Meteorological Observations

Meteorological observations play a key role in many flood, drought, water quality and water resources applications. Whilst rainfall observations are most widely used, other parameters of interest include air temperatures, humidity, solar radiation and wind speeds. Rainfall measurement techniques include raingauges and weather radar, with satellite precipitation estimates playing an increasingly important role, particularly in data-sparse regions. Automatic weather stations are also used widely to provide air temperatures, humidity and other hydrologically relevant parameters. This chapter discusses these approaches and some of their strengths and limitations for hydrological applications. Examples include the Global Precipitation Mission, the USA’s NEXRAD weather radar network and the Met Office’s Weather Observations Website, plus a discussion of multisensor techniques which seek to combine the best features from satellite, weather radar and surface observations. Developing areas are also discussed, such as in citizen science, crowdsourcing of observations, rainfall estimation using cellular communication links, phased array weather radar and low-cost instrumentation using off-the-shelf sensors and 3D printed devices.