Multisensor Precipitation Reanalysis

Abstract

Temporally consistent high-quality, high-resolution multisensor precipitation reanalysis (MPR) products are needed for a wide range of quantitative climatological and hydroclimatological applications. Therefore, the authors have reengineered the multisensor precipitation estimator (MPE) algorithms of the NWS into the MPR package. Owing to the retrospective nature of the analysis, MPR allows for the utilization of additional rain gauge data, more rigorous automatic quality control, and post factum correction of radar quantitative precipitation estimation (QPE) and optimization of key parameters in multisensor estimation. To evaluate and demonstrate the value of MPR, the authors designed and carried out a set of cross-validation experiments in the pilot domain of North Carolina and South Carolina. The rain gauge data are from the reprocessed Hydrometeorological Automated Data System (HADS) and the daily Cooperative Observer Program (COOP). The radar QPE data are the operationally produced Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler digital precipitation array (DPA) products. To screen out bad rain gauge data, quality control steps were taken that use rain gauge and radar data. The resulting MPR products are compared with the stage IV product on a daily scale at the withheld COOP gauge locations. This paper describes the data, the MPR procedure, and the validation experiments, and it summarizes the findings.