Pares, S. (Dept. Meteorologia, TVE. Sant Cugat del Valles, Spain)
Lorente, J. (Dept. Astronomia i Meteorologia, Univ. Barcelona. Barcelona, Spain)
Massons, J. (Lab. Fisica Aplicada Univ. Rovira i Virgili. Tarragona, Spain)
Digital images provided by METEOSAT satellite were analyzed using a cluster method and a space-time correlation technique in order to identify and classify cloud pixels. These classified images are compared with the precipitation fields measured by synoptic meteorological stations. High resolution data provided by the spanish Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia raingage service corresponding to a four months rain days are used.
The analyzed images correspond to a window of 512x512 pixels region centered over Iberian Peninsula.An analysis has been carried out comparing the measured precipitation data with satellite derived parameters, such as cold cloud duration, minimum cloud top temperature, aximum reflectance, etc. Several correlation patterns have been determined for different synoptic situtations. The results shows a good agreement between rain distribution patterns and the synoptic classification.