Precipitation is a key element of the hydrological cycle. Its amount, intensity and duration as well as changes in totals, variability and extremes have a direct impact on the community regarding e.g. water availability, droughts, and flooding. Measuring, characterizing and modeling precipitation at small spatial and short temporal scales is still a big challenge. Especially in heterogeneous terrain such as urban areas with high vulnerabilities high-resolution measurements and modeling of precipitation are crucial in order to describe the hydrological response and improve water risk management. This session provides a platform for contributions on high-resolution precipitation measurements and their applications in real-time as well as climate studies. Special focus is laid on documenting the benefit of high spatial and temporal resolutions dealing with high-resolution measurement platforms like satellite and radar networks or novel techniques like retrieving rainfall from microwave links. In addition, contributions on the development and improvement of gridded reference data sets based on in-situ precipitation measurements are welcome. Furthermore the enhancements resulting from the proper combination of different observational regimes shall be demonstrated and synthesized towards robust high-resolution regional and global data products. In addressing these needs, one or more of the following topics shall be addressed:
• High-resolution precipitation observations from different platforms (gauges, radar, satellite, microwave link) and their combination
• Application of high-resolution remote sensing precipitation measurements in a climatological context
• Statistical analysis of extreme precipitation (events)
• Definition and application of indices to describe (extreme) precipitation
• New concepts of adaptation to climate change with respect to extreme precipitation in urban areas
• Vulnerability and resilience in urban areas
• Statistical description of sub-kilometer scale precipitation / downscaling methods
• Accuracy assessments and verification approaches for high-resolution precipitation products
• Contribution to the WCRP GC on ‘Understanding and Predicting Weather and Climate Extremes’ and on ‘Water Availability’.