PRECIPITATION

is one of the most important variable in the hydrological budget of the Earth. The better understanding of the spatial and temporal distribution of precipitation is fundamental for any hydrologic and climatic applications. Unfortunately, the inhomogeneity of temporal and spatial distribution of rainfall combined with the lack or the sparse presence of ground measurement makes it ones of the most difficult parameter to quantify as an input to hydrological model.

AVAILABLE PRODUCTS

Instantanous rain rate

It is obtained mainly from Micro Wave sensors on board of polar satellites. Some derived products use these data together with geostationary measurement of cloud temperature to get a near real time first guess estimate of instantaneous precipitation rate with global coverage, without the typical delay of polar satellites data.

Cumulated rain

There are several derived products which combine the instantaneous rain rate within a time frame to get the total rain (or the average rain rate). Soil moisture data can also be used for the same purpose. Typically the cumulated values can be availbale with one-hour or one-day time span.

LIST OF OPERATIONAL PRECIPITATION PRODUCTS

                     

Product	Product code	Status	Parameter	available in (hours)
P-IN-FCI	(H40B)	operational	precipitation - instantaneous	0.5
P-IN-SEVIRI-PMW	(H60B)	operational	precipitation - instantaneous	0.5
P-IN-SEVIRI_E	(H63)	operational	precipitation - instantaneous	0.5
P-IN-PMW	(H68)	operational	precipitation - instantaneous	4
P-AC-FCI	(H42B)	operational	precipitation - cumulated	0.5
P-AC-SEVIRI-PMW	(H61B)	operational	precipitation - cumulated	0.5
P-AC-SEVIRI_E	(H90)	operational	precipitation - cumulated	0.5
P-AC-SM2RAIN	(H64)	operational	precipitation - cumulated	15
P-IN-SSMIS	(H01)	operational	precipitation - instantaneous	4
P-IN-MHS	(H02B)	operational	precipitation - instantaneous	4
P-IN-ATMS	(H18)	operational	precipitation - instantaneous	4