A field experiment of rainfall intensity estimation based on the analysis of satellite-to-earth microwave link attenuation

Abstract

Globally, the risks from extreme weather are significant and increasing, mainly because larger numbers of people and their assets are being exposed to floods. To cope with such events a now-casting service would be worth to validate weather alerts and to give civil protection offices timely information on the precipitation. In this work, rain-monitoring sensors based on the measurement of the attenuation of the microwave signals transmitted by geostationary satellites are employed to that purpose. The proposed system is able to estimate the rain rate in real time by inverting the propagation model. This paper describes the approach, the set-up and the preliminary results of a comparative field campaign going on in Genoa (Italy).