Workstation Rainfall Tool
From Fenix
Contents |
Purpose
The FAO Workstation Rainfall Tool (WRT) helps identifying rainfall-deficit zones using satellite rainfall estimates and rainfall data collected from a network of raingauges. These two sets of data are complementary: raingauge values are more accurate for the areas in the immediate vicinity of the instruments, while estimates from geo-stationary satellites (e.g. Meteosat) and polar orbiting satellites (e.g. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) series) represent better the spatial distribution of rainfall over large surfaces.
Data Sources and Time Series
The archive of the Workstation Rainfall Tool includes the following data: NOAA satellite estimated rainfall. Available every 10 days for the African countries only with a time series starting from 1996. The images have a spatial resolution of 5 km (at the equator). Global estimated rainfall provided by the Joint Research Centre in the context of the Monitoring Agriculture with Remote Sensing (MARS) project. The MARS Agrometeorological Activities Outside Europe (MARS-FOOD) regularly receives 10-daily outputs from the ECMWF (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast) atmospherical model. The original global data at a 1 degree resolution are preprocessed by Meteoconsult (Nl) and finally transformed into 0.5 degree grids. A time series starting from 1974 is now available in the WRT. NOAA raingauges measurements originated from the Global Terrain Stations (GTS) network that provide time series data starting from 2007.
How To Create a Rainfall Report
Quick start
Define the area of interest in the tab “Region” (e.g. select one or more countries, one or more provinces and/or one or more districts). You may also include raingauges by selecting the stations appearing in the “Rainfall station” section; Define the period of interest: in the tab “Period” (e.g. October 2008 dekad 1 - April 2009 dekad 1). You may also compare the selected data, with the same period of a different year in the “compare with year” section. The “User Selection” panel shows the currently selected elements and allows for modifications. Click the “Create Report” button to generate the report
The report includes:
- a general description of the climate situation
- the estimated rainfall as charts and tables, compared with average values (as default option),.This output is derived from the computation of the available satellite images, by using, as reference, the FAO Global Administrative Unit Layers database (Gaul version 2009)
The report can be saved in different formats (pdf, excel, etc.) and will be stored in the tab “Favourites”. This will allow the user to load it anytime, and carry out updates, if any.
Advanced
You may customize the selections using the tab “Options”.
- Show Average is the default option. It displays mean values together with actual rainfall.
- Cumulate Values: it charts estimates rainfall values as cumulates.
- Show Chart, Show Table and Show Map: you may include or exclude them from your report.
You may also save the selected configuration as “favourite” report by pressing the “Save/Update” button
