Satellite precipitation estimates and the CAFFG system By

Satellite precipitation estimates and the CAFFG system By Rosario Alfaro

CAMI (Central American Mitch Initiative) • No radar over the region and few gauges in real time • GOES Satellite Data and the RAMSDIS system (Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama) • Precipitation estimates from the Hydro. Estimator (running in a server in Costa Rica) • CAFFG (Central American Flash Flood Guidance) system

CAFFG (Central American Flash Flood Guidance) system • Developed by the Hydrological Research Center in San Diego whose Director is Dr. Kosta Georgakakos • It works automatically. Produce Different products at different times • The input data in real time: satellite precipitation estimates and temperature. • It also use historical data of precipitation, humidity, evapotranspiration and temperature • Main computational components of the system: the soil moisture model and the FFG model

CAFFG (continues) • Consist of the processing and the dissemination servers both located in the National Meteorological Institute of Costa Rica. • The products are available approximately 30 minutes after each hour. • The dissemination server has the web page where the products are. • The interpretation of the products needs training. • The validation is an on going process at this time

The web page (https: //cds. imn. ac. cr)

Flash Flood Guidance: actual rainfall of given duration that is just enough to cause bankfull flows in small streams It is calculated at 00, 06, 12 and 18 UTC for 1, 3 and 6 hrs It is not calculated for basins whose area is greater than 2000 km 2

Other products: Arc. View tables • • • Basin ID 01 MAP 2004102602 03 MAP 2004102600 06 MAP 2004102600 24 MAP 2004102600 06 ASM 2004102600 01 FFG 2004102600 03 FFG 2004102600 06 FFG 2004102600