TY - JOUR
T1 - Flood warning and the use of weather radar in Scotland
T2 - a study of flood events in the Ruchill Water catchment
AU - Cranston, Michael D.
AU - Black, Andrew R.
N1 - Copyright 2006 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2006
Y1 - 2006
N2 - This paper reports on work that demonstrates that weather radar can yield remarkably accurate rainfall measurements in Scotland. Analysis of data during 1999 and 2000 shows Nimrod radar data to have no consistent error bias and a 24% mean error in storm rainfall totals. For rivers such as the Ruchill Water in the Perthshire Highlands this highlights the fact that the observations and quality control corrections utilised by the Met Office Nimrod system may offer particular benefits in certain flood warning applications. Assessment of wind data indicates that smaller errors occur in Nimrod radar observations during lower wind speeds (less than 15 knots) and with an easterly airflow. However, errors may also be attributed to occasions when the Numerical Weather Prediction model fails to represent the wind conditions correctly at ground level.
AB - This paper reports on work that demonstrates that weather radar can yield remarkably accurate rainfall measurements in Scotland. Analysis of data during 1999 and 2000 shows Nimrod radar data to have no consistent error bias and a 24% mean error in storm rainfall totals. For rivers such as the Ruchill Water in the Perthshire Highlands this highlights the fact that the observations and quality control corrections utilised by the Met Office Nimrod system may offer particular benefits in certain flood warning applications. Assessment of wind data indicates that smaller errors occur in Nimrod radar observations during lower wind speeds (less than 15 knots) and with an easterly airflow. However, errors may also be attributed to occasions when the Numerical Weather Prediction model fails to represent the wind conditions correctly at ground level.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33748176530&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S1350482705001969
DO - 10.1017/S1350482705001969
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:33748176530
SN - 1350-4827
VL - 13
SP - 43
EP - 52
JO - Meteorological Applications
JF - Meteorological Applications
IS - 1
ER -