Merging of rain rate estimates from opportunistic sensors and geostationary satellites (MERGOSAT)

One third of the world, including sixty per cent of Africa, does not have access to early warning and climate information services. This is in particular true with regard to rainfall related warnings. The reason for this is the almost complete absence of weather radars on the African continent and the lacking density of rainfall measurement stations. Especially for early warning of rainfall related hazards, timely availability of rainfall information is crucial. Geostationary satellites(GEOsat) and also commercial microwave links (CMLs) and satellite microwave links (SMLs) are available in near real-time and can be used to derive rainfall estimates. However, quantitative precipitation estimation (QPE) from GEOsat data is challenging due to the very indirect relation between rain rate and the actual measurements which are carried out in the visible and infrared spectrum.Given that they have complementary advantages - GEOsat data has homogeneous spatial coverage and CML/SML data have better QPE but only on the local scale - a combined product would be highly beneficial

The overarching goal of the project MERGOSAT is therefore to develop novel methods for the generation of improved near-real-time rainfall maps for data-scarce regions via a combination of data from GEOsat and opportunistic ground-based sensors, namely CMLs and SMLs.