Evaluation and Uncertainty Estimation of NOAA/NSSL Next-Generation National Mosaic Quantitative Precipitation Estimation Product (Q2) over the Continental United States

• Published in: Journal of hydrometeorology 2013-08, Vol.14 (4), p.1308-1322
• Main Authors: Chen, Sheng, Gourley, Jonathan J., Hong, Yang, Kirstetter, P. E., Zhang, Jian, Howard, Kenneth, Flamig, Zachary L., Hu, Junjun, Qi, Youcun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Hydrometeorology; Marine; Mosaic; Precipitation; Radar; Rain; Rain gauges; Reflectance; Seasons; Tropical regions; Weather forecasting
• ISSN: 1525-755X; 1525-7541
• DOI: 10.1175/jhm-d-12-0150.1

Quantitative precipitation estimation (QPE) products from the next-generation National Mosaic and QPE system (Q2) are cross-compared to the operational, radar-only product of the National Weather Service (Stage II) using the gauge-adjusted and manual quality-controlled product (Stage IV) as a reference. The evaluation takes place over the entire conterminous United States (CONUS) from December 2009 to November 2010. The annual comparison of daily Stage II precipitation to the radar-only Q2Rad product indicates that both have small systematic biases (absolute values > 8%), but the random errors with Stage II are much greater, as noted with a root-mean-squared difference of 4.5 mm day−1compared to 1.1 mm day−1with Q2Rad and a lower correlation coefficient (0.20 compared to 0.73). The Q2 logic of identifying precipitation types as being convective, stratiform, or tropical at each grid point and applying differentialZ–Requations has been successful in removing regional biases (i.e., overestimated rainfall from Stage II east of the Appalachians) and greatly diminishes seasonal bias patterns that were found with Stage II. Biases and radar artifacts along the coastal mountain and intermountain chains were not mitigated with rain gauge adjustment and thus require new approaches by the community. The evaluation identifies a wet bias by Q2Rad in the central plains and the South and then introduces intermediate products to explain it. Finally, this study provides estimates of uncertainty using the radar quality index product for both Q2Rad and the gauge-corrected Q2RadGC daily precipitation products. This error quantification should be useful to the satellite QPE community who use Q2 products as a reference.