Near-real-time precipitation analysis over Europe

Abstract

The UK Meteorological Office prepares hourly analyses of the extent and type of precipitation over a large part of Europe and the NE Atlantic. The analyses, which are available within about two hours of datum time, are primarily for use with a numerical dispersion and deposition model to predict the distribution of contamination in the event of a nuclear accident like that at Chernobyl in 1986. Quality-controlled radar data from the Meteorological Office's FRONTIERS system and radar data from other western European countries under the COST-73 project provide the most detailed information, but are supplemented by conventional surface observations, Meteosat imagery and products from NWP models. -from Authors