Laboratory for
Climatology and Remote Sensing

Abstract:

This Letter describes the adjustment of the Convective-Stratiform Technique (CST) to estimate 1991± 93 El NinÄ o rainfall in Ecuador and Peru by means of IR radiation data recorded by the Meteosat-3 VISSR sensor. The adjustment includes (1) a regionalization of a one-dimensional cloud model using local radiosonde data, (2) a ® eld-of-view correction of the VISSR-derived cloud top temperature to model requirements and (3) an adapted discrimination scheme between raining and non-raining clouds. Validation reveals a strong correlation between calculated and observed rainfall for all climatic regimes and rainfall intensities within the study area.