A radar-based climatology of precipitation over the Great Britain and Ireland and an assessment of radar-data quality

Jonathan G Fairman; David Schultz; Daniel Kirshbaum; Suzanne L Gray; Andrew Ian Barrett

doi:10.1002/wea.2486

A radar-based climatology of precipitation over the Great Britain and Ireland and an assessment of radar-data quality

Jonathan G Fairman, David Schultz, Daniel Kirshbaum, Suzanne L Gray, Andrew Ian Barrett

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The Met Office 1km radar-derived precipitation-rate composite over 8 years (2006–2013) is examined to evaluate whether it provides an accurate representation of annual-average precipitation over Great Britain and Ireland over long periods of time. The annual-average precipitation from the radar composite is comparable with gauge measurements, with an average error of +23mmyr−1 over Great Britain and Ireland, +29mmyr−1 (3%) over the United Kingdom and –781mmyr−1 (46%) over the Republic of Ireland. The radar-derived precipitation composite is useful over the United Kingdom including Northern Ireland, but not accurate over the Republic of Ireland, particularly in the south.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	153-158
Number of pages	5
Journal	Weather
Volume	70
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/wea.2486
Publication status	Published - May 2015

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10.1002/wea.2486

PRESTO: Precipitation structures over orography.
Schultz, D. (PI)
1/03/12 → 31/08/15
Project: Research

Cite this

@article{a3480e1df9dc47e3a996849b9a0668ed,

title = "A radar-based climatology of precipitation over the Great Britain and Ireland and an assessment of radar-data quality",

abstract = "The Met Office 1km radar-derived precipitation-rate composite over 8 years (2006–2013) is examined to evaluate whether it provides an accurate representation of annual-average precipitation over Great Britain and Ireland over long periods of time. The annual-average precipitation from the radar composite is comparable with gauge measurements, with an average error of +23mmyr−1 over Great Britain and Ireland, +29mmyr−1 (3%) over the United Kingdom and –781mmyr−1 (46%) over the Republic of Ireland. The radar-derived precipitation composite is useful over the United Kingdom including Northern Ireland, but not accurate over the Republic of Ireland, particularly in the south.",

author = "Fairman, {Jonathan G} and David Schultz and Daniel Kirshbaum and Gray, {Suzanne L} and Barrett, {Andrew Ian}",

note = "This work was supported by the National Environmental Research Council (NERC) as part of the PRESTO (PREcipitation STructures over Orography) project (NE/1024984/1). We thank the Met Office and the British Atmospheric Data Centre for the 1km radar precipitation composite and MIDAS precipitation-gauge data. We thank Bogdan Antonescu for many discussions about the radar composite and the two anonymous reviewers for their instructive comments that have improved the article. We acknowl- edge excellent feedback received from the radar group at the University of Reading. Comments from Kath Morris greatly improved the quality of this manuscript.",

year = "2015",

month = may,

doi = "10.1002/wea.2486",

language = "English",

volume = "70",

pages = "153--158",

journal = "Weather",

issn = "0043-1656",

publisher = "John Wiley & Sons Ltd",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - A radar-based climatology of precipitation over the Great Britain and Ireland and an assessment of radar-data quality

AU - Fairman, Jonathan G

AU - Schultz, David

AU - Kirshbaum, Daniel

AU - Gray, Suzanne L

AU - Barrett, Andrew Ian

N1 - This work was supported by the National Environmental Research Council (NERC) as part of the PRESTO (PREcipitation STructures over Orography) project (NE/1024984/1). We thank the Met Office and the British Atmospheric Data Centre for the 1km radar precipitation composite and MIDAS precipitation-gauge data. We thank Bogdan Antonescu for many discussions about the radar composite and the two anonymous reviewers for their instructive comments that have improved the article. We acknowl- edge excellent feedback received from the radar group at the University of Reading. Comments from Kath Morris greatly improved the quality of this manuscript.

PY - 2015/5

Y1 - 2015/5

N2 - The Met Office 1km radar-derived precipitation-rate composite over 8 years (2006–2013) is examined to evaluate whether it provides an accurate representation of annual-average precipitation over Great Britain and Ireland over long periods of time. The annual-average precipitation from the radar composite is comparable with gauge measurements, with an average error of +23mmyr−1 over Great Britain and Ireland, +29mmyr−1 (3%) over the United Kingdom and –781mmyr−1 (46%) over the Republic of Ireland. The radar-derived precipitation composite is useful over the United Kingdom including Northern Ireland, but not accurate over the Republic of Ireland, particularly in the south.

AB - The Met Office 1km radar-derived precipitation-rate composite over 8 years (2006–2013) is examined to evaluate whether it provides an accurate representation of annual-average precipitation over Great Britain and Ireland over long periods of time. The annual-average precipitation from the radar composite is comparable with gauge measurements, with an average error of +23mmyr−1 over Great Britain and Ireland, +29mmyr−1 (3%) over the United Kingdom and –781mmyr−1 (46%) over the Republic of Ireland. The radar-derived precipitation composite is useful over the United Kingdom including Northern Ireland, but not accurate over the Republic of Ireland, particularly in the south.

U2 - 10.1002/wea.2486

DO - 10.1002/wea.2486

M3 - Article

SN - 0043-1656

VL - 70

SP - 153

EP - 158

JO - Weather

JF - Weather

ER -

A radar-based climatology of precipitation over the Great Britain and Ireland and an assessment of radar-data quality

Abstract

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Projects

PRESTO: Precipitation structures over orography.

Cite this