scholarly journals Global daily 1 km land surface precipitation based on cloud cover-informed downscaling

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dirk Nikolaus Karger ◽  
Adam M. Wilson ◽  
Colin Mahony ◽  
Niklaus E. Zimmermann ◽  
Walter Jetz

AbstractHigh-resolution climatic data are essential to many questions and applications in environmental research and ecology. Here we develop and implement a new semi-mechanistic downscaling approach for daily precipitation estimate that incorporates high resolution (30 arcsec, ≈1 km) satellite-derived cloud frequency. The downscaling algorithm incorporates orographic predictors such as wind fields, valley exposition, and boundary layer height, with a subsequent bias correction. We apply the method to the ERA5 precipitation archive and MODIS monthly cloud cover frequency to develop a daily gridded precipitation time series in 1 km resolution for the years 2003 onward. Comparison of the predictions with existing gridded products and station data from the Global Historical Climate Network indicates an improvement in the spatio-temporal performance of the downscaled data in predicting precipitation. Regional scrutiny of the cloud cover correction from the continental United States further indicates that CHELSA-EarthEnv performs well in comparison to other precipitation products. The CHELSA-EarthEnv daily precipitation product improves the temporal accuracy compared with a large improvement in the spatial accuracy especially in complex terrain.

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hong Sung Jin ◽  
Dongyeob Han

Land surface temperature (LST) is an important parameter in the analysis of climate and human-environment interactions. Landsat Earth observation satellite data including a thermal band have been used for environmental research and applications; however, the spatial resolution of this thermal band is relatively low. This study investigates an efficient method of fusing Landsat panchromatic and thermal infrared images using a sparse representation (SR) technique. The application of SR is used for the estimation of missing details of the available thermal infrared (TIR) image to enhance its spatial features. First, we propose a method of building a proper dictionary considering the spatial resolution of the original thermal image. Second, a sparse representation relation between low- and high-resolution images is constructed in terms of the Landsat spectral response. We then compare the fused images created with different sampling factors and patch sizes. The results of both qualitative and quantitative evaluation show that the proposed method improves spatial resolution and preserves the thermal properties of basic LST data for use with environmental problems.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 167
Author(s):  
Giovanni Paolini ◽  
Maria Jose Escorihuela ◽  
Joaquim Bellvert ◽  
Olivier Merlin

This paper introduces a modified version of the DisPATCh (Disaggregation based on Physical And Theoretical scale Change) algorithm to disaggregate an SMAP surface soil moisture (SSM) product at a 20 m spatial resolution, through the use of sharpened Sentinel-3 land surface temperature (LST) data. Using sharpened LST as a high resolution proxy of SSM is a novel approach that needs to be validated and can be employed in a variety of applications that currently lack in a product with a similar high spatio-temporal resolution. The proposed high resolution SSM product was validated against available in situ data for two different fields, and it was also compared with two coarser DisPATCh products produced, disaggregating SMAP through the use of an LST at 1 km from Sentinel-3 and MODIS. From the correlation between in situ data and disaggregated SSM products, a general improvement was found in terms of Pearson’s correlation coefficient (R) for the proposed high resolution product with respect to the two products at 1 km. For the first field analyzed, R was equal to 0.47 when considering the 20 m product, an improvement compared to the 0.28 and 0.39 for the 1 km products. The improvement was especially noticeable during the summer season, in which it was only possible to successfully capture field-specific irrigation practices at the 20 m resolution. For the second field, R was 0.31 for the 20 m product, also an improvement compared to the 0.21 and 0.23 for the 1 km product. Additionally, the new product was able to depict SSM spatial variability at a sub-field scale and a validation analysis is also proposed at this scale. The main advantage of the proposed product is its very high spatio-temporal resolution, which opens up new opportunities to apply remotely sensed SSM data in disciplines that require fine spatial scales, such as agriculture and water management.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 324 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Xue ◽  
Yee Leung ◽  
Tung Fung

Studies of land surface dynamics in heterogeneous landscapes often require satellite images with a high resolution, both in time and space. However, the design of satellite sensors often inherently limits the availability of such images. Images with high spatial resolution tend to have relatively low temporal resolution, and vice versa. Therefore, fusion of the two types of images provides a useful way to generate data high in both spatial and temporal resolutions. A Bayesian data fusion framework can produce the target high-resolution image based on a rigorous statistical foundation. However, existing Bayesian data fusion algorithms, such as STBDF (spatio-temporal Bayesian data fusion) -I and -II, do not fully incorporate the mixed information contained in low-spatial-resolution pixels, which in turn might limit their fusion ability in heterogeneous landscapes. To enhance the capability of existing STBDF models in handling heterogeneous areas, this study proposes two improved Bayesian data fusion approaches, coined ISTBDF-I and ISTBDF-II, which incorporate an unmixing-based algorithm into the existing STBDF framework. The performance of the proposed algorithms is visually and quantitatively compared with STBDF-II using simulated data and real satellite images. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithms generate improved spatio-temporal-resolution images over STBDF-II, especially in heterogeneous areas. They shed light on the way to further enhance our fusion capability.


2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (6) ◽  
pp. 2951-2962
Author(s):  
Suwash Chandra Acharya ◽  
Rory Nathan ◽  
Quan J. Wang ◽  
Chun-Hsu Su ◽  
Nathan Eizenberg

Abstract. The high spatio-temporal variability of precipitation is often difficult to characterise due to limited measurements. The available low-resolution global reanalysis datasets inadequately represent the spatio-temporal variability of precipitation relevant to catchment hydrology. The Bureau of Meteorology Atmospheric high-resolution Regional Reanalysis for Australia (BARRA) provides a high-resolution atmospheric reanalysis dataset across the Australasian region. For hydrometeorological applications, however, it is essential to properly evaluate the sub-daily precipitation from this reanalysis. In this regard, this paper evaluates the sub-daily precipitation from BARRA for a period of 6 years (2010–2015) over Australia against point observations and blended radar products. We utilise a range of existing and bespoke metrics for evaluation at point and spatial scales. We examine bias in quantile estimates and spatial displacement of sub-daily rainfall at a point scale. At a spatial scale, we use the fractions skill score as a spatial evaluation metric. The results show that the performance of BARRA precipitation depends on spatial location, with poorer performance in tropical relative to temperate regions. A possible spatial displacement during large rainfall is also found at point locations. This displacement, evaluated by comparing the distribution of rainfall within a day, could be quantified by considering the neighbourhood grids. On spatial evaluation, hourly precipitation from BARRA is found to be skilful at a spatial scale of less than 100 km (150 km) for a threshold of 75th percentile (90th percentile) at most of the locations. The performance across all the metrics improves significantly at time resolutions higher than 3 h. Our evaluations illustrate that the BARRA precipitation, despite discernible spatial displacements, serves as a useful dataset for Australia, especially at sub-daily resolutions. Users of BARRA are recommended to properly account for possible spatio-temporal displacement errors, especially for applications where the spatial and temporal characteristics of rainfall are deemed very important.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suwash Chandra Acharya ◽  
Rory Nathan ◽  
Quan J. Wang ◽  
Chun-Hsu Su ◽  
Nathan Eizenberg

Abstract. The high spatio-temporal variability of precipitation is often difficult to characterise due to limited measurements. The available low-resolution global reanalysis datasets inadequately represent the spatio-temporal variability of precipitation relevant to catchment hydrology. The Bureau of Meteorology Atmospheric high-resolution Regional Reanalysis for Australia (BARRA) provides a high-resolution atmospheric reanalysis dataset across the Australasian region. For hydrometeorological applications, however, it is essential to properly evaluate the sub-daily precipitation from this reanalysis. In this regard, this paper evaluates the sub-daily precipitation from BARRA for a period of 6 years (2010–2015) over Australia against point observations and blended radar products. We utilise a range of existing and bespoke metrics for evaluation at point and spatial scales. We examine bias in quantile estimates and spatial displacement of sub-daily rainfall at a point scale. At a spatial scale, we use the Fractions Skill Score as a spatial evaluation metric. The results show that the performance of BARRA precipitation depends on spatial location with poorer performance in tropical relative to temperate regions. A possible spatial displacement during large rainfall is also found at point locations. This displacement, evaluated by comparing the distribution of rainfall within a day, could be quantified by considering the neighbourhood grids. On spatial evaluation, hourly precipitation from BARRA are found to be skilful at a spatial scale of less than 100 km (150 km) for a threshold of 75 % quantile (90 % quantile) at most of the locations. The performance across all the metrics improves significantly at time resolutions higher than 3 h. Our evaluations illustrate that the BARRA precipitation, despite discernible spatial displacements, serves as a useful dataset for Australia, especially at sub-daily resolutions. Users of BARRA are recommended to properly account for possible spatio-temporal displacement errors, especially for applications where the spatial and temporal characteristics of rainfall are deemed very important.


2017 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
pp. e518-e530 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Serrano-Notivoli ◽  
J. Martín-Vide ◽  
M. A. Saz ◽  
L. A. Longares ◽  
S. Beguería ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 113
Author(s):  
Antonio-Juan Collados-Lara ◽  
Steven R. Fassnacht ◽  
Eulogio Pardo-Igúzquiza ◽  
David Pulido-Velazquez

There is necessity of considering air temperature to simulate the hydrology and management within water resources systems. In many cases, a big issue is considering the scarcity of data due to poor accessibility and limited funds. This paper proposes a methodology to obtain high resolution air temperature fields by combining scarce point measurements with elevation data and land surface temperature (LST) data from remote sensing. The available station data (SNOTEL stations) are sparse at Rocky Mountain National Park, necessitating the inclusion of correlated and well-sampled variables to assess the spatial variability of air temperature. Different geostatistical approaches and weighted solutions thereof were employed to obtain air temperature fields. These estimates were compared with two relatively direct solutions, the LST (MODIS) and a lapse rate-based interpolation technique. The methodology was evaluated using data from different seasons. The performance of the techniques was assessed through a cross validation experiment. In both cases, the weighted kriging with external drift solution (considering LST and elevation) showed the best results, with a mean squared error of 3.7 and 3.6 °C2 for the application and validation, respectively.


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