Soil erosion is a global issue that threatens food security and causes environmental degradation. Management of water erosion requires accurate estimates of the spatial and temporal variations in the erosive power of rainfall (erosivity). Rainfall erosivity can be estimated from rain gauge stations and satellites. However, the time series rainfall data that has a high temporal resolution are of...

The impact of heavy rainfall events on waterborne diarrheal diseases is uncertain. We conducted weekly, active surveillance for diarrhea in 19 villages in Ecuador from February 2004 to April 2007 in order to evaluate whether biophysical and social factors modify vulnerability to heavy rainfall events. A heavy rainfall event was defined as 24-hour rainfall exceeding the 90th percentile value (56...

This study set out to investigate the trends of agriculturally-relevant rainfall characteristics among small-scale farmers in the rainfall-sensitive dry savanna agro-ecological zone of northern Ghana. Interviews are used to identify characteristics of rainfall which are deemed by the farmers as important in their food production. Time series daily rainfall data from 1960-2007 is then used to id...

The resurrection plant Reaumuria soongorica is widespread across Asia, southern Europe, and North Africa and is considered to be a constructive keystone species in desert ecosystems, but the impacts of climate change on this species in desert ecosystems are unclear. Here, the morphological responses of R. soongorica to changes in rainfall quantity (30% reduction and 30% increase in rainfall qua...

The 6-yr (1998–2003) rainfall products from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) are used to quantify the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) in the eastern Pacific (defined by longitudinal averages over 90°–130°W) during boreal spring (March–April). The double-ITCZ phenomenon, represented by the occurrence of two maxima with respect to latitude in monthly mean rainfall, is observed...

Gridded estimated rainfall intensity values at very high spatial and temporal resolution levels are needed as main inputs for weather prediction models to obtain accurate precipitation forecasts, and to verify the performance of precipitation forecast models. These gridded rainfall fields are also the main driver for hydrological models that forecast flash floods, and they are essential for dis...

Vertical wind shear and storm motion are two of the most important factors contributing to rainfall asymmetries in tropical cyclones (TCs). Global TC rainfall structure, in terms of azimuthal distribution and asymmetries relative to storm motion, has been previously described using the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Microwave Imager rainfall estimates. The mean TC rainfall distribution and...

The objective of this paper is to establish relationships between rainfall extremes and damage data from Dutch insurance industry. Rainfall data are based on a network of 33 automatic rain gauges held by the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute. Rainfall characteristics, such as peak rainfall intensity and rainfall volume, are correlated with damage statistics of claims in the vicinity of...

Rainfall erosivity factor (R) is one of the most commonly used factors in soil erosion models. While rainfall energy (E) is the most elementary physical parameter to predict R. Based on comparative analysis of previous soil erosion models and rainfall erosivity factor measuring methods, integrated application of modern photogrammetric techniques, image analytic methods and automatic control the...

To determine the effect of economic shocks on civil conflict, the empirical approach must be tailored to the shocks’ persistence. I illustrate this point by revisiting Miguel, Satyanath, and Sergenti (2004). MSS argue that lower rainfall levels and negative rainfall shocks increase the probability of civil conflict in Sub-Saharan Africa over the 1979-1999 period. I find MSS’s approach and concl...