Rainfall Monitoring Using Microwave Links from Cellular Communication Networks

Abstract

Microwave links from commercial cellular communication networks have been used for rainfall monitoring in The Netherlands since 2003. Here we report on the start of our work on this topic using a dedicated microwave link in 1999, our first trails with commercial microwave links (CMLs) from Vodafone in 2003, our first published results in 2007, our work on sources of error and uncertainties in rainfall retrievals using microwave links of different lengths and frequencies, and finally the fruitful collaboration with T-Mobile NL, which lead to areal rainfall estimation for the Rotterdam metropolitan area in 2009 and 2010 and country-wide rainfall mapping for the entire land surface area of The Netherlands since 2012. Our current work on this topic follows three lines of research: (1) further refinement of our rainfall retrieval and mapping algorithm; (2) further quantification of sources of error and uncertainties using a dedicated experimental setup of multiple microwave links and a line configuration of disdrometers for ground validation; (3) promotion of the international replication of this method for rainfall monitoring through collaboration with partners in Europe and beyond.