Combining satellite images and reanalysis data, the inter-annual variability in orographic precipitation over the Rockies, the Andes, and the Alps will be sought. Because orographic precipitation is an important water resource for our life, its change has great impacts on our life; delay/advance in phenology, drought/flooding, and agriculture are all heavily dependent on the amount and pattern of orographic precipitation.
This project tries to find inter-annual variability in precipitation over the three different mountain ranges with the reanalysis data, and verify it by analyzing satellite images afterwards. Satellite images and reanalysis data supplement each other well; the temporal coverage of satellite images is short but that of reanalysis data is relatively long, and spatial resolution is quite high for satellite images but relatively low for reanalysis data. In addition, trends in orographic precipitation will be sought, so that the future change in precipitation could be estimated.