scholarly journals Radar Quality Index for a Mosaic of Radar Reflectivity over Chao Phraya River Basin, Thailand

2020 ◽  
pp. 92-104
Author(s):  
Nattapon Mahavik ◽  
Sarintip Tantanee

The weather radar is one of the tools that can provide spatio-temporal information for nowcast which is useful for hydro-meteorological disasters warning and mitigation system. The ground-based weather radar can provide spatial and temporal information to monitor severe storm over the risky area. However, the usage of multiple radars can provide more effective information over large study area where single radar beam may be blocked by surrounding terrain Even though, the investigation of the sever storm physical characteristics needs the information from multiple radars, the mosaicked radar product has not been available for Thai researcher yet. In this study, algorithm of mosaicked radar reflectivity has been developed by using data from ground-based radar of Thai Meteorological Department over the Chao Phraya river basin in the middle of Thailand. The Python script associated with OpenCV and Wradlib libraries were used in our investigations of the mosaicking processes. The radar quality index (RQI) field has been developed by implementing an equation of a quality radar index to identify the reliability of each mosaicked radar reflectivity pixels. First, the percentage of beam blockage is computed to understand the radar beam propagation obstructed by surrounding topography in order to clarify the limitations of the observed beam on producing radar reflectivity maps. Second, the elevation of beam propagation associated with distance field has been computed. Then, these three parameters and the obtained percentage of beam blockage are utilized as the parameters in the equation of RQI. Finally, the detected radar flare, non-precipitating radar area, has been included to the RQI field. Then, the RQI field has been applied to the extracted radar reflectivity to evaluate the quality of mosaicked radar reflectivity to inform end user in any application fields over the Chao Phraya river basin.

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 1779
Author(s):  
Xiaoyan Yin ◽  
Zhiqun Hu ◽  
Jiafeng Zheng ◽  
Boyong Li ◽  
Yuanyuan Zuo

Radar beam blockage is an important error source that affects the quality of weather radar data. An echo-filling network (EFnet) is proposed based on a deep learning algorithm to correct the echo intensity under the occlusion area in the Nanjing S-band new-generation weather radar (CINRAD/SA). The training dataset is constructed by the labels, which are the echo intensity at the 0.5° elevation in the unblocked area, and by the input features, which are the intensity in the cube including multiple elevations and gates corresponding to the location of bottom labels. Two loss functions are applied to compile the network: one is the common mean square error (MSE), and the other is a self-defined loss function that increases the weight of strong echoes. Considering that the radar beam broadens with distance and height, the 0.5° elevation scan is divided into six range bands every 25 km to train different models. The models are evaluated by three indicators: explained variance (EVar), mean absolute error (MAE), and correlation coefficient (CC). Two cases are demonstrated to compare the effect of the echo-filling model by different loss functions. The results suggest that EFnet can effectively correct the echo reflectivity and improve the data quality in the occlusion area, and there are better results for strong echoes when the self-defined loss function is used.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 4926
Author(s):  
Nguyen Duc Luong ◽  
Nguyen Hoang Hiep ◽  
Thi Hieu Bui

The increasing serious droughts recently might have significant impacts on socioeconomic development in the Red River basin (RRB). This study applied the variable infiltration capacity (VIC) model to investigate spatio-temporal dynamics of soil moisture in the northeast, northwest, and Red River Delta (RRD) regions of the RRB part belongs to territory of Vietnam. The soil moisture dataset simulated for 10 years (2005–2014) was utilized to establish the soil moisture anomaly percentage index (SMAPI) for assessing intensity of agricultural drought. Soil moisture appeared to co-vary with precipitation, air temperature, evapotranspiration, and various features of land cover, topography, and soil type in three regions of the RRB. SMAPI analysis revealed that more areas in the northeast experienced severe droughts compared to those in other regions, especially in the dry season and transitional months. Meanwhile, the northwest mainly suffered from mild drought and a slightly wet condition during the dry season. Different from that, the RRD mainly had moderately to very wet conditions throughout the year. The areas of both agricultural and forested lands associated with severe drought in the dry season were larger than those in the wet season. Generally, VIC-based soil moisture approach offered a feasible solution for improving soil moisture and agricultural drought monitoring capabilities at the regional scale.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 166
Author(s):  
Hartmut Müller ◽  
Marije Louwsma

The Covid-19 pandemic put a heavy burden on member states in the European Union. To govern the pandemic, having access to reliable geo-information is key for monitoring the spatial distribution of the outbreak over time. This study aims to analyze the role of spatio-temporal information in governing the pandemic in the European Union and its member states. The European Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) system and selected national dashboards from member states were assessed to analyze which spatio-temporal information was used, how the information was visualized and whether this changed over the course of the pandemic. Initially, member states focused on their own jurisdiction by creating national dashboards to monitor the pandemic. Information between member states was not aligned. Producing reliable data and timeliness reporting was problematic, just like selecting indictors to monitor the spatial distribution and intensity of the outbreak. Over the course of the pandemic, with more knowledge about the virus and its characteristics, interventions of member states to govern the outbreak were better aligned at the European level. However, further integration and alignment of public health data, statistical data and spatio-temporal data could provide even better information for governments and actors involved in managing the outbreak, both at national and supra-national level. The Infrastructure for Spatial Information in Europe (INSPIRE) initiative and the NUTS system provide a framework to guide future integration and extension of existing systems.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-1
Author(s):  
Quan-Dung Pham ◽  
Xuan Truong Nguyen ◽  
Khac-Thai Nguyen ◽  
Hyun Kim ◽  
Hyuk-Jae Lee

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