Evaluation and Uncertainty Estimation of NOAA/NSSL Next-Generation National Mosaic Quantitative Precipitation Estimation Product (Q2) over the Continental United States

AbstractQuantitative precipitation estimation (QPE) products from the next-generation National Mosaic and QPE system (Q2) are cross-compared to the operational, radar-only product of the National Weather Service (Stage II) using the gauge-adjusted and manual quality-controlled product (Stage IV) as a reference. The evaluation takes place over the entire conterminous United States (CONUS) from December 2009 to November 2010. The annual comparison of daily Stage II precipitation to the radar-only Q2Rad product indicates that both have small systematic biases (absolute values > 8%), but the random errors with Stage II are much greater, as noted with a root-mean-squared difference of 4.5 mm day−1 compared to 1.1 mm day−1 with Q2Rad and a lower correlation coefficient (0.20 compared to 0.73). The Q2 logic of identifying precipitation types as being convective, stratiform, or tropical at each grid point and applying differential Z–R equations has been successful in removing regional biases (i.e., overestimated ...

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