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Nowcasting a Mesoscale Convective System Over Greece with a Satellite-Based Algorithm

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Abstract

On June 16, 2011, a Mesoscale Convective System (MCS) was developed in central Greece, over the area of Magnesia. Lightnings data from of the National Observatory of Athens along with the satellite images of that day, provide clear evidence for the convective nature of the cloud system that was developed during that day. In this study, a fully automated nowcasting algorithm based on Meteosat thermal infrared imagery was applied, which is capable of detecting and forecasting the evolution of MCSs over the Mediterranean basin. We evaluate the capability of the algorithm to early detect and especially to forecast the cloud system evolution and its convective potential from the remote sensing point of view. The results showed that the algorithm was capable of producing a satisfactory forecasting accuracy and illustrated the effectiveness of its operational use for nowcasting MCSs.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Dr. V. Kotroni and K. Lagouvardos, researchers in the National Observatory of Athens, for providing the lightning data.

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Correspondence to S. Kolios .

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© 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Kolios, S., Feidas, H. (2013). Nowcasting a Mesoscale Convective System Over Greece with a Satellite-Based Algorithm. In: Helmis, C., Nastos, P. (eds) Advances in Meteorology, Climatology and Atmospheric Physics. Springer Atmospheric Sciences. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-29172-2_28

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