Microwave link rainfall estimation: Effects of link length and frequency, temporal sampling, power resolution, and wet antenna attenuation

Leijnse, H.; Uijlenhoet, R.; Stricker, J.N.M.

doi:10.1016/j.advwatres.2008.03.004

Cited by 136 publications

(198 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…The effect of wet antenna attenuation is hence assumed to be constant. Values of coefficients a and b used in this study are those derived from measured drop size distributions (34). Daily link-based rainfall depths are compared with gauge-adjusted radar retrievals to calibrate the rainfall retrieval algorithm.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Country-wide rainfall maps from cellular communication networks

Overeem

Leijnse

Uijlenhoet

2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

241

274

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Accurate and timely surface precipitation measurements are crucial for water resources management, agriculture, weather prediction, climate research, as well as ground validation of satellite-based precipitation estimates. However, the majority of the land surface of the earth lacks such data, and in many parts of the world the density of surface precipitation gauging networks is even rapidly declining. This development can potentially be counteracted by using received signal level data from the enormous number of microwave links used worldwide in commercial cellular communication networks. Along such links, radio signals propagate from a transmitting antenna at one base station to a receiving antenna at another base station. Rain-induced attenuation and, subsequently, path-averaged rainfall intensity can be retrieved from the signal's attenuation between transmitter and receiver. Here, we show how one such a network can be used to retrieve the space-time dynamics of rainfall for an entire country (The Netherlands, ∼35,500 km 2 ), based on an unprecedented number of links (∼2,400) and a rainfall retrieval algorithm that can be applied in real time. This demonstrates the potential of such networks for real-time rainfall monitoring, in particular in those parts of the world where networks of dedicated ground-based rainfall sensors are often virtually absent.hydrometeorology | remote sensing

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Country-wide rainfall maps from cellular communication networks

Overeem

Leijnse

Uijlenhoet

2013

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

241

274

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“…The sampling strategy is also an important error source, e.g. one sample every 15 min leads to large deviations due to unresolved rainfall variability (Leijnse et al, 2008). This paper is organised as follows.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Retrieval algorithm for rainfall mapping from microwave links in a cellular communication network

2016

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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 km 2 ) 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.

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“…This study employs data gathered by the X-band FM-CW (Frequency Modulated -Continuous Wave) Solid-State Weather Surveillance Radar, SOLIDAR, which was located on top of the Electrical Engineering building of Delft University of Technology (Ligthart and Nieuwkerk, 1990). The data gathered for the purpose of this study were collected over a six year period, from January 1991 until August 1997 (Uijlenhoet et al, 1997).…”

Section: Radar and Gauge Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this study the ground clutter is therefore identified by creating a static clutter map on a polar grid based on the exceedance of a threshold value for more than 90% of the time for dry events. The selected threshold is 22.3 dBZ, which corresponds to the 1 mm h −1 originally given as the minimum detectable signal level for SOLIDAR (Ligthart and Nieuwkerk, 1990 Fig. 3.…”

Section: Ground Clutter Correctionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance of high-resolution X-band radar for rainfall measurement in The Netherlands

Beek

Leijnse

Stricker

et al. 2010

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. This study presents an analysis of 195 rainfall events gathered with the X-band weather radar SOLIDAR and a tipping bucket rain gauge network near Delft, The Netherlands, between May 1993 and April 1994. The aim of this paper is to present a thorough analysis of a climatological dataset using a high spatial (120 m) and temporal (16 s) resolution X-band radar. This makes it a study of the potential for high-resolution rainfall measurements with nonpolarimetric X-band radar over flat terrain. An appropriate radar reflectivity -rain rate relation is derived from measurements of raindrop size distributions and compared with radar -rain gauge data. The radar calibration is assessed using a long-term comparison of rain gauge measurements with corresponding radar reflectivities as well as by analyzing the evolution of the stability of ground clutter areas over time. Three different methods for ground clutter correction as well as the effectiveness of forward and backward attenuation correction algorithms have been studied. Five individual rainfall events are discussed in detail to illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of high-resolution X-band radar and the effectiveness of the presented correction methods. X-band radar is found to be able to measure the space-time variation of rainfall at high resolution, far greater than what can be achieved by rain gauge networks or a typical operational C-band weather radar. On the other hand, SOLIDAR can suffer from receiver saturation, wet radome attenuation as well as signal loss along the path. During very strong convective situations the signal can even be lost completely. In combination with several rain gauges for quality control, high resolution X-band radar is considered to be suitable for Correspondence to: C. Z. van de Beek (remco.vandebeek@wur.nl) rainfall monitoring over relatively small (urban) catchments. These results offer great prospects for the new high resolution polarimetric doppler X-band radar IDRA.

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Microwave link rainfall estimation: Effects of link length and frequency, temporal sampling, power resolution, and wet antenna attenuation

Cited by 136 publications

References 25 publications

Country-wide rainfall maps from cellular communication networks

Country-wide rainfall maps from cellular communication networks

Retrieval algorithm for rainfall mapping from microwave links in a cellular communication network

Performance of high-resolution X-band radar for rainfall measurement in The Netherlands

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