An Enhancement to The Quantitative Precipitation Estimation Using Radar-Gauge Merging

Abstract

Quantitative Precipitation Estimation (QPE) is quite important information for the hydrology fields and has many advantages for many purposes. Its dense spatial and temporal resolution can be combined with the surface observation to enhance the accuracy of the estimation. This paper presents an enhancement to the QPE product from BMKG weather radar network at Surabaya by adjusting the estimation value form radar to the real data observation from rain gauge. A total of 58 rain gauge is used. The Mean Field Bias (MFB) method used to determine the correction factor through the difference between radar estimation and rain gauge observation value. The correction factor obtained at each gauge points are interpolated to the entire radar grid in a multiplicative adjustment. Radar-gauge merging results a significant improvement revealed by the decreasing of mean absolute error (MAE) about 40% and false alarm ratio (FAR) as well an increasing of possibility of detection (POD) more than 50% at any rain categories (light rain, moderate rain, heavy rain, and very heavy rain). This performance improvement is very beneficial for operational used in BMKG and other hydrological needs.