Abstract

Local variability in rainfall suggests that precipitation measured by weather radars is necessary for accurate simulation of run-off from urban areas. Short-term spatial variability in accumulated rainfall measured by conventional rain gauges has shown that rainfall information must be established in a 100 by 100 m grid or smaller. Small radars are an economical solution to this demand.

As a part of a Local Area Weather Radar (LAWR) calibration exercise 15 km south of Aarhus, Denmark, nine high-resolution rain gauges were used to measure rainfall within a single radar pixel (500 by 500 m). The measured values indicate up to a 100% variation between neighbouring rain gauges within the pixel over a four day period. The rain gauge data and rainfall estimates from the LAWR radar were feed into a run-off model of the pixel to evaluate the impact of point vs. area estimates of rainfall.

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