Satellite radiometric remote sensing of rainfall fields: multi-sensor retrieval techniques at geostationary scale

摘要

The Microwave Infrared Combined Rainfall Algorithm(MICRA) consists in a statistical integration method using the satellitemicrowave-based rain-rate estimates, assumed to be accurate enough, tocalibrate spaceborne infrared measurements on limited sub-regions and timewindows. Rainfall retrieval is pursued at the space-time scale of typicalgeostationary observations, that is at a spatial resolution of fewkilometers and a repetition period of few tens of minutes. The actualimplementation is explained, although the basic concepts of MICRA are verygeneral and the method is easy to be extended for considering innovativestatistical techniques or measurements from additional space-borneplatforms. In order to demonstrate the potentiality of MICRA, case studiesover central Italy are also discussed. Finally, preliminary results of MICRAvalidation by ground based remote and in situ measurements are shown and acomparison with a Neural Network (NN) based technique is brieflyillustrated.