Title: Presentazione di PowerPoint
 1EURAINSAT European Satellite Rainfall 
Monitoring at the Geostationary Scale European 
Commission Directorate General XII Science, 
Research and Development Fifth Framework RTD 
activities of a generic nature Environment and 
Sustainable Development sub-programme 
 2Problem Rainfall represents an important 
component of everyday weather and is a 
troublesome issue for weather forecasting at all 
spatial and temporal scales. Quantitative data 
rely upon the use of rain gauges and weather 
radar networks however, only very limited 
portions of most continents are covered by such 
networks and their effective use is hindered by a 
number of calibration and maintenance problems. 
Furthermore, radar and gauge data are 
exceptionally rare over ocean areas. Thus, 
satellite rainfall estimation has become a 
necessity for obtaining measurements from the 
mesoscale (local area) up to the global Earth 
coverage. Science is at work for the production 
of new satellite rainfall algorithms that make 
use of the coming generation of satellite sensors 
(e.g. SEVIRI on board METEOSAT Second Generation, 
MSG) whose advanced data sets will enhance the 
amount of physical information on clouds and 
precipitation systems. Proper attention to the 
problem of satellite rainfall analyses for better 
initialization of numerical weather prediction 
(NWP) models will lead to improved forecasts at 
all scales. Benefits are manifold among others 
 1.More precise mesoscale and global scale 
weather forecasts 2.Better monitoring of 
severe weather phenomena (e.g. flash floods, 
storm-scale events,...) 3.Support to 
hydrology and water management 4.Support to 
decision making in civil protection. 
 3Scientific objectives and approach The key 
objective of EURAINSAT is the development of 
algorithms for rapid-update of satellite rainfall 
estimations at the geostationary scale. The new 
channels available with the SEVIRI radiometer in 
the visible (VIS) and infrared (IR) portion of 
the spectrum will provide much better insight 
into the microphysical and dynamic structure of 
precipitating clouds thus allowing for a more 
precise identification of precipitation 
intensities. Microwave (MW) radiometers on board 
polar orbiting satellites will be used to 
determine information on the vertical structure 
of clouds. The method(s) will work as follows 1. 
Microphysical characterization of precipitating 
clouds with VIS/IR sensors 2. Creation of cloud 
microphysical and radiative databases from cloud 
model outputs and aircraft penetrations 3. 
Tuning of MW algorithms for different cloud 
systems (convective, stratiform, maritime, 
continental,...) 4. Combination of data from the 
different algorithms and application to a rapid 
update cycle at the geostationary scale.
Expected impacts The consortium wants to 1. 
solve the basic scientific problem of obtaining 
realistic physical and quantitative satellite 
rainfall estimations using the new sensors that 
will be soon available on MSG and other 
satellites 2. provide a rainfall product that 
improves rainfall monitoring and is ready as an 
input to the latest generation of local area 
and global circulation NWP models. End-users 
include international organizations that have 
responsibilities for weather analysis and 
forecasting, the World Meteorological 
Organization (e.g. impacts in remote or 
insufficiently monitored areas, like Africa), the 
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN 
(food production monitoring especially in 
developing countries), satellite exploitation 
organizations, weather forecasting offices at the 
national and regional scale, civil protection 
agencies. The European Union will benefit from 
additional powerful support to decision making 
authorities of its member states, as well as 
coverage of the whole of Europe every 15 minutes. 
Updates at 15 minute intervals will have a direct 
impact on the monitoring of severe events in 
hazardous areas and is of fundamental importance 
to this activity. Algorithms will be made 
available to relevant agencies as a result of the 
project. 
20 September 1999, 0000 UTC. 24 h forecast of 
total precipitation (mm) over the previous 24 h 
from the Limited Area Model BOLAM. Forecast 
during the Mesoscale Alpine Programme (MAP) 
Intensive Observation Period 2 (IOP 2). Model run 
provided by Andrea Buzzi, ISAC-CNR, Bologna, Italy
4 November 1966, 2300 UTC. Model RAMS run of the 
Florence flood event. Colors ice clouds (cyan), 
water clouds (gray), precipitation (violet). 
Model run provided by Francesco Meneguzzo, 
Massimilano Pasqui and Gianni Messeri, FMA and 
IB-CNR, Firenze, Italy 
 4Principal Investigators World Wide 
Web Vincenzo Levizzani, ISAC-CNR, Bologna, 
Italy http//www.isac.cnr.it Alberto Mugnai, 
ISAC-CNR, Roma, Italy gtgt Andrea Buzzi, ISAC-CNR, 
Bologna, Italy gtgt Francesco Tampieri, ISAC-CNR, 
Bologna, Italy gtgt Francesco Meneguzzo, FMA and 
IB-CNR, Firenze, Italy http//www-fma.iata.fi.cnr.
it/ Franco Prodi, Univ. Ferrara, Ferrara, 
Italy http//www.fe.infn.it/dipfis.html Frank S. 
Marzano, Univ. LAquila, LAquila, 
Italy http//www.diel.univaq.it/ Martina 
Kästner, DLR, Weßling, Germany http//www.dfd.dlr
.de/ Daniel Rosenfeld, Hebrew Univ., Jerusalem, 
Israel http//earth.es.huji.ac.il/machon/ Chris 
Kidd, Univ. Birmingham, Edgbaston, 
UK http//www.ges.bham.ac.uk/
 Steering Committee Michel Schouppe, EC, 
Brussels, Belgium Donald E. Hinsman, WMO, Geneva, 
Switzerland Peter Bauer, ECMWF, Reading, 
UK Johannes Schmetz, EUMETSAT, Darmstadt, 
Germany J. Pedro V. Poiares Baptista, ESA-ESTEC, 
Nordwijk, The Netherlands Eric A. Smith, 
NASA-GSFC, Greenbelt, MD, USA Gilberto A. 
Vicente, NASA-GSFC, DAAC, Greenbelt, MD, 
USA James F. W. Purdom, CIRA, Colorado State 
Univ., Ft. Collins, CO, USA F. Joseph Turk, NRL, 
Marine Meteorology Division, Monterey, CA, 
USA 
European Commission Information EURAINSAT is a a 
shared-cost project (contract EVG1-2000-00030) 
co-funded by the Research DG of the European 
Commission within the RTD activities of a generic 
nature of the Environment and Sustainable 
Development sub-programme (5th Framework 
Programme). The Commission contact person for 
this project is Dr. Michel Schouppe, Research DG 
"Biodiversity and Global Change" Unit (DI-1), 
Square de Meeûs, 8 (SDME 4/71), B-1050 Brussels  
BELGIUM Phone  32 2 296.06.18, Fax  32 2 
296.05.88, E-mail  michel.schouppe_at_cec.eu.int
- Further Information about EURAINSAT 
- Web server http//www.isao.bo.cnr.it/eurainsat/
 
- Or contact the EURAINSAT co-ordinator Dr. 
 Vincenzo Levizzani
-  ISAC-CNR, via Gobetti 101, I-40129 Bologna, 
 Italy
-  Phone (39) 051-6399578 Fax (39) 051-6399649 
 e-mail v.levizzani_at_isac.cnr.it
Front cover figure 19 September 1999, 0900 UTC. 
Frontal passage during the Mesoscale Alpine 
Programme (MAP) Intensive Observation Period 2 
(IOP 2). Left METEOSAT-7 IR brightness 
temperature (K). Right Satellite rainfall 
estimation obtained using the hybrid 
microwave-infrared technique of J. F. Turk (NRL, 
Monterey). Satellite data were gathered by 
METEOSAT-7 and the DMSP SSM/I. Images provided by 
Roberta Amorati, ISAC-CNR, Bologna. Edited by 
Vincenzo Levizzani on behalf of the EURAINSAT 
Consortium, 1 February 2002. The authors and the 
consortium accept no responsibility for the use 
of information contained in the present brochure.