary hydroclimatological conditions.
M. Heistermann, I. Crisologo, C. C. Abon, B. A. Racoma, S. Jacobi, N. T. Servando, C. P. C. David, and A. Bronstert
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 13, 653–657, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-13-653-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-13-653-2013, 2013
Xiaoxiang Guan, Dung Viet Nguyen, Paul Voit, Bruno Merz, Maik Heistermann, and Sergiy Vorogushyn
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2024-143, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2024-143, 2024
Preprint under review for NHESS
Short summary
Short summary
We evaluated a multi-site stochastic regional weather generator (nsRWG) for its ability to capture the cross-scale extremity of high precipitation events (HPEs) in Germany. We generated 100 realizations of 72 years of daily synthetic precipitation data. The performance was assessed using WEI and xWEI indices, which measure event extremity across spatio-temporal scales. Results show nsRWG simulates well the extremity patterns of HPEs, though it overestimates short-duration, small-extent events.
Till Francke, Cosimo Brogi, Alby Duarte Rocha, Michael Förster, Maik Heistermann, Markus Köhli, Daniel Rasche, Marvin Reich, Paul Schattan, Lena Scheiffele, and Martin Schrön
Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2024-106, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2024-106, 2024
Preprint under review for GMD
Short summary
Short summary
Multiple methods for measuring soil moisture beyond the point scale exist. Their validation generally hindered by lack of knowing the truth. We propose a virtual framework, in which this truth is fully known and the sensor observations for Cosmic Ray Neutron Sensing, Remote Sensing, and Hydrogravimetry are simulated. This allows the rigourous testing of these virtual sensors to understand their effectiveness and limitations.
Georgy Ayzel and Maik Heistermann
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1945, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1945, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Forecasting rainfall over the next hour is an essential feature of early warning systems. Deep learning has emerged as a powerful alternative to conventional nowcasting technologies, but it still struggles to adequately predict impact-relevant heavy rainfall. We think that DL could do much better if the training tasks were defined more specifically, and that such a specification presents an opportunity to better align the output of nowcasting models with actual user requirements.
Paul Voit and Maik Heistermann
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2024-119, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-2024-119, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for NHESS
Short summary
Short summary
Floods have caused significant damage in the past. To prepare for such events, we rely on historical data, but face issues due to rare rainfall events, lack of data, and climate change. Counterfactuals, or "what if" scenarios, simulate historical rainfall in different locations to estimate flood levels. Our new study refines this by deriving more plausible local scenarios, using the June 2024 Bavaria flood as a case study. This method could improve future flood preparation.
Paul Voit and Maik Heistermann
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 2147–2164, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-2147-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-24-2147-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
To identify flash flood potential in Germany, we shifted the most extreme rainfall events from the last 22 years systematically across Germany and simulated the consequent runoff reaction. Our results show that almost all areas in Germany have not seen the worst-case scenario of flood peaks within the last 22 years. With a slight spatial change of historical rainfall events, flood peaks of a factor of 2 or more would be achieved for most areas. The results can aid disaster risk management.
Maik Heistermann, Till Francke, Martin Schrön, and Sascha E. Oswald
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 989–1000, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-989-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-989-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) is a non-invasive technique used to obtain estimates of soil water content (SWC) at a horizontal footprint of around 150 m and a vertical penetration depth of up to 30 cm. However, typical CRNS applications require the local calibration of a function which converts neutron counts to SWC. As an alternative, we propose a generalized function as a way to avoid the use of local reference measurements of SWC and hence a major source of uncertainty.
Gerd Bürger and Maik Heistermann
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 3065–3077, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-3065-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-3065-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Our subject is a new catalogue of radar-based heavy rainfall events (CatRaRE) over Germany and how it relates to the concurrent atmospheric circulation. We classify reanalyzed daily atmospheric fields of convective indices according to CatRaRE, using conventional statistical and more recent machine learning algorithms, and apply them to present and future atmospheres. Increasing trends are projected for CatRaRE-type probabilities, from reanalyzed as well as from simulated atmospheric fields.
Maik Heistermann, Till Francke, Lena Scheiffele, Katya Dimitrova Petrova, Christian Budach, Martin Schrön, Benjamin Trost, Daniel Rasche, Andreas Güntner, Veronika Döpper, Michael Förster, Markus Köhli, Lisa Angermann, Nikolaos Antonoglou, Manuela Zude-Sasse, and Sascha E. Oswald
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 3243–3262, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3243-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-3243-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) allows for the non-invasive estimation of root-zone soil water content (SWC). The signal observed by a single CRNS sensor is influenced by the SWC in a radius of around 150 m (the footprint). Here, we have put together a cluster of eight CRNS sensors with overlapping footprints at an agricultural research site in north-east Germany. That way, we hope to represent spatial SWC heterogeneity instead of retrieving just one average SWC estimate from a single sensor.
Katharina Lengfeld, Paul Voit, Frank Kaspar, and Maik Heistermann
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 1227–1232, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-1227-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-1227-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Estimating the severity of a rainfall event based on the damage caused is easy but highly depends on the affected region. A less biased measure for the extremeness of an event is its rarity combined with its spatial extent. In this brief communication, we investigate the sensitivity of such measures to the underlying dataset and highlight the importance of considering multiple spatial and temporal scales using the devastating rainfall event in July 2021 in central Europe as an example.
Omar Seleem, Georgy Ayzel, Axel Bronstert, and Maik Heistermann
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 809–822, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-809-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-23-809-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Data-driven models are becoming more of a surrogate that overcomes the limitations of the computationally expensive 2D hydrodynamic models to map urban flood hazards. However, the model's ability to generalize outside the training domain is still a major challenge. We evaluate the performance of random forest and convolutional neural networks to predict urban floodwater depth and investigate their transferability outside the training domain.
Alberto Caldas-Alvarez, Markus Augenstein, Georgy Ayzel, Klemens Barfus, Ribu Cherian, Lisa Dillenardt, Felix Fauer, Hendrik Feldmann, Maik Heistermann, Alexia Karwat, Frank Kaspar, Heidi Kreibich, Etor Emanuel Lucio-Eceiza, Edmund P. Meredith, Susanna Mohr, Deborah Niermann, Stephan Pfahl, Florian Ruff, Henning W. Rust, Lukas Schoppa, Thomas Schwitalla, Stella Steidl, Annegret H. Thieken, Jordis S. Tradowsky, Volker Wulfmeyer, and Johannes Quaas
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 3701–3724, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-3701-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-3701-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
In a warming climate, extreme precipitation events are becoming more frequent. To advance our knowledge on such phenomena, we present a multidisciplinary analysis of a selected case study that took place on 29 June 2017 in the Berlin metropolitan area. Our analysis provides evidence of the extremeness of the case from the atmospheric and the impacts perspectives as well as new insights on the physical mechanisms of the event at the meteorological and climate scales.
Paul Voit and Maik Heistermann
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 2791–2805, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-2791-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-22-2791-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
To better understand how the frequency and intensity of heavy precipitation events (HPEs) will change with changing climate and to adapt disaster risk management accordingly, we have to quantify the extremeness of HPEs in a reliable way. We introduce the xWEI (cross-scale WEI) and show that this index can reveal important characteristics of HPEs that would otherwise remain hidden. We conclude that the xWEI could be a valuable instrument in both disaster risk management and research.
Maik Heistermann, Heye Bogena, Till Francke, Andreas Güntner, Jannis Jakobi, Daniel Rasche, Martin Schrön, Veronika Döpper, Benjamin Fersch, Jannis Groh, Amol Patil, Thomas Pütz, Marvin Reich, Steffen Zacharias, Carmen Zengerle, and Sascha Oswald
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 2501–2519, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-2501-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-2501-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents a dense network of cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) to measure spatio-temporal soil moisture patterns during a 2-month campaign in the Wüstebach headwater catchment in Germany. Stationary, mobile, and airborne CRNS technology monitored the root-zone water dynamics as well as spatial heterogeneity in the 0.4 km2 area. The 15 CRNS stations were supported by a hydrogravimeter, biomass sampling, and a wireless soil sensor network to facilitate holistic hydrological analysis.
Till Francke, Maik Heistermann, Markus Köhli, Christian Budach, Martin Schrön, and Sascha E. Oswald
Geosci. Instrum. Method. Data Syst., 11, 75–92, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-11-75-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gi-11-75-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) is a non-invasive tool for measuring hydrogen pools like soil moisture, snow, or vegetation. This study presents a directional shielding approach, aiming to measure in specific directions only. The results show that non-directional neutron transport blurs the signal of the targeted direction. For typical instruments, this does not allow acceptable precision at a daily time resolution. However, the mere statistical distinction of two rates is feasible.
Maik Heistermann, Till Francke, Martin Schrön, and Sascha E. Oswald
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 4807–4824, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-4807-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-4807-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Cosmic-ray neutron sensing (CRNS) is a powerful technique for retrieving representative estimates of soil moisture in footprints extending over hectometres in the horizontal and decimetres in the vertical. This study, however, demonstrates the potential of CRNS to obtain spatio-temporal patterns of soil moisture beyond isolated footprints. To that end, we analyse data from a unique observational campaign that featured a dense network of more than 20 neutron detectors in an area of just 1 km2.
Thomas Schneider von Deimling, Hanna Lee, Thomas Ingeman-Nielsen, Sebastian Westermann, Vladimir Romanovsky, Scott Lamoureux, Donald A. Walker, Sarah Chadburn, Erin Trochim, Lei Cai, Jan Nitzbon, Stephan Jacobi, and Moritz Langer
The Cryosphere, 15, 2451–2471, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2451-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2451-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Climate warming puts infrastructure built on permafrost at risk of failure. There is a growing need for appropriate model-based risk assessments. Here we present a modelling study and show an exemplary case of how a gravel road in a cold permafrost environment in Alaska might suffer from degrading permafrost under a scenario of intense climate warming. We use this case study to discuss the broader-scale applicability of our model for simulating future Arctic infrastructure failure.
Benjamin Fersch, Till Francke, Maik Heistermann, Martin Schrön, Veronika Döpper, Jannis Jakobi, Gabriele Baroni, Theresa Blume, Heye Bogena, Christian Budach, Tobias Gränzig, Michael Förster, Andreas Güntner, Harrie-Jan Hendricks Franssen, Mandy Kasner, Markus Köhli, Birgit Kleinschmit, Harald Kunstmann, Amol Patil, Daniel Rasche, Lena Scheiffele, Ulrich Schmidt, Sandra Szulc-Seyfried, Jannis Weimar, Steffen Zacharias, Marek Zreda, Bernd Heber, Ralf Kiese, Vladimir Mares, Hannes Mollenhauer, Ingo Völksch, and Sascha Oswald
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 2289–2309, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2289-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-2289-2020, 2020
Georgy Ayzel, Tobias Scheffer, and Maik Heistermann
Geosci. Model Dev., 13, 2631–2644, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-2631-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-13-2631-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we present RainNet, a deep convolutional neural network for radar-based precipitation nowcasting, which was trained to predict continuous precipitation intensities at a lead time of 5 min. RainNet significantly outperformed the benchmark models at all lead times up to 60 min. Yet, an undesirable property of RainNet predictions is the level of spatial smoothing. Obviously, RainNet learned an optimal level of smoothing to produce a nowcast at 5 min lead time.
Irene Crisologo and Maik Heistermann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 645–659, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-645-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-645-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Archives of radar observations often suffer from errors, one of which is calibration. However, it is possible to correct them after the fact by using satellite radars as a calibration reference. We propose improvements to this calibration method by considering factors that affect the data quality, such that poor quality data gets filtered out in the bias calculation by assigning weights. We also show that the bias can be interpolated in time even for days when there are no satellite data.
Georgy Ayzel, Maik Heistermann, and Tanja Winterrath
Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 1387–1402, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-1387-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-1387-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
How much will it rain within the next hour? To answer this question, we developed rainymotion – an open source Python software library for precipitation nowcasting. In our benchmark experiments, including a state-of-the-art operational model, rainymotion demonstrated its ability to deliver timely and reliable nowcasts for a broad range of rainfall events. This way, rainymotion can serve as a baseline solution in the field of precipitation nowcasting.
Magdalena Uber, Jean-Pierre Vandervaere, Isabella Zin, Isabelle Braud, Maik Heistermann, Cédric Legoût, Gilles Molinié, and Guillaume Nord
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 6127–6146, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-6127-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-6127-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
We investigate how rivers in a flash-flood-prone region in southern France respond to rainfall depending on initial soil moisture. Therefore, high-resolution data of rainfall, river discharge and soil moisture were used. We find that during dry initial conditions, the rivers hardly respond even for heavy rain events, but for wet initial conditions, the response remains unpredictable: for some rain events almost all rainfall is transformed to discharge, whereas this is not the case for others.
Irene Crisologo, Robert A. Warren, Kai Mühlbauer, and Maik Heistermann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 5223–5236, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-5223-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-5223-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
The calibration of ground-based weather radar (GR) can be improved a posteriori by comparing observed GR reflectivity to well-established spaceborne radar platforms (SR), such as TRMM or GPM. Our study shows that the consistency between GR and SR reflectivity measurements can be enhanced by considering the quality of GR data from areas where signals may have been blocked due to the surrounding terrain, and provides an open-source toolset to carry out corresponding analyses.
Berry Boessenkool, Gerd Bürger, and Maik Heistermann
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 1623–1629, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-17-1623-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-17-1623-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Rainfall is more intense at high temperatures than in cooler weather, as can be seen in summer thunder storms. The relationship between temperature and rainfall intensity seems to invert at very high temperatures, however. There are some possible meteorological explanations, but we propose that part of the reason might be the low number of observations, due to which the actually possible values are underestimated. We propose a better way to estimate high quantiles from small datasets.
Maik Heistermann
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 3455–3461, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-3455-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-3455-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
In 2009, the "planetary boundaries" were introduced. They consist of nine global control variables and corresponding "thresholds which, if crossed, could generate unacceptable environmental change". The idea has been very successful, but also controversial. This paper picks up the debate with regard to the boundary on "global freshwater use": it argues that such a boundary is based on mere speculation, and that any exercise of assigning actual numbers is arbitrary, premature, and misleading.
K. Vormoor, D. Lawrence, M. Heistermann, and A. Bronstert
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 913–931, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-913-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-19-913-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
Projected shifts towards more dominant autumn/winter events during a future climate correspond to an increasing relevance of rainfall as a flood generating process in six Norwegian catchments. The relative role of hydrological model parameter uncertainty, compared to other uncertainty sources from our applied ensemble, is highest in those catchments showing the largest shifts in flood seasonality which indicates a lack in parameter robustness under non-stationary hydroclimatological conditions.
M. Heistermann, I. Crisologo, C. C. Abon, B. A. Racoma, S. Jacobi, N. T. Servando, C. P. C. David, and A. Bronstert
Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 13, 653–657, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-13-653-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-13-653-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Subject: Hydrometeorology | Techniques and Approaches: Instruments and observation techniques
Technical note: A guide to using three open-source quality control algorithms for rainfall data from personal weather stations
Technical note: Investigating the potential for smartphone-based monitoring of evapotranspiration and land surface energy-balance partitioning
Exploring patterns in precipitation intensity–duration–area–frequency relationships using weather radar data
Technical Note: A simple feedforward artificial neural network for high temporal resolution classification of wet and dry periods using signal attenuation from commercial microwave links
An intercomparison of four gridded precipitation products over Europe using the three-cornered-hat method
Merging with crowdsourced rain gauge data improves pan-European radar precipitation estimates
Statistical characteristics of raindrop size distribution during rainy seasons in complicated mountain terrain
Evaluation of precipitation measurement methods using data from a precision lysimeter network
Quantitative rainfall analysis of the 2021 mid-July flood event in Belgium
Multi-scale temporal analysis of evaporation on a saline lake in the Atacama Desert
Coastal and orographic effects on extreme precipitation revealed by weather radar observations
Unshielded precipitation gauge collection efficiency with wind speed and hydrometeor fall velocity
Evaluation of Integrated Nowcasting through Comprehensive Analysis (INCA) precipitation analysis using a dense rain-gauge network in southeastern Austria
Microphysical features of typhoon and non-typhoon rainfall observed in Taiwan, an island in the northwestern Pacific
Partial energy balance closure of eddy covariance evaporation measurements using concurrent lysimeter observations over grassland
Rivers in the sky, flooding on the ground: the role of atmospheric rivers in inland flooding in central Europe
Evaluation of the WMO Solid Precipitation Intercomparison Experiment (SPICE) transfer functions for adjusting the wind bias in solid precipitation measurements
Rainfall estimation from a German-wide commercial microwave link network: optimized processing and validation for 1 year of data
Radar-based characterisation of heavy precipitation in the eastern Mediterranean and its representation in a convection-permitting model
Effect of disdrometer type on rain drop size distribution characterisation: a new dataset for south-eastern Australia
Quantitative precipitation estimation with weather radar using a data- and information-based approach
Continuous, near-real-time observations of water stable isotope ratios during rainfall and throughfall events
Rain erosivity map for Germany derived from contiguous radar rain data
Citizen science flow – an assessment of simple streamflow measurement methods
Daily evaluation of 26 precipitation datasets using Stage-IV gauge-radar data for the CONUS
Exploring the use of underground gravity monitoring to evaluate radar estimates of heavy rainfall
The CAMELS-CL dataset: catchment attributes and meteorology for large sample studies – Chile dataset
Precipitation characteristics and associated weather conditions on the eastern slopes of the Canadian Rockies during March–April 2015
Dendrohydrology and water resources management in south-central Chile: lessons from the Río Imperial streamflow reconstruction
Comparison of precipitation measurements by OTT Parsivel2 and Thies LPM optical disdrometers
Obtaining sub-daily new snow density from automated measurements in high mountain regions
Deriving surface soil moisture from reflected GNSS signal observations from a grassland site in southwestern France
Testing and development of transfer functions for weighing precipitation gauges in WMO-SPICE
Technical note: Using distributed temperature sensing for Bowen ratio evaporation measurements
Evaluation of GPM IMERG Early, Late, and Final rainfall estimates using WegenerNet gauge data in southeastern Austria
The 2010–2015 megadrought in central Chile: impacts on regional hydroclimate and vegetation
Measuring precipitation with a geolysimeter
Convective rainfall in a dry climate: relations with synoptic systems and flash-flood generation in the Dead Sea region
Use of reflected GNSS SNR data to retrieve either soil moisture or vegetation height from a wheat crop
Water-use dynamics of an alien-invaded riparian forest within the Mediterranean climate zone of the Western Cape, South Africa
Impact of rainfall spatial aggregation on the identification of debris flow occurrence thresholds
Area-averaged evapotranspiration over a heterogeneous land surface: aggregation of multi-point EC flux measurements with a high-resolution land-cover map and footprint analysis
Analysis of single-Alter-shielded and unshielded measurements of mixed and solid precipitation from WMO-SPICE
Analysing surface energy balance closure and partitioning over a semi-arid savanna FLUXNET site in Skukuza, Kruger National Park, South Africa
Rainfall and streamflow sensor network design: a review of applications, classification, and a proposed framework
The quantification and correction of wind-induced precipitation measurement errors
Response of water vapour D-excess to land–atmosphere interactions in a semi-arid environment
Areal rainfall estimation using moving cars – computer experiments including hydrological modeling
Recent changes and drivers of the atmospheric evaporative demand in the Canary Islands
A radar-based regional extreme rainfall analysis to derive the thresholds for a novel automatic alert system in Switzerland
Abbas El Hachem, Jochen Seidel, Tess O'Hara, Roberto Villalobos Herrera, Aart Overeem, Remko Uijlenhoet, András Bárdossy, and Lotte de Vos
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 4715–4731, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4715-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-4715-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study presents an overview of open-source quality control (QC) algorithms for rainfall data from personal weather stations (PWSs). The methodology and usability along technical and operational guidelines for using every QC algorithm are presented. All three QC algorithms are available for users to explore in the OpenSense sandbox. They were applied in a case study using PWS data from the Amsterdam region in the Netherlands. The results highlight the necessity for data quality control.
Adriaan J. Teuling, Belle Holthuis, and Jasper F. D. Lammers
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 3799–3806, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3799-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3799-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
The understanding of spatio-temporal variability of evapotranspiration (ET) is currently limited by a lack of measurement techniques that are low cost and that can be applied anywhere at any time. Here we show that evapotranspiration can be estimated accurately using observations made by smartphone sensors, suggesting that smartphone-based ET monitoring could provide a realistic and low-cost alternative for real-time ET estimation in the field.
Talia Rosin, Francesco Marra, and Efrat Morin
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 3549–3566, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3549-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-3549-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Knowledge of extreme precipitation probability at various spatial–temporal scales is crucial. We estimate extreme precipitation return levels at multiple scales (10 min–24 h, 0.25–500 km2) in the eastern Mediterranean using radar data. We show our estimates are comparable to those derived from averaged daily rain gauges. We then explore multi-scale extreme precipitation across coastal, mountainous, and desert regions.
Erlend Øydvin, Maximilian Graf, Christian Chwala, Mareile Astrid Wolff, Nils-Otto Kitterød, and Vegard Nilsen
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-647, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-647, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Two simple neural networks are trained to detect rainfall events using signal loss from commercial microwave links. Whereas existing rainfall event detection methods have focused on hourly resolution reference data, this study uses weather radar and rain gauges with 5 minutes and 1 minute temporal resolution respectively. Our results show that the developed neural networks can detect rainfall events with a higher temporal precision than existing methods.
Llorenç Lledó, Thomas Haiden, and Matthieu Chevallier
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-807, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-807, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
High-quality observational datasets are essential to perform forecast verification and improve weather forecast services. When it comes to verifying precipitation, a high-resolution, global-coverage and good-quality dataset is not yet available. This research analyses the strengths and shortcomings of four observational products that employ complementary measurement techniques to estimate surface precipitation. Satellites provide good spatial coverage, but other products are still more accurate.
Aart Overeem, Hidde Leijnse, Gerard van der Schrier, Else van den Besselaar, Irene Garcia-Marti, and Lotte Wilhelmina de Vos
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 649–668, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-649-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-649-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Ground-based radar precipitation products typically need adjustment with rain gauge accumulations to achieve a reasonable accuracy. Crowdsourced rain gauge networks have a much higher density than conventional ones. Here, a 1-year personal weather station (PWS) gauge dataset is obtained. After quality control, the 1 h PWS gauge accumulations are merged with pan-European radar accumulations. The potential of crowdsourcing to improve radar precipitation products in (near) real time is confirmed.
Wenqian Mao, Wenyu Zhang, and Menggang Kou
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 3895–3910, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-3895-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-3895-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Drop size distribution characteristics vary with microphysical characteristics. We choose the Qilian mountains and represent the southern and northern slopes and the interior. To investigate discrepancies, DSD characteristics and Z–R relationships are analyzed based on continuous observations in the rainy season. We obtain the finer precipitation of mountains and refine the accuracy of quantitative precipitation estimation, which would help develop cloud water resources in mountainous areas.
Tobias Schnepper, Jannis Groh, Horst H. Gerke, Barbara Reichert, and Thomas Pütz
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 3265–3292, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-3265-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-3265-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
We compared hourly data from precipitation gauges with lysimeter reference data at three sites under different climatic conditions. Our results show that precipitation gauges recorded 33–96 % of the reference precipitation data for the period under consideration (2015–2018). Correction algorithms increased the registered precipitation by 9–14 %. It follows that when using point precipitation data, regardless of the precipitation measurement method used, relevant uncertainties must be considered.
Michel Journée, Edouard Goudenhoofdt, Stéphane Vannitsem, and Laurent Delobbe
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 27, 3169–3189, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-3169-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-27-3169-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
The exceptional flood of July 2021 in central Europe impacted Belgium severely. This study aims to characterize rainfall amounts in Belgium from 13 to 16 July 2021 based on observational data (i.e., rain gauge data and a radar-based rainfall product). The spatial and temporal distributions of rainfall during the event aredescribed. In order to document such a record-breaking event as much as possible, the rainfall data are shared with the scientific community on Zenodo for further studies.
Felipe Lobos-Roco, Oscar Hartogensis, Francisco Suárez, Ariadna Huerta-Viso, Imme Benedict, Alberto de la Fuente, and Jordi Vilà-Guerau de Arellano
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 3709–3729, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-3709-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-3709-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This research brings a multi-scale temporal analysis of evaporation in a saline lake of the Atacama Desert. Our findings reveal that evaporation is controlled differently depending on the timescale. Evaporation is controlled sub-diurnally by wind speed, regulated seasonally by radiation and modulated interannually by ENSO. Our research extends our understanding of evaporation, contributing to improving the climate change assessment and efficiency of water management in arid regions.
Francesco Marra, Moshe Armon, and Efrat Morin
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 26, 1439–1458, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-1439-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-26-1439-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We present a new method for quantifying the probability of occurrence of extreme rainfall using radar data, and we use it to examine coastal and orographic effects on extremes. We identify three regimes, directly related to precipitation physical processes, which respond differently to these forcings. The methods and results are of interest for researchers and practitioners using radar for the analysis of extremes, risk managers, water resources managers, and climate change impact studies.
Jeffery Hoover, Michael E. Earle, Paul I. Joe, and Pierre E. Sullivan
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 5473–5491, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5473-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-5473-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Transfer functions with dependence on wind speed and precipitation fall velocity are evaluated alongside transfer functions with wind speed and temperature dependence for unshielded precipitation gauges. The transfer functions with fall velocity dependence reduced the RMSE of unshielded gauge measurements relative to the functions based on wind speed and temperature, demonstrating the importance of fall velocity for precipitation gauge collection efficiency and transfer functions.
Esmail Ghaemi, Ulrich Foelsche, Alexander Kann, and Jürgen Fuchsberger
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 4335–4356, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-4335-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-4335-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
We assess an operational merged gauge–radar precipitation product over a period of 12 years, using gridded precipitation fields from a dense gauge network (WegenerNet) in southeastern Austria. We analyze annual data, seasonal data, and extremes using different metrics. We identify individual events using a simple threshold based on the interval between two consecutive events and evaluate the events' characteristics in both datasets.
Jayalakshmi Janapati, Balaji Kumar Seela, Pay-Liam Lin, Meng-Tze Lee, and Everette Joseph
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 4025–4040, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-4025-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-4025-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Typhoon (TY) and non-typhoon (NTY) rainy days in northern Taiwan summer seasons showed more large drops on NTY than TY rainy days. Relatively higher convective activity and drier conditions in NTY than TY lead to variations in microphysical characteristics between TY and NTY rainy days. The raindrop size distribution and kinetic energy relations assessed for TY and NTY rainfall can be useful for evaluating the radar rainfall estimation algorithms, cloud modeling, and rainfall erosivity studies.
Peter Widmoser and Dominik Michel
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 25, 1151–1163, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-1151-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-25-1151-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
With respect to ongoing discussions about the causes of energy imbalance, a method for closing the latent heat flux gap based on lysimeter measurements is assessed at four measurement stations over grassland in humid and semiarid climates. The applied partial closure yields excellent adjustments of eddy covariance data as compared to results found in the literature. The method also allows a distinction between systematic and random deviation of eddy covariance and lysimeter measurements.
Monica Ionita, Viorica Nagavciuc, and Bin Guan
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 5125–5147, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-5125-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-5125-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Analysis of the largest 10 floods in the lower Rhine, between 1817 and 2015, shows that all these extreme flood peaks have been preceded, up to 7 d in advance, by intense moisture transport from the tropical North Atlantic basin in the form of narrow bands also known as atmospheric rivers. The results presented in this study offer new insights regarding the importance of moisture transport as the driver of extreme flooding in the lower part of the Rhine catchment area.
Craig D. Smith, Amber Ross, John Kochendorfer, Michael E. Earle, Mareile Wolff, Samuel Buisán, Yves-Alain Roulet, and Timo Laine
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 4025–4043, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-4025-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-4025-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
During the World Meteorological Organization Solid Precipitation Intercomparison Experiment (SPICE), transfer functions were developed to adjust automated gauge measurements of solid precipitation for systematic bias due to wind. The transfer functions were developed by combining data from eight sites, attempting to make them more universally applicable in a range of climates. This analysis is an assessment of the performance of those transfer functions, using data collected when SPICE ended.
Maximilian Graf, Christian Chwala, Julius Polz, and Harald Kunstmann
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 2931–2950, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-2931-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-2931-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Commercial microwave links (CMLs), which form large parts of the backhaul from the ubiquitous cellular communication networks, can be used to estimate path-integrated rainfall rates. This study presents the processing and evaluation of the largest CML data set to date, covering the whole of Germany with almost 4000 CMLs. The CML-derived rainfall information compares well to a standard precipitation data set from the German Meteorological Service, which combines radar and rain gauge data.
Moshe Armon, Francesco Marra, Yehouda Enzel, Dorita Rostkier-Edelstein, and Efrat Morin
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 24, 1227–1249, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-1227-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-24-1227-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Heavy precipitation events (HPEs), occurring around the globe, lead to natural hazards as well as to water resource recharge. Rainfall patterns during HPEs vary from one case to another and govern their effect. Thus, correct prediction of these patterns is crucial for coping with HPEs. However, the ability of weather models to generate such patterns is unclear. Here, we characterise rainfall patterns during HPEs based on weather radar data and evaluate weather model simulations of these events.
Adrien Guyot, Jayaram Pudashine, Alain Protat, Remko Uijlenhoet, Valentijn R. N. Pauwels, Alan Seed, and Jeffrey P. Walker
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 4737–4761, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-4737-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-4737-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
We characterised for the first time the rainfall microphysics for Southern Hemisphere temperate latitudes. Co-located instruments were deployed to provide information on the sampling effect and spatio-temporal variabilities at micro scales. Substantial differences were found across the instruments, increasing with increasing values of the rain rate. Specific relations for reflectivity–rainfall are presented together with related uncertainties for drizzle and stratiform and convective rainfall.
Malte Neuper and Uwe Ehret
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 3711–3733, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-3711-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-3711-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we apply a data-driven approach to quantitatively estimate precipitation using weather radar data. The method is based on information theory concepts. It uses predictive relations expressed by empirical discrete probability distributions, which are directly derived from data rather than the standard deterministic functions.
Barbara Herbstritt, Benjamin Gralher, and Markus Weiler
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 3007–3019, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-3007-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-3007-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
We describe a novel technique for the precise, quasi real-time observation of water-stable isotopes in gross precipitation and throughfall from tree canopies in parallel. Various processes (e.g. rainfall intensity, evapotranspiration, exchange with ambient vapour) thereby control throughfall intensity and isotopic composition. The achieved temporal resolution now competes with common meteorological measurements, thus enabling new ways to employ water-stable isotopes in forested catchments.
Karl Auerswald, Franziska K. Fischer, Tanja Winterrath, and Robert Brandhuber
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 1819–1832, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-1819-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-1819-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Radar rain data enable for the first time portraying the erosivity pattern with high spatial and temporal resolution. This allowed quantification of erosivity in Germany with unprecedented detail. Compared to previous estimates, erosivity has strongly increased and its seasonal distribution has changed, presumably due to climate change. As a consequence, erosion for some crops is 4 times higher than previously estimated.
Jeffrey C. Davids, Martine M. Rutten, Anusha Pandey, Nischal Devkota, Wessel David van Oyen, Rajaram Prajapati, and Nick van de Giesen
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 1045–1065, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-1045-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-1045-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Wise management of water resources requires data. Nevertheless, the amount of water data being collected continues to decline. We evaluated potential citizen science approaches for measuring flows of headwater streams and springs. After selecting salt dilution as the preferred approach, we partnered with Nepali students to cost-effectively measure flows and water quality with smartphones at 264 springs and streams which provide crucial water supplies to the rapidly expanding Kathmandu Valley.
Hylke E. Beck, Ming Pan, Tirthankar Roy, Graham P. Weedon, Florian Pappenberger, Albert I. J. M. van Dijk, George J. Huffman, Robert F. Adler, and Eric F. Wood
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 207–224, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-207-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-207-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
We conducted a comprehensive evaluation of 26 precipitation datasets for the US using the Stage-IV gauge-radar dataset as a reference. The best overall performance was obtained by MSWEP V2.2, underscoring the importance of applying daily gauge corrections and accounting for reporting times. Our findings can be used as a guide to choose the most suitable precipitation dataset for a particular application.
Laurent Delobbe, Arnaud Watlet, Svenja Wilfert, and Michel Van Camp
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 23, 93–105, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-93-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-93-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
In this study, we explore the use of an underground superconducting gravimeter as a new source of in situ observations for the evaluation of radar-based precipitation estimates. The comparison of radar and gravity time series over 15 years shows that short-duration intense rainfall events cause a rapid decrease in the measured gravity. Rainfall amounts can be derived from this decrease. The gravimeter allows capture of rainfall at a much larger spatial scale than a traditional rain gauge.
Camila Alvarez-Garreton, Pablo A. Mendoza, Juan Pablo Boisier, Nans Addor, Mauricio Galleguillos, Mauricio Zambrano-Bigiarini, Antonio Lara, Cristóbal Puelma, Gonzalo Cortes, Rene Garreaud, James McPhee, and Alvaro Ayala
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 5817–5846, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-5817-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-5817-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
CAMELS-CL provides a catchment dataset in Chile, including 516 catchment boundaries, hydro-meteorological time series, and 70 catchment attributes quantifying catchments' climatic, hydrological, topographic, geological, land cover and anthropic intervention features. By using CAMELS-CL, we characterise hydro-climatic regional variations, assess precipitation and potential evapotranspiration uncertainties, and analyse human intervention impacts on catchment response.
Julie M. Thériault, Ida Hung, Paul Vaquer, Ronald E. Stewart, and John W. Pomeroy
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 4491–4512, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-4491-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-4491-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Precipitation events associated with rain and snow on the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains, Canada, are a critical aspect of the regional water cycle. The goal is to characterize the precipitation and weather conditions in the Kananaskis Valley, Alberta, during a field experiment. Mainly dense solid precipitation reached the surface and occurred during downslope and upslope conditions. The precipitation phase has critical implications on the severity of flooding events in the area.
Alfonso Fernández, Ariel Muñoz, Álvaro González-Reyes, Isabella Aguilera-Betti, Isadora Toledo, Paulina Puchi, David Sauchyn, Sebastián Crespo, Cristian Frene, Ignacio Mundo, Mauro González, and Raffaele Vignola
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 2921–2935, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-2921-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-2921-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Short-term river discharge records hamper assessment of the severity of modern droughts in south-central Chile, making effective water management difficult. To support decision-making, we present a ~300-year tree-ring reconstruction of summer discharge for this region. Results show that since 1980, droughts have become more frequent and are related to a shift in large-scale climate. We argue that water managers should use this long-term view to better allocate water rights.
Marta Angulo-Martínez, Santiago Beguería, Borja Latorre, and María Fernández-Raga
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 2811–2837, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-2811-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-2811-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Two optical disdrometers, OTT Parsivel2 disdrometer and Thies Clima laser precipitation monitor (LPM), are compared. Analysis of 2 years of one-minute replicated data showed significant differences. Thies LPM recorded a larger number of particles than Parsivel2 and a higher proportion of small particles, resulting in higher rain rates and amounts and differences in radar reflectivity and kinetic energy. Possible causes for these differences, and their practical consequences, are discussed.
Kay Helfricht, Lea Hartl, Roland Koch, Christoph Marty, and Marc Olefs
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 2655–2668, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-2655-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-2655-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
We calculated hourly new snow densities from automated measurements. This time interval reduces the influence of settling of the freshly deposited snow. We found an average new snow density of 68 kg m−3. The observed variability could not be described using different parameterizations, but a relationship to temperature is partly visible at hourly intervals. Wind speed is a crucial parameter for the inter-station variability. Our findings are relevant for snow models working on hourly timescales.
Sibo Zhang, Jean-Christophe Calvet, José Darrozes, Nicolas Roussel, Frédéric Frappart, and Gilles Bouhours
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 1931–1946, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-1931-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-1931-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Surface soil moisture was retrieved from a grassland site in southwestern France using the GNSS-IR technique. In order to efficiently limit the impact of perturbing vegetation effects, the grass growth period and the senescence period are treated separately. While the vegetation biomass effect can be corrected for, the litter water interception influences the observations and cannot be easily accounted for.
John Kochendorfer, Rodica Nitu, Mareile Wolff, Eva Mekis, Roy Rasmussen, Bruce Baker, Michael E. Earle, Audrey Reverdin, Kai Wong, Craig D. Smith, Daqing Yang, Yves-Alain Roulet, Tilden Meyers, Samuel Buisan, Ketil Isaksen, Ragnar Brækkan, Scott Landolt, and Al Jachcik
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 1437–1452, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-1437-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-1437-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Due to the effects of wind, precipitation gauges typically underestimate the amount of precipitation that occurs as snow. Measurements recorded during a World Meteorological Organization intercomparison of precipitation gauges were used to evaluate and improve the adjustments that are available to address this issue. Adjustments for specific types of precipitation gauges and wind shields were tested and recommended.
Bart Schilperoort, Miriam Coenders-Gerrits, Willem Luxemburg, César Jiménez Rodríguez, César Cisneros Vaca, and Hubert Savenije
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 22, 819–830, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-819-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-22-819-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Using the
DTStechnology, we measured the evaporation of a forest using fibre optic cables. The cables work like long thermometers, with a measurement every 12.5 cm. We placed the cables vertically along the tower, one cable being dry, the other kept wet. By looking at the dry and wet cable temperatures over the height we are able to study heat storage and the amount of water the forest is evaporating. These results can be used to better understand the storage and heat exchange of forests.
Sungmin O, Ulrich Foelsche, Gottfried Kirchengast, Juergen Fuchsberger, Jackson Tan, and Walter A. Petersen
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 6559–6572, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-6559-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-6559-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
We evaluate gridded satellite rainfall estimates, from GPM IMERG, through a direct grid-to-grid comparison with gauge data from the WegenerNet Feldbach (WEGN) network in southeastern Austria. As the WEGN data are independent of the IMERG gauge adjustment process, we could analyze the IMERG estimates across its three different runs. Our results show the effects of additional retrieval processes on the final rainfall estimates, and consequently provide IMERG accuracy information for data users.
René D. Garreaud, Camila Alvarez-Garreton, Jonathan Barichivich, Juan Pablo Boisier, Duncan Christie, Mauricio Galleguillos, Carlos LeQuesne, James McPhee, and Mauricio Zambrano-Bigiarini
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 6307–6327, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-6307-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-6307-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
This work synthesizes an interdisciplinary research on the megadrought (MD) that has afflicted central Chile since 2010. Although 1- or 2-year droughts are not infrequent in this Mediterranean-like region, the ongoing dry period stands out because of its longevity and large extent, leading to unseen hydrological effects and vegetation impacts. Understanding the nature and biophysical impacts of the MD contributes to confronting a dry, warm future regional climate scenario in subtropical regions.
Craig D. Smith, Garth van der Kamp, Lauren Arnold, and Randy Schmidt
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 5263–5272, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-5263-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-5263-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
This research provides an example of how groundwater pressures measured in deep observation wells can be used as a reliable estimate, and perhaps as a reference, for event-based precipitation. Changes in loading at the surface due to the weight of precipitation are transferred to the groundwater formation and can be measured in the observation well. Correlations in precipitation measurements made with the
geolysimeterand the co-located sheltered precipitation gauge are high.
Idit Belachsen, Francesco Marra, Nadav Peleg, and Efrat Morin
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 5165–5180, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-5165-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-5165-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Spatiotemporal rainfall patterns in arid environments are not well-known. We derived properties of convective rain cells over the arid Dead Sea region from a long-term radar archive. We found differences in cell properties between synoptic systems and between flash-flood and non-flash-flood events. Large flash floods are associated with slow rain cells, directed downstream with the main catchment axis. Results from this work can be used for hydrological models and stochastic storm simulations.
Sibo Zhang, Nicolas Roussel, Karen Boniface, Minh Cuong Ha, Frédéric Frappart, José Darrozes, Frédéric Baup, and Jean-Christophe Calvet
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 4767–4784, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-4767-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-4767-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
GNSS SNR data were obtained from an intensively cultivated wheat field in southwestern France. The data were used to retrieve soil moisture and vegetation characteristics during the growing period of wheat. Vegetation growth broke up the constant height assumption used in soil moisture retrieval algorithms. Soil moisture could not be retrieved after wheat tillering. A new algorithm based on a wavelet analysis was implemented and used to retrieve vegetation height.
Bruce C. Scott-Shaw, Colin S. Everson, and Alistair D. Clulow
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 4551–4562, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-4551-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-4551-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
In South Africa, the invasion of riparian forests by alien trees has the potential to affect the limited water resources. To justify alien clearing programs, hydrological benefits are required. Spatial upscaling of measured sapflows showed that an alien stand used 6 times more water per unit area than the indigenous stand. A gain in groundwater recharge and/or streamflow would be achieved if the alien species were removed from riparian forests and rehabilitated back to their natural state.
Francesco Marra, Elisa Destro, Efthymios I. Nikolopoulos, Davide Zoccatelli, Jean Dominique Creutin, Fausto Guzzetti, and Marco Borga
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 4525–4532, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-4525-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-4525-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Previous studies have reported a systematic underestimation of debris flow occurrence thresholds, due to the use of sparse networks in non-stationary rain fields. We analysed high-resolution radar data to show that spatially aggregated estimates (e.g. satellite data) largely reduce this issue, in light of a reduced estimation variance. Our findings are transferable to other situations in which lower envelope curves are used to predict point-like events in the presence of non-stationary fields.
Feinan Xu, Weizhen Wang, Jiemin Wang, Ziwei Xu, Yuan Qi, and Yueru Wu
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 4037–4051, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-4037-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-4037-2017, 2017
John Kochendorfer, Rodica Nitu, Mareile Wolff, Eva Mekis, Roy Rasmussen, Bruce Baker, Michael E. Earle, Audrey Reverdin, Kai Wong, Craig D. Smith, Daqing Yang, Yves-Alain Roulet, Samuel Buisan, Timo Laine, Gyuwon Lee, Jose Luis C. Aceituno, Javier Alastrué, Ketil Isaksen, Tilden Meyers, Ragnar Brækkan, Scott Landolt, Al Jachcik, and Antti Poikonen
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 3525–3542, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-3525-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-3525-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Precipitation measurements were combined from eight separate precipitation testbeds to create multi-site transfer functions for the correction of unshielded and single-Alter-shielded precipitation gauge measurements. Site-specific errors and more universally applicable corrections were created from these WMO-SPICE measurements. The importance and magnitude of such wind speed corrections were demonstrated.
Nobuhle P. Majozi, Chris M. Mannaerts, Abel Ramoelo, Renaud Mathieu, Alecia Nickless, and Wouter Verhoef
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 3401–3415, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-3401-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-3401-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
The study analysed the quality and partitioning of a 15-year surface energy dataset from Skukuza flux tower. The yearly mean energy balance ratio (EBR) was 0.93, with the dry season having the lowest ratio. Night ratio was lower than daytime, with analysis showing an increase in EBR with increase in friction velocity, which is also linked to time of day. The energy partitioning showed that sensible heat flux is the dominant portion in the dry season, and latent heat flux during the wet season.
Juan C. Chacon-Hurtado, Leonardo Alfonso, and Dimitri P. Solomatine
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 3071–3091, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-3071-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-3071-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
This paper compiles most of the studies (as far as the authors are aware) on the design of sensor networks for measurement of precipitation and streamflow. The literature shows that there is no overall consensus on the methods for the evaluation of sensor networks, as different design criteria often lead to different solutions. This paper proposes a methodology for the classification of methods, and a general framework for the design of sensor networks.
John Kochendorfer, Roy Rasmussen, Mareile Wolff, Bruce Baker, Mark E. Hall, Tilden Meyers, Scott Landolt, Al Jachcik, Ketil Isaksen, Ragnar Brækkan, and Ronald Leeper
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 1973–1989, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-1973-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-1973-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Snowfall measurements recorded using precipitation gauges are subject to significant underestimation due to the effects of wind. Using measurements recorded at two different precipitation test beds, corrections for unshielded gauges and gauges within different types of windshields were developed and tested. Using the new corrections, uncorrectable errors were quantified, and measurement biases were successfully eliminated.
Stephen D. Parkes, Matthew F. McCabe, Alan D. Griffiths, Lixin Wang, Scott Chambers, Ali Ershadi, Alastair G. Williams, Josiah Strauss, and Adrian Element
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 21, 533–548, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-533-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-533-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Determining atmospheric moisture sources is required for understanding the water cycle. The role of land surface fluxes is a particular source of uncertainty for moisture budgets. Water vapour isotopes have the potential to improve constraints on moisture sources. In this work relationships between water vapour isotopes and land–atmosphere exchange are studied. Results show that land surface evaporative fluxes play a minor role in the daytime water and isotope budgets in semi-arid environments.
Ehsan Rabiei, Uwe Haberlandt, Monika Sester, Daniel Fitzner, and Markus Wallner
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 3907–3922, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-3907-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-3907-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
The value of using moving cars for rainfall measurement purposes (RCs) was investigated with laboratory experiments by Rabiei et al. (2013). They analyzed the Hydreon and Xanonex optical sensors against different rainfall intensities. A continuous investigation of using RCs with the derived uncertainties from laboratory experiments for areal rainfall estimation as well as implementing the data in a hydrological model are addressed in this study.
Sergio M. Vicente-Serrano, Cesar Azorin-Molina, Arturo Sanchez-Lorenzo, Ahmed El Kenawy, Natalia Martín-Hernández, Marina Peña-Gallardo, Santiago Beguería, and Miquel Tomas-Burguera
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 3393–3410, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-3393-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-3393-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
In this work we analyse the recent evolution and meteorological drivers of the atmospheric evaporative demand in the Canary Islands. We found that the reference evapotranspiration increased by 18.2 mm decade−1 – on average – between 1961 and 2013, with the highest increase recorded during summer. This increase was mainly driven by changes in the aerodynamic component, caused by a statistically significant reduction of the relative humidity.
Luca Panziera, Marco Gabella, Stefano Zanini, Alessandro Hering, Urs Germann, and Alexis Berne
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 20, 2317–2332, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-2317-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-20-2317-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents a novel system to issue heavy rainfall alerts for predefined geographical regions by evaluating the sum of precipitation fallen in the immediate past and expected in the near future. In order to objectively define the thresholds for the alerts, an extreme rainfall analysis for the 159 regions used for official warnings in Switzerland was developed. It is shown that the system has additional lead time with respect to thunderstorm tracking tools targeted for convective storms.
Cited articles
Bouilloud, L., Delrieu, G., Boudevillain, B., and Kirstetter, P. E.: Radar rainfall estimation in the context of post-event analysis of flash-flood events, J. Hydrol., 394, 17–27, 2010.
Brandes, E. A.: Optimizing Rainfall Estimates with the Aid of Radar, J. Appl. Meteorol., 14, 1339–1345, 1975.
Cao, Q., Yeary, M. B., Zhang, G.: Efficient Ways to Learn Weather Radar Polarimetry, IEEE T. Educ., 55, 58–68, 2012.
Cifelli, R., Chandrasekar, V., Lim, S., Kennedy, P. C., Wang, Y., and Rutledge, S. A.: A New Dual-Polarization Radar Rainfall Algorithm: Application in Colorado Precipitation Events, J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 28, 352–364, 2011.
Collier, C. G.: Applications of weather radar systems: A guide to uses of radar data in meteorology and hydrology, 2nd Edn., John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1996.
Cruse, R., Flanagan, D., Frankenberger, J., Gelder, B., Herzmann, D., James, D., Krajewski, W., Kraszewski, M., Laflen, J., Opsomer, J., and Todey, D.: Daily estimates of rainfall, water runoff, and soil erosion in Iowa, J. Soil Water Conserv., 61, 191–199, 2006.
Einfalt, T., Arnbjerg-Nielsen, K., Golz, C., Jensen, N. E., Quirmbach, M., Vaes, G., and Vieux, B.: Towards a roadmap for use of radar rainfall data in urban drainage, J. Hydrol., 299, 186–202, 2004.
Fornasiero, A., Bech, J., and Alberoni, P. P.: Enhanced radar precipitation estimates using a combined clutter and beam blockage correction technique, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 6, 697–710, https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-6-697-2006, 2006.
Franco, M., Sanchez-Diezma, R., and Sempere-Torres, D.: Improvements in weather radar rain rate estimates using a method for identifying the vertical profile of reflectivity from volume radar scans, Meteorol. Z., 15, 521–536, 2006.
Friedrich, K., Germann, U., Gourley, J. J., and Tabary, P.: Effects of radar beam shielding on rainfall estimation for the polarimetric C-band radar, J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 24, 1839–1859, 2007.
Gabella, M. and Notarpietro, R.: Ground clutter characterization and elimination in mountainous terrain. In Proceedings of ERAD 2002, Delft, The Netherlands, 305–311, available at: http://www.copernicus.org/erad/online/erad-305.pdf, 2002.
Germann, U. and Joss, J.: Operational measurement of precipitation in mountainous terrain, in: Weather Radar: Principles and Advanced Applications, Physics of Earth and Space Environments, edited by: Meischner, P., 52–77, Springer, Berlin, Germany, 2004.
Germann, U., Galli, G., Boscacci, M., and Bolliger, M.: Radar precipitation measurement in a mountainous region, Q. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 132, 1669–1692, 2006.
German Weather Service: Projekt RADOLAN – Routineverfahren zur Online-Aneichung der Radarniederschlagsdaten mit Hilfe von automatischen Bodenniederschlagsstationen, Final Report, Offenbach, Germany, available at: http://www.dwd.de/RADOLAN (last access: February 2013), 2004 (in German).
Goudenhoofdt, E. and Delobbe, L.: Evaluation of radar-gauge merging methods for quantitative precipitation estimates, Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 13, 195–203, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-13-195-2009, 2009.
Hardegree, S. P., Van Vactor, S. S., Levinson, D. H., and Winstra, A. H.: Evaluation of NEXRAD radar precipitation products for natural resource applications, Rangeland Ecol. Manage., 61, 346–353, 2008.
Harrison, D. L., Driscoll, S. J., and Kitchen, M.: Improving precipitation estimates from weather radar using quality control and correction techniques, Meteorol. Appl., 7, 135–144, 2000.
Heistermann M. and Kneis, D.: Benchmarking quantitative precipitation estimation by conceptual rainfall-runoff modeling, Water Res. Resour., 47, W06514, https://doi.org/10.1029/2010WR009153, 2011.
Hitschfeld, W. and Bordan, J.: Errors inherent in the radar measurement of rainfall at attenuating wavelengths, J. Meteorol., 11, 58–67, 1954.
Kirstetter, P. E., Andrieu, H., Delrieu, G., and Boudevillain, B.: Identification of Vertical Profiles of Reflectivity for Correction of Volumetric Radar Data Using Rainfall Classification, J. Appl. Meteorol. Clim., 49, 2167–2180, 2010.
Kitchen, M. and Blackall, R. M.: Representativeness errors in comparisons between radar and gauge measurements of rainfall, J. Hydrol., 134, 13–33, 1992.
Kneis, D. and Heistermann, M.: Quality assessment of radar-based precipitation estimates with the example of a small catchment, Hydrol. Wasserbewirts., 53, 160–171, 2009.
Kraemer, S.: Quantitative Radardatenaufbereitung für die Niederschlagsvorhersage und die Siedlungsentwässerung. Mitteilungen Institut für Wasserwirtschaft, Hydrologie und Landwirtschaftlichen Wasserbau Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität Hannover, Heft 92, ISSN 0343-8090, Hanover, Germany, 2008.
Kraemer, S. and Verworn, H. R.: Improved radar data processing algorithms for quantitative rainfall estimation in real time, Water Sci. Technol., 60, 175–184, 2009.
Krajewski, W. F. and Smith, J. A.: Radar hydrology: rainfall estimation, Adv. Water Res., 25, 1387–1394, 2002.
Krajewski, W. F., Kruger, A., Smith, J. A., Lawrence, R., Gunyon, C., Goska, R., Seo, B. C., Domaszczynski, P., Baeck, M. L., Ramamurthy, M. K., Weber, J., Bradley, A. A., DelGreco, S. A., and Steiner, M.: Towards better utilization of NEXRAD data in hydrology: an overview of Hydro-NEXRAD, J. Hydroinform., 13, 255–266, 2011.
Lang, T. J., Nesbitt, S. W., and Carey, L. D.: On the Correction of Partial Beam Blockage in Polarimetric Radar Data, J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 26, 943–957, 2009.
Marzoug, M. and Amayenc, P.: A Class of Single-and Dual-Frequency Algorithms for Rain-Rate Profiling from a Spaceborne Radar. Part I: Principle and Tests from Numerical Simulations, J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 11, 1480–1506, 1994.
Matrosov, S. Y., Clark, K. A., and Kingsmill, D. E.: A polarimetric radar approach to identify rain, melting-layer, and snow regions for applying corrections to vertical profiles of reflectivity, J. Appl. Meteorol. Clim., 46, 154–166, 2007.
Michelson, D. B. and Koistinen, J.: Gauge-radar network adjustment for the Baltic Sea Experiment, Phys. Chem. Earth Pt. B, 25, 915–920, 2000.
Michelson, D. B., Lewandowski, R., Szewczykowski, M., and Beekhuis, H.: EUMETNET OPERA weather radar information model for implementation with the HDF5 file format, Version 2.1. OPERA Working Document WD{_}2008{_}03, available at: http://www.knmi.nl/opera/opera3/OPERA_2008_03_WP2.1b_ODIM_H5_v2.1.pdf (last access: February 2013), 2011.
Nicol, J. C. and Austin, G. L.: Attenuation correction constraint for single-polarisation weather radar, Meteorol. Appl., 10, 345–354, 2003.
Paulitsch, H., Fuchsberger, J., and Köck, K.: FM94-BUFR Encoding and Decoding Software, User Guidelines Version 1.6 For BUFR Software Version 3, available at: http://www.knmi.nl/opera/bufr/doc/bufr_sw_desc.pdf, 2010.
Seed, A. W., Nicol, J., Austin, G. L., Stow, C. D., and Bradley, S. G.: The impact of radar and raingauge sampling errors when calibrating a weather radar, Meteorol. Appl., 3, 43–52, 1996.
Tabary, P.: The new French operational radar rainfall product. Part I: Methodology, Weather Forecast., 22, 409–427, 2007.
Tabary, P., Boumahmoud, A.-A., Andrieu, H., Thompson, R. J., Illingworth, A. J., Le Bouar, E., and Testud, J.: Evaluation of two "integrated" polarimetric Quantitative Precipitation Estimation (QPE) algorithms at C-band, J. Hydrol., 405, 248–260, 2011.
Vulpiani, G., Montopoli, M., Passeri, L. D., Gioia, A. G., Giordano, P., and Marzano, F. S.: On the Use of Dual-Polarized C-Band Radar for Operational Rainfall Retrieval in Mountainous Areas, J. Appl. Meteorol. Clim., 51, 405–425, 2012.
