Title: Model relating humidity and intensity of satellite infrared imagery for global precipitation nowcasting

Authors: L.V. Narasimha Prasad; Mannava Munirathnam Naidu; K. Prudhvi Kumar Reddy

Addresses: Department of Computer Science and Engineering, SV University College of Engineering, Tirupati, India ' Department of Computer Science and Engineering, SV University College of Engineering, Tirupati, India ' Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Vardhaman College of Engineering, Hyderabad, India

Abstract: The satellite imagery-based hydro image processing (SIHIP) model elucidates a new precipitation nowcasting methodology by relating humidity and intensity of satellite infrared image. With this relation, the relative humidity can be quickly and reliably estimated in near real-time to eliminate the need for site-specific radiosonde. The algorithm uses clustering technique to separate the cloud texture from the ground surface textures and Haar wavelet to obtain its mean wavelength. This wavelength is used to obtain a relation between a real time entity and the observed entity, which affects the precipitation. SIHIP focuses on convective and precipitating clouds over the Indian subcontinent region for the periods June-September 2012 and 2013. It has undergone a rigorous test for validation on real time data from NASA Global Precipitation Measurement mission. The results of the SIHIP model reflect a significant improvement over existing global satellite precipitation nowcasting algorithms with a success rate of 95.14%.

Keywords: clustering; Haar wavelet; humidity; image processing; remote sensing; satellite precipitation nowcasting; satellite imagery; hydro image processing; SIHIP; satellite infrared imagery; global precipitation; cloud texture; ground surface texture; convective clouds; precipitating clouds; Indian subcontinent.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHST.2014.068447

International Journal of Hydrology Science and Technology, 2014 Vol.4 No.4, pp.310 - 335

Received: 11 Jun 2014
Accepted: 13 Oct 2014
Published online: 15 Apr 2015 *

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