Collaborative Efforts on the Transition of MRMS Multi-Sensor Precipitation Estimation from Research to Operations

Accurate high-resolution quantitative precipitation estimation (QPE) products are critical to operational decision making, flood prediction, and seasonal/climatological assessments. This includes having a truer spatial representation of precipitation, which can be problematic when a precipitation field is reliant upon radar estimates and radar coverage is limited. Developers at OU and NSSL working with the Multi-Radar Multi-Sensor (MRMS) system began designing a multi-sensor QPE scheme to address gap-filling radar coverage using other precipitation sources and observational platforms. To facilitate the development process, researchers with OU and NSSL began collaborating with various levels of that National Weather Service (NWS) on the design, evaluation, and integration of the MRMS multi-sensor QPE into operational needs.

This presentation describes the efforts between the MRMS developers and the NWS end-users on the MRMS multi-sensor QPE product for all MRMS domains. Topics that are discussed focus on the various collaborative efforts, including on-site visits to NSSL and to various NWS field offices and regional headquarters, data distribution, and meetings regarding algorithm improvements and product verifications. The presentation will also highlight the results of this work, the upcoming operational implementation, and best practices from this process.