Abstract
Abstract. Microwave links in commercial cellular communication networks hold a promise for areal rainfall monitoring and could complement rainfall estimates from ground-based weather radars, rain gauges, and satellites. It has been shown that country-wide (≈ 35 500 km2) 15 min rainfall maps can be derived from the signal attenuations of approximately 2400 microwave links in such a network. Here we give a detailed description of the employed rainfall retrieval algorithm. Moreover, the documented, modular, and user-friendly code (a package in the scripting language “R”) is made available, including a 2-day data set of approximately 2600 commercial microwave links from the Netherlands. The purpose of this paper is to promote rainfall mapping utilising microwave links from cellular communication networks as an alternative or complementary means for continental-scale rainfall monitoring.
Highlights
Accurate rainfall observations with high spatial and temporal resolution are needed for hydrological applications, agriculture, meteorology, weather forecasting, and climate monitoring
It has been shown in several studies that microwave links from cellular communication networks can be used to retrieve rainfall information
Country-wide (≈ 35 500 km2) 15 min rainfall maps can be obtained from received signal powers of microwave links (Overeem et al, 2013)
Summary
Accurate rainfall observations with high spatial and temporal resolution are needed for hydrological applications, agriculture, meteorology, weather forecasting, and climate monitoring. Lorenz and Kunstmann (2012) report a decline of approximately 50 % in the period 1989–2006 for GPCC, version 5.0. Satellites are often the only source of rainfall information Despite their increasing coverage and spatio-temporal resolution, measurement errors and sampling uncertainties limit the stand-alone applicability of satellite rainfall products Sorooshian et al, 2000; Joyce et al, 2004; Roebeling and Holleman, 2009; Kidd and Huffman, 2011; Hou et al, 2014) This calls for alternative and complementary sources of rainfall information. The ability to observe other types of precipitation, such as snow, is limited
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