Home - CHRS

June, 2009
UCI's CHRS Launches a Real-time Google Earth Global Precipitation Mapper

In collaboration with UNESCO's International Hydrological Programme (IHP) and with the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2), and its Irvine Division, CHRS has developed a Google Earth application that provides access to visualization of CHRS's very high resolution (0.04°) global precipitation products in near real time to worldwide users. The application, which is developed in conjunction with UCI's participation as a founding member UNESCO's Water and Development Information for Arid Lands-A Global Network (G-WADI) initiative, aims at strengthening the capacity manage water resources around the globe by allowing operational hydrologists and water resources managers immediate access to satellite-based global precipitation estimates within 1-2 hours of the actual acquisition of the global infrared imagery from the constellation of Geostationary-orbit meteorological satellites. The product is derived using CHRS's Precipitation Estimation from Satellite Observation using Artificial Neural Network with Cloud Classification System (PERSIANN-CCS). The algorithm is run at NOAA's NESDIS and products are delivered to CHRS in real-time where the most recent 3,6,12,24, 48, and 72 hour precipitation accumulation are calculated and reformatted for the G-WADI GeoServer precipitation mapping application. Once ready, the accumulation data is further processed into a google-earth compliant imagery, where it can be accessed using a static KMZ file. The static KMZ file accesses the recently updated imagery.

A prototype of the application was recently released by CHRS director, Professor Soroosh Sorooshian in Trieste, Italy during the Workshop on Water Resources in Developing Countries: Planning and Management in a Climate Change Scenario, which was held at the Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics (ICTP). More recently, the application was also demonstrated during the 8th national conference on Civil Engineering, in Tehran, Iran. The application will be formally launched by CHRS director, Professor Soroosh Sorooshian during his keynote speech at the GEWEX Sixth International Scientific Conference on the Global Energy and Water Cycle to be held in Melbourne , Australia between 24-28 August, 2009.

Previous News (2007)

UCI's CHRS is a joint 2007 UNESCO Great Man-made River Prize Laurate

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has named the Center for Hydrometeorology and Remote Sensing (CHRS) at UC Irvine and the National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center for Sustainability of Semi-arid Hydrology and Riparian Areas (SAHRA) at the University of Arizona joint winners of the 2007 Great Man-Made River International Water Prize.

The prize recognizes outstanding achievements and contributions in advancing the assessment, development, management and use of water resources in arid and semi-arid areas, such as groundwater and surface water availability and usage in areas subject to drought and desertification.

Presented biennially by the director-general of UNESCO, the prestigious Great Man-Made River Prize has only been awarded three times, in 2001 and 2005; this is the first time it has been awarded to U.S. institutions.

The prize award was presented during the 2007 World Science Day for Peace and Development, held on Nov. 10, at the Hungarian Parliament in Budapest .

More Information

UCI Press Release
UNESCO Press Release
NOAA Press Release
Great Man-Made River International Water Prize
Water and Development Information fopr Arid Lands- A Global Network (G-WADI)
UNESCO-IHP
SAHRA

CHRS Mission Statement

Building Global Capacity for Forecast and Mitigation of Hydrologic Disasters through the development of means to extend the benefits of space and weather agencies' vast technological resources, which are untapped, into applications that can assist hydrologists and water resource managers worldwide and through equitable access to relevant nformation

Objectives

Improve hydrologic prediction through development and refinement of hydrologic models and use of advanced observations, particularly from remote sensing sources
Develop mathematical algorithms capable of estimating precipitation both from space-based and in-situ observations at spatial and temporal resolutions relevant to hydrologic applications, particularly in the semi arid environments
Develop decision support tools for generating and evaluating a variety of hydro-meteorologic and hydro-climatologic information required by the water resources management community
Contribute to the education of well trained hydrologists and water resources engineers responsive to the growing needs of public and private sectors at the state, national and international levels.

CHRS will pursue its mission through interdisciplinary research and education involving faculty and students from Engineering, Physical Sciences, and Social Ecology as well as cooperation with a number of other universities and national laboratories.