Comparison of rainfall satellite data with ground measurement, Iraq: case studies

Abstract

Precipitation is an important but highly variable atmospheric parameter. Existing rain gauge networks cannot provide the temporal and spatial coverage that is needed to monitor it sufficiently. Satellite measurements have the advantage of providing spatially homogenous observations over large areas. The aim of this research is to estimate rainfall over Iraq using satellite data. Hourly and daily observations of rainfall measured by ground stations, for several locations in Iraq, were compared with estimations of rainfall obtained from Meteosat 9 and Climate Prediction Center (CPC) Images.Results of these comparisons indicated that the hourly values of rainfall measured by ground station at Baghdad were very close to the estimates obtained by satellite. The comparisons of daily rainfall values, for Baghdad, Basra, Mosul, and Rutba,with the estimated values of rainfall obtained from CPS showed that 73% of the case studies for the period of 2001 to 2008 were in a good agreement. These results suggest that rainfall estimates from satellite date can be very useful for many applications such as agriculture and water resources.