3-hourly quantitative precipitation estimation over Central and Northern Europe from rain gauge and radar data

Continental-scale 3-hourly precipitation fields have been analysed from operational CERAD (Central European Radar) and BALTRAD (Baltic Radar) networks and adjusted with daily precipitation measurements from about 10,000 synoptic and climate stations. Here we focus on the application of CERAD and BALTRAD for quantitative precipitation estimation (QPE) that is the choice of quality control methods, the impact of input radar data quality on the analysis results and the analysis algorithm. The quality of the radar derived precipitation fields has been estimated by comparison with ground truth fields at the spatio-temporal scale of the ELDAS (European Land Data Assimilation System) project grid (0.2 degrees/daily). Additionally, statistics on the availability of CERAD and BALTRAD data for the entire ELDAS period from Oct. 1999 to Dec. 2000 have been compiled. The final ELDAS precipitation product covers the whole of Europe and is available in GRIB format from the ECMWF MARS archive. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.