Videos

Global multivariate point pattern models for rain type occurrence and its extension to spatio-temporal domain

Presenter
February 21, 2018
Keywords:
  • Global spatial data; Log-Gaussian Cox process; Point process models; Rainfall occurrence; TRMM precipitation radar
Abstract
We seek statistical methods to study the occurrence of multiple rain types observed by satellite on a global scale. The main scientific interests are to relate rainfall occurrence with various atmospheric state variables and to study the dependence between the occurrences of multiple types of rainfall (e.g. short-lived and intense versus long-lived and weak; the heights of the rain clouds are also considered), which can eventually lead to more accurate forecast of rainfall. Commonly in point process model literature, the spatial domain is assumed to be a small, and thus planar domain. We consider the log-Gaussian Cox Process (LGCP) models on the surface of a sphere and take advantage of cross-covariance models for spatial processes on a global scale to model the stochastic intensity function of the LGCP models. We present analysis results for rainfall observations from the TRMM satellite and atmospheric state variables from MERRA-2 reanalysis data over the tropical Eastern and Western Pacific Ocean, as well as over the entire tropical and subtropical ocean regions. Statistical inference is done through Monte Carlo likelihood approximation for LGCP models. We employ covariance approximation to deal with massive data. At the end of the talk, I will also discuss space-time extension of the model considered.