<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?>
<!DOCTYPE article SYSTEM "http://www.adv-geosci.net/inc/adgeo/copernicus.dtd">
<article language="en">
	<journal>
		<journal_title>Advances in Geosciences</journal_title>
		<journal_url>www.adv-geosci.net</journal_url>
		<issn>1680-7340</issn>
		<eissn>1680-7359</eissn>
		<volume_number>25</volume_number>
		<volume_title>Precipitation: Measurement, Climatology, Remote Sensing, and Modeling (EGU Session 2009)</volume_title>
		<publication_year>2010</publication_year>
	</journal>
	<doi>10.5194/adgeo-25-3-2010</doi>
	<article_url>http://www.adv-geosci.net/25/3/2010/</article_url>
	<abstract_html>http://www.adv-geosci.net/25/3/2010/adgeo-25-3-2010.html</abstract_html>
	<fulltext_pdf>http://www.adv-geosci.net/25/3/2010/adgeo-25-3-2010.pdf</fulltext_pdf>
	<start_page>3</start_page>
	<end_page>9</end_page>
	<publication_date>2010-03-08</publication_date>
	<article_title content_type="html">The TAMORA algorithm: satellite rainfall estimates over West Africa using multi-spectral SEVIRI data</article_title>
	<authors>
		<author numeration="1" affiliations="1">
			<name>R. S. Chadwick</name>
			<email>r.s.chadwick@rdg.ac.uk</email>
		</author>
		<author numeration="2" affiliations="1">
			<name>D. I. F. Grimes</name>
		</author>
		<author numeration="3" affiliations="2">
			<name>R. W. Saunders</name>
		</author>
		<author numeration="4" affiliations="2">
			<name>P. N. Francis</name>
		</author>
		<author numeration="5" affiliations="2">
			<name>T. A. Blackmore</name>
		</author>
	</authors>
	<affiliations>
		<affiliation numeration="1" content_type="html">Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, Reading, UK</affiliation>
		<affiliation numeration="2" content_type="html">Met Office, Exeter, UK</affiliation>
	</affiliations>
	<abstract content_type="html">A multi-spectral rainfall estimation algorithm has been developed for the
Sahel region of West Africa with the purpose of producing accumulated
rainfall estimates for drought monitoring and food security. Radar data were
used to calibrate multi-channel SEVIRI data from MSG, and a probability of
rainfall at several different rain-rates was established for each combination
of SEVIRI radiances. Radar calibrations from both Europe (the SatPrecip
algorithm) and Niger (TAMORA algorithm) were used. 10 day estimates were
accumulated from SatPrecip and TAMORA and compared with kriged gauge data and
TAMSAT satellite rainfall estimates over West Africa. SatPrecip was found to
produce large overestimates for the region, probably because of its non-local
calibration. TAMORA was negatively biased for areas of West Africa with
relatively high rainfall, but its skill was comparable to TAMSAT for the
low-rainfall region climatologically similar to its calibration area around
Niamey. These results confirm the high importance of local calibration for
satellite-derived rainfall estimates. As TAMORA shows no improvement in skill
over TAMSAT for dekadal estimates, the extra cloud-microphysical information
provided by multi-spectral data may not be useful in determining rainfall
accumulations at a ten day timescale. Work is ongoing to determine whether it
shows improved accuracy at shorter timescales.</abstract>
	<references>
		<reference numeration="1" content_type="text"> Ali, A., Amani, A., and Lebel, T.: Rainfall estimation in the Sahel, Part 1: Error Function, J. Appl. Meteorol., 44, 1691–1706, 2005. </reference>
		<reference numeration="2" content_type="text"> Capacci, D. and Conway, B.: Delineation of precipitation areas from MODIS visible and infrared imagery with artificial neural networks, Meteorol. Appl., 12, 291–305, 2005. </reference>
		<reference numeration="3" content_type="text"> Cheng, A. and Brown, R.: Delineation of Precipitation Areas by Correlation of Meteosat Visible and Infrared Data with radar data, Mon. Weather Rev., 123, 2743–2757, 1995. </reference>
		<reference numeration="4" content_type="text"> Diro, G., Grimes, D., Black, E., O&apos;Neill, A., and Pardo-Iguzquiza, E.: Evaluation of reanalysis rainfall estimates over Ethiopia, Int. J. of Rem. Sens., 29, 67–78, 2009. </reference>
		<reference numeration="5" content_type="text"> Francis, P., Capacci, D., and Saunders, R.: Improving the Nimrod Nowcasting system&apos;s satellite precipitation estimates by introducing the new SEVIRI channels, in: EUMETSAT conference proceedings, Helsinki, 12–16 June 2006, 2006. </reference>
		<reference numeration="6" content_type="text"> Grimes, D., Pardo-Iguzquiza, E., and Bonifacio, R.: Optimal areal rainfall estimation using raingauges and satellite data, J. Hydrol., 222, 93–108, 1999. </reference>
		<reference numeration="7" content_type="text"> Jobard, I., Chopin, F., Berges, J., Ali, A., Lebel, T., and Desbois, M.: Presentation of the EPSAT-SG method and comparison with other satellite precipitation estimations in the frame of Precip-AMMA, in: EGU conference proceedings, Vienna, 15–20 April 2007, 2007. </reference>
		<reference numeration="8" content_type="text"> Key, J. and Intrieri, J.: Cloud Particle Phase Determination with the AVHRR, J. Appl. Meteorol., 39, 1797–1804, 2000. </reference>
		<reference numeration="9" content_type="text"> Kidd, C.: Satellite rainfall climatology: A review, Int. J. Climatol., 21, 1041–1066, 2001. </reference>
		<reference numeration="10" content_type="text"> Laws, K., Janowiak, J., and Huffman, G.: Verification of rainfall estimates over Africa using RFE, NASA MPA-RT and CMORPH., in: American Meteorological Society Annual Conference, Seattle, Washington, 11–15 January 2004, 2004. </reference>
		<reference numeration="11" content_type="text"> Lensky, I. and Rosenfeld, D.: A night-rain delineation algorithm for infrared satellite data based on microphysical considerations., J. Appl. Meteorol., 42, 1218–1226, 2003. </reference>
		<reference numeration="12" content_type="text"> Lovejoy, S. and Austin, G.: The delineation of rain areas from visible and IR satellite data for GATE and mid-latitudes, Atmos.-Ocean, 17, 77–92, 1979. </reference>
		<reference numeration="13" content_type="text"> Morgan, J., ed.: Meteosat Second Generation. In Orbit – In Use, EUMETSAT, Darmstad, Germany, 2005. </reference>
		<reference numeration="14" content_type="text"> Nzeukou, A., Sauvageot, H., Ochou, A., and Kebe, C.: Raindrop Size Distribution and Radar Parameters at Cape Verde, J. Appl. Meteorol., 43, 90–105, 2004. </reference>
		<reference numeration="15" content_type="text"> Ochou, A., Nzeukou, A., and Sauvageot, H.: Parametrization of drop size distribution with rain rate, Atmos. Res., 84, 58–66, 2007. </reference>
		<reference numeration="16" content_type="text"> Thies, B., Nauss, T., and Bendix, J.: Discriminating raining from non-raining clouds at mid-latitudes using meteosat second generation daytime data, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 8, 2341–2349, 2008. </reference>
		<reference numeration="17" content_type="text"> Thies, B., Nauss, T., and Bendix, J.: Discriminating raining from non-raining cloud area at mid-latitudes using MSG SEVIRI night-time data, Meteorol. Appl., 15, 219–230, 2008b. </reference>
		<reference numeration="18" content_type="text"> Todd, M., Kidd, C., Kniveton, D., and Bellerby, T.: A combined satellite infrared and passive microwave technique for estimation of small-scale rainfall, J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol., 18, 742–755, 2001. </reference>
	</references>
</article>

