Abstract

Camera-based rainfall observation is a useful technology that contributes to the densification of rainfall observation networks because it can measure rainfall with high spatio-temporal resolution and low cost. To develop of practical camera-based rainfall observation technology, using the extinction coefficient as a clue, this study proposed relational Equations representing the relationship between image information, rainfall intensity, and scene depth by linking the theoretically derived rainfall intensity with a technique proposed in the computer vision field for removing static weather effects. Then, the proposed Equations were applied to outdoor images taken by commercial interval cameras at the observation site in a mountainous watershed in Japan. As a result, it was confirmed that transmission calculated from the image information decreases exponentially according to the increase in rainfall intensity and scene depth, as assumed in the proposed Equations. Therefore, the proposed Equations are generally valid even for outdoor images, and extremely important findings that will improve camera-based rainfall observation techniques were obtained. On the other hand, the calculated extinction coefficient tended to be overestimated in patches with a small scene depth, and overestimation of the extinction coefficient due to aerosol effects was also observed in the images taken during no rainfall. Although there are issues at present that need to be resolved for the technology proposed in this study, this technology has the potential to help the development of a camera-based rainfall observation technology that is accurate, robust, versatile, and accessible.