Why are ground based precipitation estimation is unreliable??

Question

We are working in draught area and planning for next crop Season to grow crop depending on the rainfall. Our technical Team saying that we can not rely on ground based precipatation estimation Methods. Why so? And from where wie can get occurate data ?

Donna Mahanti · Answer

Hello Issifu, reliable ground-based precipitation measurements are difficult to obtain because most of the world is covered by water and many countries don’t have precise rain measuring equipment like rain gauges and radar. Precipitation is also difficult to measure because precipitation systems can be somewhat random and evolve very rapidly. During a storm, precipitation amounts can vary greatly over a very small area and over a short time span. There are other factors too which affects the rainfall measurment mostly the radar systems. But there are method to correct the rainfall data. I also want to point out that the data you get from these system are quite sufficient for planning a crop, which crop are you planning to grow? Visible and infrared space-borne sensors can provide precipitation information inferred from cloud-top radiation, and microwave sensors provide direct precipitation measurement based on radiative signatures of precipitating particles. You have to check in your part if this space data is available there.