HYDREX · Advancing small-scale hydro-meteorological predictions through mobile X-band dual-polarization radar systems: methods, algorithms and applications
FP7 — People (Marie Curie Actions)
- Duration
- 2010-05-01 → 2012-04-30
- EU contribution
- €173,259
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MC-IEF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Advancing small-scale hydro-meteorological predictions through mobile X-band dual-polarization radar systems: methods, algorithms and applications
Flooding is still the most damaging of all natural disasters; one third of the annual natural disasters and economic losses and more than half of all victims are flood related. In Europe, we count an average of 130 fatalities due to floods per year; of these, 40% are due to flash floods. Flash floods are associated with heavy precipitation events induced often by rough orography, as is the case for most of the storms in the Mediterranean coastal area or in the Alpine region in Europe. However, the inherent spatial and temporal variability of precipitation makes rainfall one of the most difficult geophysical variables to measure anywhere, and yet it is one of the most important in advancing hydrologic and weather forecast applications. In particular, improving local flood and flash flood forecasting requires accurate quantitative rainfall measurements at small temporal (minutes) and spatial (hundred of meters to few kilometers) scales. Arguably, weather radar's capability to monitor precipitation at high spatial and temporal scales has stimulated great interest and support within the hydro-meteorological community. For ground radars in particular monitoring long ranges, issues with partial beam blockage of the lower beam elevations or with the overshooting of low-level convection signatures by the upper elevation beams may lead to significant range dependent errors in precipitation estimation. In addition, melting snow in widespread storm systems resulting in intense and persistent surface rainfall may substantially increase the threat of flooding in complex terrain basins. Therefore, advancing the quantitative precipitation estimation from remote sensing is of great importance and practical use in improving the predictability of hydrological impacts such as flash floods and hydrogeological risks and facilitating efficient water management practices.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Our understanding and ability to predict and respond to changes in the hydrologic environment cannot be properly addressed in the absence of reliable precipitation information. Proposed research aims at investigating ways to improve the quantitative precipitation estimation (QPE) associated with hydrological forecasting. Our research is facilitated by multi-instrument observations available from field campaigns in North Italy and Athens associated with complex terrain and urban environment. The scientific merit of this proposal is the synergistic use of rainfall observations from the multiple sensors available from the field experiment, which will uniquely support investigations on rainfall and precipitation classification estimation from X-band dual-polarization radar observations. The research questions to be addressed are: What is the dependence of X-band dual polarization rainfall estimation on scale and radar range? What is the relative accuracy of X-band polarimetric rain estimates to standard lower frequency (C-band) operational radar systems? How do improvements in rain estimation by X-band propagate in flood simulations and what is the dependence on scale, basin size and the complexity of the hydrological model used in the rainfall-runoff transformation? Our research questions are consistent with some of the European Research Area (ERA) priorities on QPE. X-band radar could be an economically affordable solution to the problem of filling up critical gaps in current operational radar networks. Furthermore, this project is aligned to the ERA's area of interest on “sensors and sensor networks.” X-band dual-polarization radar could be an attractive sensor for use in planed hydro-meteorologic observatories for flash flood applications.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI ROMA LA SAPIENZA · RomaCoordinatorItaly
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union