2019
Ref: SCART-2019-0004

Exploring the use of underground gravity monitoring to evaluate radar estimates of heavy rainfal

Delobbe, L. ; Watlet, A. ; Wilfert, S. ; Van Camp, M.


published in Hydrology and Earth System Sciences, 23, pp. 93-105 (2019)

Abstract: The radar-based estimation of intense precipitation produced by convective storms is a challenging task and the verification through comparison with gauges is questionable due to the very high spatial variability of such types of precipitation. In this study, we explore the potential benefit of using a superconducting gravimeter as a new source of in situ observations for the evaluation of radar-based precipitation estimates. The superconducting gravimeter used in this study is installed in Membach (BE), 48 m underneath the surface, at 85 km distance from a C-band weather radar located in Wideumont (BE). The 15-year observation record 2003–2017 is available for both gravimeter and radar with 1 and 5 min time steps, respectively. Water mass increase at ground due to precipitation results in a decrease in underground measured gravity. The gravimeter integrates soil water in a radius of about 400 m around the instrument. This allows capture of rainfall at a larger spatial scale than traditional rain gauges. The precision of the gravimeter is a few tenths of nm s−2, 1 nm s−2 corresponding to 2.6 mm of water. The comparison of reflectivity and gravity time series shows that short-duration intense rainfall events produce a rapid decrease in the underground measured gravity. A remarkable correspondence between radar and gravimeter time series is found. The precipitation amounts derived from gravity measurements and from radar observations are further compared for 505 rainfall events. A correlation coefficient of 0.58, a mean bias (radar–gravimeter)/gravimeter of 0.24 and a mean absolute difference (MAD) of 3.19 mm are obtained. A better agreement is reached when applying a hail correction by truncating reflectivity values to a given threshold. No bias, a correlation coefficient of 0.64 and a MAD of 2.3 mm are reached using a 48 dBZ threshold. The added value of underground gravity measurements as a verification dataset is discussed. The two main benefits are the spatial scale at which precipitation is captured and the interesting property that gravity measurements are directly influenced by water mass at ground no matter the type of precipitation: hail or rain.

Keyword(s): Weather Radar ; Intense precipitation ; Superconducting gravimeter ; Time-varying gravity ; Membach ; Wideumont
DOI: 10.5194/hess-23-93-2019
Links: link; link2


The record appears in these collections:
Royal Observatory of Belgium > Seismology & Gravimetry
Science Articles > Peer Reviewed Articles



 Record created 2019-01-08, last modified 2019-01-08