Availability of precipitation data is very important in every aspect related to hydrology. Readings from the ground stations are reliable and are used in hydrological models to do various analysis. However, the predictions are always associated with uncertainties due to the limited number of ground stations, which requires interpolation of the data. Meanwhile, groundbreaking approach in capturing precipitation events from vantage point through satellites in space has created a platform to not only merge ground data with satellite estimates to produce more accurate result, but also to find the data where ground stations are not available or scarcely available. Nevertheless, the data obtained through these satellite missions needs to be verified on its temporal and spatial resolution as well as the uncertainties associated before we make any decisions on its basis. This study focuses on finding and evaluating data obtained from two multi-satellite precipitation measurements missions: i) Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) ii) Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission. GPM is the latest mission launched on Feb 28, 2014 after the successful completion of TRMM mission which collected valuable data for 17 years since its launch in November 1997. Both near real time and final version precipitation products for TMPA and GPM are considered for this study. Two study areas representing eastern and western parts of the United States of America (USA) are considered: i) Charlotte (CLT) in North Carolina ii) San Francisco (SF) in California. Evaluation is carried out for daily accumulated rainfall estimates and single rainfall events. Statistical analysis and error categorization of daily accumulated rainfall estimates were analyzed in two parts: i) Ten yeas data available for TMPA products were considered for historical analysis ii) Both TMPA and GPM data available for a ten-month common period was considered for GPM Era analysis. To study how well the satellite estimates with their finest temporal and spatial resolution capture single rainfall event and to explore their engineering application potential, an existing model of SF watershed prepared in Infoworks Integrated Catchment Model (ICM) was considered for hydrological simulation. Infoworks ICM is developed and maintained by Wallingford Software in the UK and SF watershed model is owned by San Francisco Public Works (SFPW). The historical analysis of TMPA products suggested overestimation of rainfall in CLT region while underestimation in SF region. This underestimation was largely associated with missed-rainfall events and negative hit events in SF. This inconsistency in estimation was evident in GPM products as well. However, in the study of single rainfall events with higher magnitude of rainfall depth in SF, the total rainfall volume and runoff volume generated in the watershed were over-estimated. Hence, satellite estimates in general tends to miss rainfall events of lower magnitude and over-estimate rainfall events of higher magnitude. From statistical analysis of GPM Era data, it was evident that GPM has been able to correct this inconsistency to some extent where it minimized overestimation in CLT region and minimized negative error due to underestimation in SF. GPM products fairly captured the hydrograph shape of outflow in SF watershed in comparison to TMPA. From this study, it can be concluded that even though GPM precipitation estimates could not quiet completely replace ground rain gage measurements as of now, with the perpetual updating of algorithms to correct its associated error, it holds realistic engineering application potential in the near future.

Resumo: O objetivo deste trabalho foi analisar as variabilidades espacial, sazonal e interanual da precipitação pluviométrica nas regiões Sudeste e Sul do Brasil. Foram utilizadas 164 séries mensais e anuais de chuvas para o período de 1972 a 2002 e dados de médias mensais de radiação de ondas longas emergentes (ROLE), para o período de junho de 1974 a dezembro de 2002, com pontos de grade com resolução espacial de 2,5º x 2,5º, entre as latitudes 20ºN e 35ºS e longitudes entre 0º; 90ºW. A partir das análises de agrupamento, de componentes principais e geoestatística foram identificadas 13 regiões homogêneas de regime de precipitação. A precipitação anual variou de 956 mm nos vales do São Francisco- Jequitinhonha a 1830 mm na Bacia do Iguaçu-Chapecó. As três primeiras componentes principais (CP) da matriz de médias mensais de precipitação explicam conjuntamente, 61,49% da variância. A primeira CP representa o campo médio de precipitação, a segunda CP representa o período de verão e a terceira CP apresenta dois pontos extremos: o mês de novembro e o mês de fevereiro. Através dos dados de ROLE analisou-se a influência da Zona de Convergência do Atlântico Sul (ZCAS) na precipitação. As três primeiras componentes principais da matriz de médias mensais de ROLE explicam conjuntamente 96,27% da variância. A primeira CP representa a convecção média. A segunda CP representa o período de primavera e a terceira CP representa o período de verão. As correlações, significativas ao nível de 5%, obtidas entre os autovetores das matrizes de precipitação pluviométrica e de ROLE, corroboram a influência da ZCAS no regime de precipitação das regiões Sudeste e Sul do Brasil. / Abstract: The spatial, seasonal and interannual variability of rainfall in Southeastern and Southern Brazil were analyzed. For that, 164 series of rainfall for the period of 1972 to 2002 and data about outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) for the period of 1974 to 2002 were utilized. From the clusters analysis and components analysis (PCA), 13 homogeneous regions under precipitation regime were identified. The annual rainfall varied from 956 mm in São Francisco-Jequitinhonha valleys to 1830 mm in Iguaçu-Chapecó basin. The three first matrix principal components (PC) of monthly average rainfall (average of 30 years) explain together 61.49% of the variance. The first PC represents the mean rainfall field, the second PC represents the extended rainy period (September to May) and the third PC presents two extreme points: November indicates the end of spring and the beginning of summer; and February indicates the end of summer and the beginning of autumn. The OLR influence on the rainfall variability in the Southeast and in the South was also evaluated. Through the PCA, the behavior of the South Atlantic Convergence Zone (SACZ) was studied together with its influence on the rainfall variability. The three first matrix main components of OLR monthly average (average of 30 years) explain together 96.27% of the variance. The first main component (CP) is associated to the period of autumn. The second PC represents the winter/summer period, and the third PC represents summertime. The correlations, significative to the level of 5%, obtained between the rainfall and OLR eigenvectors, attest their influence on the rainfall regime in Southeastern and Southern Brazil. / Orientador: Luzia Aparecida Trinca / Coorientador: Jonas Teixeira Nery / Banca: Angelo Cataneo / Banca: João Francisco Escobedo / Banca: Shigetoshi Sugahara / Banca: Paulo Henrique Caramori / Doutor

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:23:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:03:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 00458.pdf: 3328296 bytes, checksum: d5c7186d59620ba04c5e89553bd39c20 (MD5) / Dissertacao (Mestrado) / IEA/D / Escola Politecnica, Universidade de Sao Paulo - POLI/USP

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:38:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:04:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 01779.pdf: 1867284 bytes, checksum: 561bc30f019f8009c1ab308bcee6e3ca (MD5) / Dissertacao (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN/CNEN-SP

Este estudo teve por finalidade investigar a frequência e intensidade dos Sistemas Frontais (SF) avaliando-os com os episódios ENOS (El Niño Oscilação Sul) para o período da Primavera (SON) de 2000 a 2010 sobre o Estado do Rio Grande do Sul (RS). As análises mostraram que os anos em que se tem a menor ocorrência de SF estão associados principalmente a eventos de La Niña Fraco e Neutralidade. Em contrapartida, um número maior de Sistemas Frontais foi verificado com relação aos episódios de El Niño Moderado e Neutralidade. Especificamente, no que se refere à questão mensal, percebeu-se que no mês de Outubro há uma maior influência dos Sistemas Frontais do que em Setembro e Novembro. Outro fator pertinente e evidenciado deu-se pelas comparações entre o período escolhido (no qual não ocorreram eventos fortes) e os episódios de ENOS Fortes. Notou-se, neste caso, que não ocorreram variações impactantes no número de Sistemas Frontais, embora se tenha o conhecimento dos efeitos e alterações existentes nos padrões de circulação atmosférica devido à atuação dos fenômenos de escala interanual. Ainda, tendo a necessidade de ampliar a gama de entendimento, foi realizada uma abordagem com relação ao comportamento da precipitação em seis sub-regiões do Estado, onde se observou de forma geral, um aumento da precipitação em praticamente todas as áreas do RS, quando comparado com a média Histórica. Com isso, ressaltou-se que os volumes mensais abaixo da média Histórica estão ligados a episódios de Neutralidade. Já a normalidade do regime de precipitação, mostrou-se interligado em média para todas as regiões ao evento de El Niño e por último, as precipitações acima da normal climatológica estão mais presentes em condições de El Niño, mais especificamente de intensidade Moderada. Dentre as sub-regiões analisadas, destacou-se a parte Oeste do Estado por ter apresentado uma maior intensidade nos volumes de precipitação. Outro fator importante analisado foram os valores percentuais das precipitações derivadas dos sistemas frontais. Levando-se em conta a média das avaliações, verificou-se que as sub-regiões Sul e Sudoeste do Rio Grande do Sul são as mais influenciadas pelas passagens dos Sistemas Frontais, enquanto os menores impactos na precipitação podem ser notados nas regiões Central e Norte do Rio Grande do Sul. Além disso, realizou-se um estudo de caso para avaliar o comportamento dos Sistemas Frontais em episódios de ENOS diferentes, nos campos de pressão atmosférica e temperatura do ar. Logo, averigou-se que em um ano de Neutralidade, as passagens de SF sobre o Estado costumam ser mais prolongadas em sua duração de tempo, permanecendo mais dias, com algumas variações significativas nos campos meteorológicos observados. Enquanto para um ano referente à condição de El Niño Moderado, os Sistemas Frontais possuem, na maioria dos casos, uma duração de tempo menor, consequentemente com menores variações na temperatura e pressão. / This study aimed to investigate the frequency and intensity of the frontal systems (FS) evaluating them with respect to the episodes of El Niño – South Oscillation (ENSO) for the spring season (SON) from 2000 to 2010, over the state of Rio Grande do Sul (RS - Brazil). The analysis showed that the years having a smaller incidence of SF are mainly associated to events of weak La Nina and neutrality. In contrast, a larger number of frontal systems were observed with respect to episodes of moderate El Nino and neutrality. Specifically with relation to the monthly aspect, it was noticed that there is a major influence of the frontal systems in October than in September and November. Another inherent and evidenced factor was given by the comparisons between the selected period (with no occurrence of strong events) and the Strong ENSO episodes. In this case it was noticed that there has not occurred impacting variations in the number of frontal systems although the effects and changes of the atmospheric circulation patterns due to the action of the interannual scale phenomena are known. Further, to enlarge the range of understanding, it was made one approach relating to the precipitation behavior in six sub regions of the state where in general it was observed an increase in the precipitation almost in all areas of the RS when compared to the historic average. Thus, the monthly volumes below the historic average are linked to neutral episodes. Otherwise, the normal precipitation regime, on average, was proved to be interconnected for all regions to the event El Niño, and finally the rainfall above the climatology are more common in El Niño conditions, specifically with Moderate intensity. In this manner, considering the analyzed sub regions, the west part of the state has presented a higher intensity of precipitation volumes. Another important factor analyzed were the percentage values of rainfall derived from frontal systems. Taking into account the average of the evaluations, it was found that the South and southwest sub-region of Rio Grande do Sul is the most influenced by passages from the SF, while smaller impacts on precipitation can be noticed in the Central and North regions. In addition, it was realized a case study to evaluate the behavior of frontal systems in different episodes of ENSO, with respect to the fields of atmospheric pressure and air temperature. Thus, it was found that in a year of neutrality, the frontal systems crossings on the state tend to be more prolonged, remaining more days, with some significant variations in the observed meteorological fields. While for a year related to the condition of Moderate El Nino the frontal systems have, in mosta cases, a shorter duration, thus with minor variations in temperature and pressure.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:23:26Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T13:56:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 00939.pdf: 1759518 bytes, checksum: 13e7c7b34c66d55c7d42e8522a1cc678 (MD5) / Dissertacao (Mestrado) / IEA/D / Escola Politecnica, Universidade de Sao Paulo - POLI/USP

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:23:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:03:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 00458.pdf: 3328296 bytes, checksum: d5c7186d59620ba04c5e89553bd39c20 (MD5) / Dissertacao (Mestrado) / IEA/D / Escola Politecnica, Universidade de Sao Paulo - POLI/USP

Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T12:38:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 / Made available in DSpace on 2014-10-09T14:04:43Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 01779.pdf: 1867284 bytes, checksum: 561bc30f019f8009c1ab308bcee6e3ca (MD5) / Dissertacao (Mestrado) / IPEN/D / Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares - IPEN/CNEN-SP

Pakistan, as an agriculture based economy, is vulnerable to various hydrometeorological hazards ranging from tropical cyclones, thunderstorms, tornadoes, drought, rain, hail, snow, lightning, fog, wind, temperature extremes, air pollution, and climatic change. However, three of the most pressing challenges in terms of water resource availability, that are different in nature, but are inter-linked to each other are discussed over here. We begin with the Karakoram Anomaly that is considered as one of the most mysterious and most speculated phenomena on Planet Earth. Though, it is confined to the glaciers in the eastern Hindukush, western Karakoram and northwestern Himalayan mountain ranges of Northern Pakistan that are not responding to global warming in the same manner as their counterparts elsewhere, because, their retreat rates are less than the global average, and some are either stable or growing. However, the Karakoram Anomaly has baffled scientific society for more than a decade since its earliest discovery in the year 2005. The reasons of the Karakoram anomaly were mainly associated to physiography of the area and role of climate was considered marginal till now, as climate is influencing glaciers differently all over the globe. Here, for the first time, we present a hydro-meteorological perspective based on five decades of synoptic weather observations collected by the meteorological network of Pakistan. Analysis of this unique data set indicates that increased regional scale humidity, cloud cover, and precipitation, along with decreased net radiation, near-surface wind speed, potential evapotranspiration and river flow, especially during the summer season, represent a substantial change in the energy, mass and momentum fluxes that are facilitating the establishment of the Karakoram Anomaly. In turn, it is influencing the availability of glacier melt in River Indus in summer season. Secondly, we developed a hydrometeorological data sets for Pakistan as they are extremely important for water related impact studies and future climate change scenarios. Presently, major sources of gridded temperature and precipitation data generation are in-situ observations, satellite retrieved information and outputs from numerical models. However, each has its own merits and demerits. Among them gridded observed data sets are considered superior if the gauge density is better. Unfortunately, precipitation gauge network of Pakistan is poorly presented in prior gridded products. Therefore, a daily in-situ observation based, 0.05º×0.05º gridded temperature and precipitation data set for Pakistan, for the period of 1960-2013 is developed. It is named as PAK-HYM-1.0, that is an abbreviation of Pakistan and Hydrometeorology, and 1.0 indicates that it is the first version. This data set is developed by utilizing data from 67 meteorological stations of Pakistan. This number of observation sites is 2 to 4 times higher than that used in prior similar products, and this product can be adopted as an operational information product that can be updated on daily basis. Finally, we focused on meteorological and hydrological droughts in Pakistan. We have reconstructed history of drought in Pakistan using in situ observations based high resolution gridded data through Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) methodology on different time scales. Furthermore, we have explained the transition of meteorological drought to hydrological drought using river inflows data of large rivers of Pakistan, and explained the sensitivity of different rivers to rainfall and temperature of different seasons. On the basis of this analysis, we have proposed a solution of construction of water reservoirs to tap water resources from northern mountains as inflows from these mountains has potential to perform as a buffer against droughts in low-lying areas of Pakistan. In addition to that, we have demonstrated the potential of Palmer Drought Sensitivity Index (PDSI) as an operational tool for drought monitoring in Pakistan.

The first ground based observations of aeronomic phenomena in the South Atlantic Anomaly Region are presented. These data show that enhancements in foF2 and foE can be directly attributed to precipitated electron energy fluxes in the Anomaly Region. The regular occurrence of particle induced sporadic-E ionization is also presented together with the first measurable 391.4 nm airglow radiation of about 16 R. The first comprehensive survey of energy fluxes carried by energetic particles using satellites is also presented for both daytime and nighttime as well as the seasonal fluctuations. We found that the nocturnally precipitated electron energy fluxes varied between 1 x 10⁻⁴ and 38 x 10⁻⁴ erg cm²s⁻¹, depending upon magnetic activity and season, whereas the daytime precipitated electron energy fluxes tended to vary between 1 x 10⁻³ and 8 x 10⁻³ erg cm⁻²s⁻¹, with a tendency to decrease during magnetically active periods. Electron density and temperature contours as well as NO⁺ and 0⁺ ions contours for nighttime are also presented. The main conclusion of the study is that precipitating electrons provide a significant and sometimes dominant source of ionization in the ionosphere over the South Atlantic Anomaly Region.