G-WADI PERSIANN-CCS GeoServer for extreme precipitation event monitoring

The Center for Hydrometeorology and Remote Sensing at the University of California, Irvine (CHRS) has been collaborating with UNESCO’s International Hydrological Program (IHP) to build a facility for forecasting and mitigating hydrological disasters. This collaboration has resulted in the development of the Water and Development Information for Arid Lands--a Global Network (G-WADI) PERSIANN-CCS GeoServer, a near real-time global precipitation visualization and data service. This GeoServer provides to end-users the tools and precipitation data needed to support operational decision making, research and sound water management. This manuscript introduces and demonstrates the practicality of the G-WADI PERSIANN-CCS GeoServer for monitoring extreme precipitation events even over regions where ground measurements are sparse. Two extreme events are analyzed. The first event shows an extreme precipitation event causing widespread flooding in Beijing, China and surrounding districts on July 21, 2012. The second event shows tropical storm Nock-Ten that occurred in late July of 2011 causing widespread flooding in Thailand. Evaluation of PERSIANN-CCS precipitation over Thailand using a rain gauge network is also conducted and discussed.