Convective rainfall estimation from digital GOES-1 infrared data

An investigated was conducted to determine the feasibility of developing an objective technique for estimating convective rainfall from digital GOES-1 infrared data. The study area was a 240 km by 240 km box centered on College Station, Texas (Texas A&M University). The Scofield and Oliver (1977) rainfall estimation scheme was adapted for this study and used with the digital geostationary satellite data. The concept of enhancement curves with respect to rainfall estimation is discussed. Raingage rainfall analyses and satellite-derived rainfall estimation analyses were compared. The correlation for the station data pairs (observed versus estimated rainfall amounts) for the convective portion of the storm was 0.92. This investigation demonstrated that a fairly accurate objective rainfall technique using digital geostationary infrared satellite data is feasible. (Author)