Atmospheric Research 99 (2011) 277–289

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Atmospheric Research
j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s e v i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / a t m o s

Rainfall distribution in the Andes of southern Ecuador derived from blending

weather radar data and meteorological field observations
Rütger Rollenbeck ⁎, Jörg Bendix
Laboratory for Climatology and Remote Sensing (LCRS), Faculty of Geography, University of Marburg, Deutschhausstr.10, D-35032 Marburg, Germany

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The Andes of Ecuador show an extreme heterogeneity of spatial and temporal distribution of
Received 22 September 2009 precipitation. The existing operational network of the national weather service is not capable of
Received in revised form 13 October 2010 reproducing these complex patterns. By using a cost-efficient rain radar and a network of high-
Accepted 16 October 2010
resolution rain gauges, the real complexity of the rainfall distribution and the meteorological
processes of rainfall formation can be assessed. A blending method encompassing geostatistical
Keywords: tools allows to derive a comprehensive rainfall climatology for the study area.
Precipitation
Precipitation is predominantly of the advective type, associated with humid air masses from
Radar
the Amazon basin transported by the tropical easterlies. The typical form is light to heavy
Andes
Calibration drizzle with long duration but lower rain rates.
Climatology However, in contrast to former knowledge there is no single mechanism of rain formation for
any given place. Several processes interact like small and large-scale convective cloud systems,
local and regional valley/mountain breeze systems and terrain-lines of preferred moisture
transport interact on various time scale. This leads to complex patterns of rainfall in space and
time.
Several types of characteristic weather situations are revealed by the study. They are
characterized by specific combinations of local and regional atmospheric processes and
interactions with the topographical configuration. They are modified by mesoscale and
continental circulation patterns as the annual shift of pressure cells, the east Andean low-level
Jet and katabatic flows.
© 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction masses from the Amazon. Due to orographic lifting, most of

The Andes are the major climate divide of South America.
Close to the equator, they separate the humid lowland forests
of the Amazon basin from dry coastal areas in south Ecuador
and Peru. In the south of Ecuador the mountain chain is rather
narrow and generally lower than in the adjacent regions to
the north and south, hence, rather strong climatic gradient
occur in this region. The so called “Nudo de Loja”, close to the
provincial capital Loja forms the lowest passage for the
prevailing tropical easterly flows, providing humid laden air
⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +49 6421 282 5979; fax: + 49 6421 282
8950.
E-mail addresses: rollenbeck@lcrs.de (R. Rollenbeck),
bendix@staff.uni-marburg.de (J. Bendix).
the moisture is potentially precipitated on the eastern
escarpment of this mountain range, mainly in the form of
long lasting drizzle.
Nevertheless, climate maps at hand do not reflect those
higher precipitation amounts, but show a continuous decline
from the Amazon lowland forests to the dry western coast of
Ecuador. They generally rely on ground-based climate
observation of the national weather services station network
(e.g. INAHMI, 1993), which is limited to the valley bottoms
and leaves out the higher mountain parts that receive the
most of the rainfall. Even worse, the national network has
been strongly reduced in the last two decades, particularly in
the southeastern Andes of Ecuador. Moreover, current rainfall
maps do not explain the high temporal and spatial hetero-
geneity of precipitation observed in this part of the Andes

0169-8095/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.atmosres.2010.10.018
278 R. Rollenbeck, J. Bendix / Atmospheric Research 99 (2011) 277–289
because only monthly totals are published. Understanding of
the rainfall generating processes in this region would be
important to derive realistic climatic maps and improve the
implementation and validation of regional and global climate
models. With regard to rainfall formation processes, one of
the greatest challenges is to cross-link local point observa-
tions of rainfall and the modeled rainfall on continent-wide to
global scale, which requires a proper understanding of
multiscale processes that modify rainfall formation particu-
larly in complex terrain.
Previous studies about seasonal rainfall distribution in the
Andes of southern Ecuador have proven that a clear annual
cycle can be observed with the major rainy season occurring
from May to August and a short but irregular dry season in
October and November at the eastern slopes. However, the
annual cycle varies on rather short horizontal distances: The
intra-mountain basin of the city of Loja has its rain season
peaking in March while August is the driest month. The small
town of Catamayo only 30 km to the West already has a full-
arid climate with only a short rain season in April, mainly
caused by strong convection (Rollenbeck et al., 2007; Richter,
2003; Emck, 2007).
On shorter scales field observations showed that the
spatio-temporal distribution of precipitation totals might
vary for each valley, most likely depending on its exposure to
the main atmospheric flow and the neighboring topographic
conditions. Current knowledge of topographic modifications
of rainfall patterns in the Andes is mainly based on
hypothetical considerations like the thermal control of
convective cloud systems (Weischet, 1965) or satellite data
inspection (Bendix, 1997; Adler et al., 2000; Bendix, 2000;
Bendix et al., 2004; Vuille et al., 2000; Giovannettone and
Barros, 2008).
In the Andes of southeast Ecuador several influential
factors of spatial and temporal rainfall variability have to be
considered: Micro- and mesoscale katabatic drainage flows
(Lopez and Howell, 1967) and their influence on the
development of rain-bearing mesoscale cloud systems
(Bendix et al., 2009; Trachte et al., 2010) and the role of the
east Andean Low level jet (Bendix, 2000). However, most
important is the orographic rainout of moist air coming from
the Amazon under the influence of the tropical easterlies. This
will most likely cause the exposed mountain slopes to be the
wettest places. Diurnal oscillations of the topographic rainout
are caused by the thermal control of convection in the
lowland and local valley-winds in the mountains. On the
mesoscale, katabatic drainage flows through the larger
draining valleys towards the Amazon lowland seem to induce
convergence in the eastern foothills. The development of
mesoscale cloud systems in the Amazon foreland causes
characteristic rain events in the study region, which contrib-
ute to unusual diurnal cycles of rainfall (Bendix et al., 2009;
Trachte et al., 2010). Probable interactions with the east
Andean low-level jet are still under investigation for the
equatorial part of the eastern Andes. It should be also stressed
that medium and long-term oscillations of the Pacific sea
surface temperature as e.g. in the scope of the ENSO
phenomenon can impose alterations of precipitation on the
internal time scale (Vuille et al., 2000).
Despite the work conducted on the formation of rainfall
cited above, the knowledge about exact spatio-temporal
distribution and dynamics of rainfall pattern in the Andes of
southeast Ecuador is still poor. Most investigations hitherto
presented are based on limited data sets mainly analyzed to
unveil rain-bringing processes in the Andes of southeastern
Ecuador by synoptic observations or based on time series of
satellite data (e.g. GOES, NOAA), which are not suitable to
properly represent the spatio-temporal rainfall distribution in
an appropriate quality and spatial resolution.
This deficit of knowledge related to the rainfall formation,
its interaction with the complex terrain of the Andes and thus,
spatio-temporal rainfall distribution can be overcome by
combining scanning instruments with traditional observation
data and geostatistical tools. Especially radar is known as a
useful tool at this scale, although it is difficult to operate in
high mountain areas (Andrieu et al., 1997; Fornasiero et al.,
2006). Conventional weather radars are rather expensive and
demand large investments in infrastructure and operation
costs. Since a few years, alternative low-cost systems like the
local area weather radar (LAWR: Jensen, 2002; Rollenbeck
and Bendix, 2006) are available and already have been
successfully applied at the ecosystem level in several case
studies (e.g. Bendix et al., 2009).
Consequently, the combination of several recording and
totaling rain gauges with radar observations from the LAWR
shall shed light on the major factors determining the daily and
annual variations and the spatial distribution of precipitation
in the high mountain area of the Andes of south Ecuador. To
achieve this goal, a comprehensive data set of radar imagery is
evaluated and new maps of area rainfall are presented.
Furthermore, the analysis aims at unveiling different weather
situations generating specific patterns of rainfall distribution
in the high mountains of southern Ecuador.
The results will be discussed with regard to static
approaches based on time series statistics (Bendix and
Lauer, 1992; Emck, 2007), interpolation techniques (Buytaert
et al., 2006) and topographic models of rainfall distribution
regarding atmospheric moisture transport (Daly et al., 1994;
Baigorria, 2005; Hughes et al., 2009).
2. Study area materials and methods
2.1. Study area
The study region is located in southern Ecuador at an
altitudinal range of 800 to 3600 m asl (Fig. 1). The region has
an extent of 120 by 120 km and comprises the humid eastern
Andean slopes, which are characterized by tropical rain
forests up to ~ 1800 m asl, and tropical evergreen cloud forests
at altitudes above 1800 m asl. The relatively dry basins and
valleys west of the main Cordillera Oriental de los Andes are
partly covered by xerotropical vegetation (Richter, 2003). The
radar site is located within the Reserva Biólogica de San
Francisco, the central investigation area of a collaborative
ecological research group. At the research station Estacíon
Científica San Francisco (ECSF, 3°58′ S / 79°04′W) data are
compiled and archived (Fig. 1, right, refer also to Beck and
Müller-Hohenstein, 2001; Beck et al., 2008).
The LAWR radar was installed on the highest accessible
mountain peak, about 15 km east of the provincial capital of
Loja. The summit of the Cerro de Consuelo is situated at
3,180 m asl and provides the least obstructed view in this
 R. Rollenbeck, J. Bendix / Atmospheric Research 99 (2011) 277–289
Fig. 1. Study region and radar range. Climate stations are represented by a black dot. All following images show the area depicted in the right panel (Coordinates
are in UTM 17 s). The gray dotted lines indicate profiles used in Fig. 9.
very mountainous region. The site is characterized by bleak
weather conditions (fog/cloud frequency N70%, continuous
heavy winds) and can only be accessed by a small footpath,
which put high demands on the installation and mainte-
nance. As far as we know, this is the second highest location of
a rain radar in the world.
2.2. Data
The installation of the LAWR was initiated in December
2001, and the first operational data were obtained in March
2002. By March 2008, about 400,000 images have been
recorded with an uptime of about 71%.
Ancillary data sets are used to develop a comprehensive
understanding of the precipitation dynamics. A network of
8 automatic stations supplies hourly data since 1998 (Richter,
2003), three principal stations of the INAMHI national
weather service with daily data, and a set of 22 totaling rain
gauges supply monthly values. Information on rainfall rate
and drop spectra taken at five-minute intervals is available
from 2 present weather sensors based on scatterometer
technology (BIRAL VPF 730–130, Leroy et al., 1998) which
provide samples each 5 min. Unfortunately, automatic cli-
mate stations are only available for a small part of the domain,
while totaling gauges do not have the required temporal
resolution to depict diurnal processes and spatial patterns of
single events. Furthermore, station data with good coverage,
which can be merged, with radar data only covers well the
central and southwestern part of the radar range. To the
north, only three stations are available, and both eastern
sectors are only equipped with one station in Paquisha, south
of Yanzatza (see Fig. 1). Unfortunately only in the core study
area and in Catamayo and Paquisha a complete time series is
available, all other stations operated only for a limited part of
the period considered here.
NOAA-AVHRR images are only available for certain time
steps and the derivation of actual precipitation is still an
unsolved problem. This is especially true for the typical ad-
vective type of rain occurring on the east Andean escarpment,
where rainout is mainly from low stratus clouds with higher
279
temperatures. Nevertheless, cloud frequency and cloud density
derived from these images (Bendix et al., 2004) are a useful
indicator of the precipitation patterns. Due to all this limita-
tions only a combination of all available data sources allows to
understand the complex precipitation patterns in this region.
2.3. Method
Basic processing of the radar data and an experimental
calibration approach have been presented in an earlier study
(Rollenbeck and Bendix, 2006) and some work on the unique
characteristics of the LAWR-system has been published by the
manufacturer (Jensen, 2002). However, the strong damping of
the X-band micro waves, the complex terrain and several
operational issues required an extended processing-framework
of the images to acquire useful time series and integrated
products from the radar. With all clutter fields removed and the
strong dampening corrected, the final radar images only
provide quantitative data for a part of the observed domain
and also suffer from a decaying trend in sensitivity.
The major problem to be faced is the unequal spatial
distribution of calibration data and the varying sensitivity
conditions of the radar. Known approaches of relating
measured reflectivity to rain rate do not apply, because the
LAWR has a non-linear receiver and the output values are
uncalibrated raw counts. The relation to the actual reflectivity
is unknown.
Consequently, the calibration of the radar counts was
done by constructing surfaces of the relation between radar
data and the available station data. By this, the precipitation
amounts are obtained from the station network, but the
spatial distribution follows the radar observations. Precipita-
tion in the core study area can reliably be based on the dense
network of automatic stations available there.
The processing consists of three branches, starting with the
calibrated and rectified NOAA-AVHRR images. These are
processed by a cloud classification scheme especially adapted
to Ecuador (Bendix et al., 2004) and cloud frequency and cloud
top height is used to correct the viewing geometry of the
LAWR. LAWR raw data is processed according to the scheme
280 R. Rollenbeck, J. Bendix / Atmospheric Research 99 (2011) 277–289

described in Rollenbeck and Bendix (2006), then uncalibrated is interpolated from the relations between 30 points in the
monthly total maps are calculated. The climate station data is station data map and the normalized radar map. A window of
selected according to the uptime of the radar, values of 5 × 5 pixels is applied to calculate the relation to the ground
totaling gauges are reduced proportionally to neighboring truth data in each respective month, which results in 750
recording stations. All data are then detrended by the calibration points for each month.
altitudinal gradients observed in the data and an interpolated Formally the scaling for each radar pixel can be described by
precipitation map is produced with kriging to reflect hori-
zontal gradients in rainfall distribution. The DEM (digital
Ps
elevation model) is used to rescale this map to the actual kx;y =
rainfall map by reapplying the observed vertical gradients of Cr
0.05 mm/m of altitude, the average value for the whole study
region. The monthly total maps from the radar are normalized, with the averaged ground truth data (5× 5 moving window)
to remove any temporal sensitivity trends from the radar data,
caused by irregular hardware operation and anomalous pro- x;y + 2
pagation conditions. In the next step, the normalized maps is P sðx;yÞ = ∑ Psðx;yÞ = 25
related to the interpolated station data map and a scaling map x;y−2

Fig. 2. Processing chain to derive calibrated radar images. The broken line indicates the calibration approach published.
in Rollenbeck and Bendix (2006).
 R. Rollenbeck, J. Bendix / Atmospheric Research 99 (2011) 277–289 281

Fig. 3. Detrended interpolation of station data (left) and scaled LAWR totals map (right) for the period March 2002 to March 2008.

and finally radar precipitation rate is scaled by ment of storm cells on the basis of the actual 5-minute radar
images.
Cr
Pr = 3. Results and discussion
k
3.1. Evaluation
Where Ps are the precipitation values taken from the interpo-
lated station map, Cr are the raw counts of the radar, k denotes The average annual total maps from interpolated station
the spatially variable scaling factor and Pr is the final products data and the scaled radar maps are used to evaluate the
precipitation. developed method (Fig. 3). The distribution of precipitation
This procedure is used to build scaling maps for each fields is independent in both maps, only the scaling of the
month of radar operation. radar data depends on the ground truth data.
The scaling maps are then applied to each five-minute Fig. 3 shows the areas of agreement of the two measure-
radar image for the respective month. Because the final radar ments as well as some deviations: the eastern sector of the
images still show some areas of weak sensitivity especially in domain has the highest annual precipitation input, while the
the most interesting core study area, the dense network of western half shows the expected westward decline of rain
station data is used to fill this gap by blending the inter- fall. To the North and the South the radar suffers from
polated station map with the radar images. Blending is shadowing effects of higher mountains. However, the
weighted by a nearest distance function of the horizontal and interpolated maps more reflect the distribution of elevations
vertical station coordinates. By this, areas with high station
density and at similar altitudes like the stations are more
represented by the station data, while remote areas are more
represented by radar data.
With optimization runs, the parameters of view shed
correction and distance damping are adjusted to minimize
errors between a correlation of the station data Ps and the
final product Pr. The complete processing chain of the data is
depicted in Fig. 2.
The annual cycle of precipitation distribution is generated
by aggregating the 6-year average monthly totals as well as
the average annual total. The average monthly totals are then
combined to produce totals maps of the characteristic three
seasons of the study region. These data are compared to the
10-year average of interpolated station data and a published
precipitation map of the INAHMI.
Typical weather situations under the influence of different
controlling factors are explained by daily totals maps,
depicting the variability of distribution of the different days.
The underlying processes of rainfall formation are analyzed Fig. 4. Correlation of monthly station data vs. calibrated radar data for the
with the help of visually tracking development and move- maps shown in Fig. 3.
282 R. Rollenbeck, J. Bendix / Atmospheric Research 99 (2011) 277–289
Fig. 5. Blended average annual map of interpolated station data and scaled
radar maps (2002–2008).
than the dominant barrier effect of the mountain chains. The
radar image shows the highest rain fall in the most exposed
parts to the south east and an extraordinarily steep slope in
the valley of Yacuambi, about 15 km northeast of the center of
the image, the station maps attribute highest rainfall to the
Cordillera Real. The central parts are strongly underesti-
mated, due to saturation of the radar receiver.
The point-to-point calibration with a 5 × 5 pixel average
window for the radar image shows a good agreement
between the two data sets (Pearson r = 0.82, slope 0.92;
Fig. 4).
Generally the distribution in the radar image is more
disperse and more bound to certain mountain peaks that are
exposed to moisture transport. The blended map (Fig. 5 left)
gives the most probable representation of precipitation. It
shows the isolated dry valley of Catamayo in the west,
surrounded by slightly higher values, especially in the more
elevated parts. The role of the main mountain chains as
climate divide is clearly visible, as it separates areas of totals
Fig. 6. Blended dataset from radar and interpolation for the complete observation period 1998 to 2009 (left) and published official precipitation map from the
national weather service INAHMI (various periods until 2000) (right).
above 2000 mm in the east from the drier parts in the west.
An important feature only visible in the combined map is the
extreme rainfall occurring in the Cordillera del Condor in
the southeastern sector and at the already mentioned slope
of the Yacuambi-valley. Annual totals here exceed 5000 mm.
The highest mountain chain, the Cordillera Real is already
slightly less wet, probably because atmospheric moisture has
precipitated on the eastward mountains.
The interpolated official map published by the Ecuadorian
Weather Service INAHMI (Fig. 6 right) is mainly based on 5
principal stations in Catamayo, Vilcabamba, Loja, Zamora and
Yanzatza. In comparison to the blended combination of ground
and radar data (Fig. 4, left), the spatial structures in the west
seem fairly represented. However to the east, strong deviations
from the combined product are visible. Generally, precipitation
is underestimated by the official map with maximum areas only
reaching 4000 mm and the main Cordillera Real is only shown
to have slightly above 1500 mm, which is in strong contrast to
observations and measurements reporting values above
4000 mm.
3.2. Seasonal precipitation patterns
The maps of the seasonal variation (Fig. 7) in the research
region exhibit the typical patterns which control the rain fall
regime: January to April is a transitional season, where ad-
vective and convective rainfalls are interspersed and precip-
itation is highly variable from day to day. The southern sector
of the domain receives the highest amounts of rain, because
radiative heating of the high mountains enhances convection.
From May to August the predominant rain generating
mechanisms are the strong easterlies and the barrier effect
of the main mountain chains. The western parts go through
the driest month, while the eastern escarpment is almost
permanently wetted. Between September and December an
increasing influence of westerlies with lower rainfall is
visible, especially in the southern sector. These westerlies
also support the dry spells in the eastern sector, when Föhn
effects inhibit precipitation and fine weather is observed
more frequently. Wind as the primary factor determining the
 R. Rollenbeck, J. Bendix / Atmospheric Research 99 (2011) 277–289
Fig. 7. Seasonal variations of rainfall distribution (totals of the respective 4-month period).
spatial patterns of rainfall throughout the year follows a
similarly strict regime:
Fig. 8 shows the relative frequency of wind directions per
month, grouped by the four sectors NE, SE, SW and NW. The
different seasons are clearly marked by a change of the flow
regime in the boundary layer.
The different seasonality of the eastern and western sides
of the Andes is depicted in Fig. 9 by some typical annual cycles
of different locations in the radar range, covering the profile
lines given in Fig. 1. The profile North (N in Fig. 9) covers the
valley of Catamayo with its full-arid climate that is prone to a
very strong Föhn effect during times of easterlies. The driest
months are June to August with almost no rainfall at all. The
short wet season brings intensive showers, which often are
connected to humid air masses coming from southern di-
ections. Vilcabamba, well hidden from the easterlies, shows
similar patterns, but the proximity to the main mountain
divide of the Cordillera Real and the slightly weaker Föhn
effect lead to a semi-arid climate, with a similar seasonality. In
the Valley of Vilcabamba, conditions are only slightly
different. The Föhn effect is not that strong, because it is not
that deeply incised and receives some spillover of the wall
clouds above the main Cordillera. The intra-mountain basin of
the city of Loja is only a short distance away from the
locations of extreme precipitation in the Cordillera Real and
the Cordillera de Consuelo. Hence, spillover of humid air
masses frequently occurs here. A frequent observation in this
city is a wall cloud above the mountains to the east, bringing
sprays of drizzle, while at the same time the sun shines
Fig. 8. Monthly wind direction frequencies (relative) derived from the two
most exposed climate station Paramo (3400 m, cordillera Real) and Antenas
(3180 m, Cordillera de Consuelo) 1998–2009.
283
through the clear sky in the west. During the wet season in
March, convective cloud systems from the west often
converge with easterly flows from the Amazon leading to
sometimes torrential rainfalls. This is enhanced by convection
caused by the relative overheating of this basin.
Quite contrarily the three locations on the eastern
escarpment are characterized by almost continuous light
drizzle, which amounts to rather high precipitation totals. At
the margin of the Valle Yacuambi, about 15 km northeast of
the center of the images, a small rainfall maximum is visible
in the map. Here, a rather steep mountain slope is almost
perfectly exposed to the main flow coming up the Valley of
the Rio Zamora. This valley guides moist air masses during
periods of strong northeasterly winds. Even more extreme is
the Cerro de Consuelo where the LAWR is installed. It is a
special location because it is the most exposed place to the
flow of humidity stemming from the Amazon. Eastwards,
there is no higher mountain in the radar domain and its flanks
are perpendicular to the channelized flow of air masses. Its
eastern slope is therefore a place of rather intensive processes
of forced uplift and consequent rainout. The diagram clearly
shows the wind-regime of rainfall here, it almost perfectly
follows the frequency of easterlies during the year. The
Cordillera de Condor is much lower, but receives almost the
same amount of rainfall per year.
The interaction of moisture transport, atmospheric flow
regime and topographical features leads to specific patterns as
later shown in Figs. 11 and 12. To understand the relevance of
those patterns, sectoral totals of rain fall from the combined
dataset for the four sectors from 0° to 89°, 90° to 179°, 180° to
269° and 270° to 359° are extracted (Fig. 10). The time series
does not represent the flow situations, but only the totals of
rain in the four sectors, which depend on the interaction of the
different rain generating processes discussed in the next
chapter. Notably, the eastern sectors contribute the majority
(about 80%) of the precipitation to the study region, especially
the southeastern parts comprising of the Cordillera del Condor
and the exposed parts of the Cordillera de Corazon. The
southwestern and the northwestern sectors have about the
same fraction of 10% each of the annual precipitation, however
during the typical month of the rain season there, this value
can increase to more than 60%. Regarding annual and
interannual variations, a strong heterogeneity of the annual
cycle is visible. 2002 and 2003 exhibit normal rain peaks in
284 R. Rollenbeck, J. Bendix / Atmospheric Research 99 (2011) 277–289

Fig. 9. Precipitation diagrams derived from the combined images of average monthly precipitation for the period 2002 to 2008. The upper line covers the northern
profile given in Fig. 1, the lower the southern profile across the Andes. Annual totals for each point are given as pTot.

April resp. May with the majority of rain falling in the eastern
sectors. In May 2003 95% of the rain falls occurred on the
eastern side of the Andean mountains.
In 2004 a first rain peak occurs in March, which also
included the eastern sectors. The following April is unusual
dry and rain fell primarily in the southwestern sector. Then,
the wettest month of the whole time series follow in May and
June, dominated by precipitation in the northeast sector. In
2005 the normal annual cycle is almost reverted. Peak
rainfalls occur in the first third of the year, with a pronounced
wet season in the western parts in March (~55% of the month
total). Then after June 2005 monthly totals are declining for a
long period. Between the unusual dry August 2005 (80 mm,
only 50% of the long year average for this month) and May
2007, no month exceeds a total of 200 mm. The rainy season
of 2005 and 2006 seem to be inhibited and the dominance of
rain in the western sectors is clearly visible. From May 2005
until April 2006 wind data of the two most exposed climate
stations show the unusual high frequency of westerlies of
almost 40%. Usually the maximum of westerlies occurs in
December and reaches only 25% of the time. The annual totals
of the eastern sectors during these two years are conse-
quently about 22% lower than the average of the rest of the
years, reaching only 2100 mm instead of 2800 mm. Although
by mid 2007 annual rain totals more or less return to normal
conditions, the SE-sector, normally the wettest of all,
continues to show much lower peaks than during the years
before. A possible explanation of the onset of this declining
precipitation trend may be the extraordinary drought, which
occurred in the Amazon basin in 2005 (Phillips et al., 2009).
However, in 2006 rainfalls in the Amazon returned to normal,
while the years since then have been drier than normal in the
study region. Further analysis of this unusual dry period is
still pending.
3.3. Characteristic weather types
The interaction of the different flow regimes with topo-
graphy and the resulting precipitation patterns are illustrated
by four typical precipitation distributions (Fig. 11). Northwest
situations are rather rare and hence, typical patterns cannot
be recognized from the few available radar images. The
example from the 8th of February 2006 shows some isolated
rain fields above the eastern escarpment of the Cordillera Real,
possibly triggered by some convergence with the eastern flow
dominating the following days.
The situation on the 7th of May 2005 is characterized by
widespread drizzle under a strong wind from the northeast-

Fig. 10. Monthly precipitation totals per wind sector (NE, SE, SW, and NW).
 R. Rollenbeck, J. Bendix / Atmospheric Research 99 (2011) 277–289
ern sector. The barrier effects of the higher mountaintops
mainly control the distribution of rainfall. The valley of the
Rio Zamora serves as preferred way to transport moisture
from the Amazon basin, because it is oriented from NE to SW.
The Western half of the region remains almost free of rain,
although some spillover occurs in the south.
In April southwestern flows are frequent, the example from
the 10.4.2007 is quite typical of the precipitation distribution,
where the inflow of rather warm air masses from the drier parts
of the province of Loja cause intensive convection on the
western slopes of the Andes mountain chain. Strong rain storms
in the valleys of Catamayo, Vilcabamba and in the basin of Loja
can be detected frequently around this date, almost in all the
years observed.
Southeastern flows are the most frequent and show a wide
range of precipitation patterns. The 14.3.2008 exhibits strong
forced uplift on the high mountains in the south of the
Cordillera Real. The central parts of the region benefit from
shadowing effects of the Cordillera del Condor and the mainly
NE–SW oriented valleys prevent pronounced moisture trans-
Fig. 11. Examples of the four different flow regimes.
285
port. A special feature of that day is the intensive spill over of
storm clouds over the central Cordillera Real, leading to strong
rain in the normally dry valley of Vilcabamba and further west
to Cariamanga. A similar phenomenon with lesser intensity
occurs in the north of the region close to Saraguro.
The dominant rain types occurring in the region are
explained by four examples from May 2002, October 2002,
June 2003 and November 2006 (Fig. 12). In November, when
wind speeds are generally low, isolated convective showers
develop due to local overheating. The image shows several
shower cells above the Valley of Vilcabamba and the western
slopes of the Cordillera Real. The available climate stations
there show peak rain rates of 6.4 to 8 mm, falling in about 4 to
5 h. Often these cells develop due to heat accumulations
above the intramontane basins but the peak rainfalls occur
above the mountains due to upslope thermal winds.
During the main rain season, the dominant rain type is
advective, as can be seen on the 20.6.2003. The strong wind
causes intensive rainout on the main Cordillera, while the
western part is free of rain because of the strong lee-effect.
286 R. Rollenbeck, J. Bendix / Atmospheric Research 99 (2011) 277–289
The general rain rate derived from the radar image is
significantly lower, but certain climate stations show the
intensity of these type of events: The mountain station at the
Cerro de Consuelo (Radar site) accumulates 53 mm on that
day with rain rates of up to 9.5 mm/h, the whole event lasted
almost 72 h.
Typically, convective patterns are more frequent in October,
November, March and April and advective patterns dominate
the rain season from May to August (see also Fig. 11).
However, both types of precipitation can be observed
throughout the year and sometimes occurring simultaneously
on a single day. The example from the 17.10.2002 shows
advective precipitation in the eastern half of the image, while
the west develops several storm cells bound to the higher
mountains. The highest parts of the Cordillera Real remain
largely dry. The totals and rain rates below the advective parts
to the east are significantly lower, reaching about 3 mm daily
with a maximum rain rate of 2.1 mm/h. In Vilcabamba, 7.3 mm
fall in only 2 h.
Fig. 12. Four examples for typical rain types. Rain rates (RR) are given as captions.
On 21.5.2002 a characteristic situation developed when
strong easterlies spilled moisture over the mountains and
brought widespread advective rainfalls for almost the whole
domain. The constant strong rainfall during the whole day
results in a high rain rate of 2.1 mm/h. All stations show
similar totals of 30 to 50 mm and maximum rain rates be-
tween 9 and 12 mm/h.
Rain types and spatial patterns are not strictly bound to
certain seasons or locations: There are frequent occasions of
strong easterlies with advective rain in the drier month of the
year, but also longer dry spells occurring during the main
rainy season. Advective rainfalls are not limited to the eastern
escarpment, but frequent events of spillover occur which
cause enhanced precipitation especially in the more elevated
parts (see also Fig. 10). Convection frequently increases
rainfalls inside large stratus clouds, which precipitate on the
eastern escarpment, which probably contributes to the high
rain rate on the 21.5.2002. Convection is more bound to
mountain crests and peaks: The rather rare thunderstorms
 R. Rollenbeck, J. Bendix / Atmospheric Research 99 (2011) 277–289
observed on the eastern side of the Cordillera Real are almost
always spilling over from the Loja-basin under westerly
flows, following the main ridge lines and dissipating, when
they reach the eastern lowlands.
3.4. Rain generating processes
The three most important processes of rain formation are
further analyzed statistically by using data of the scatterom-
eter instruments. The topographical control is clearly detect-
able in the images shown above and emphasizes the role of
the easterlies as the primary factor for rainfall distribution.
The second influencing factor is local atmospheric stability
conditions, which affect the development of the rain type.
Two variables are analyzed for this matter: the rain rate and
the average drop size of precipitation (effective radius reff as
defined by Wyser, 1998), as observed by the scatterometer at
the ECSF research station (Fig. 13). Although under normal
circumstances reff is not necessarily larger in convective
showers (Tokay et al., 1999) it is assumed, that the special
atmospheric environment of the tropical mountains here and
the capabilities of the scatterometer instrument cause
convective showers to show a higher average drop size and
higher rain rates. The frequent and widespread light drizzle
occurring here is typically associated with advective rain
cause by the forced uplift on the east Andean slopes.
Both parameters exhibit a similar temporal behavior
(Pearson r² = 0.42), higher rain rates are almost always
caused by larger drop sizes. Generally the average drop size is
rather low, because the majority of the rain falling is of the
advective type and the thin air of these mountain sites cause
higher terminal velocities of raindrops with earlier breakup
into smaller droplets (Foote & Du Toit, 1969; Straka, 2009).
Higher values of reff up to 0.35 mm and peak rain rates of
10 mm/h mainly occur in JFMA and SOND, the main rain
season is characterized by values with drop sizes 10% and rain
rates 25% lower. Most interesting are times when both values
deviate. The peak rain rates in late 2002 and early 2003 and
the larger differences in all rainy seasons point to a higher
fraction of small droplets and consequently a more advective
regime. As expected, the transitional JFMA seasons of 2004
and 2005 are marked by larger drop sizes and hence more
convective rain falls, as already concluded for the drier
season. Lower intensities and larger droplets mark the
extended dry period in 2005 and 2006 already mentioned
above. This contradictory behavior may be attributed to
Fig. 13. Average monthly drop size of rain fall at the ECSF (rEff, gray area, left axis) and average rain rate (black line, right axis). Times of no rain are excluded from
the statistics. (measurement of drop spectra started 6 month later than radar observations).
287
shorter but intense showers frequently occurring during
these periods. Visual inspection of the 5-minute radar images
show widely dispersed small showers in the whole radar
range for extended time periods, especially from September
to November 2006. Apparently the drier phase in 2005 and
2006 has not only diminished the influence of the easterlies
(see Fig. 10), but also weakened convection resulting in a
considerable rainfall anomaly. Comprehensive climatological
explanations for this period require further analyses of the
data collected by the ongoing research initiative in south
Ecuador.
4. Conclusion
The analysis of almost 6 years of radar monitoring of
rainfall processes in the Andes of south Ecuador confirms
several well-known features of the rainfall dynamics but adds
some important new insights into the amount of spatial
heterogeneity and temporal variability of the rainfall pat-
terns. First of all the, data products used so far have strongly
underestimated the annual totals as well as the spatial
variability of monthly and annual totals actually occurring
in this region. The dominant role of the strong easterlies and
the barrier effect of the Andean mountain chain are re-
sponsible for the long-term average spatial distribution.
Mountains with slopes perpendicular to the most frequent
wind direction receive the highest amounts of rain, given that
specific pathways for moisture transport exist. Daly et al.
(1994) proposed to model precipitation as a function of
terrain elevation and statistically derived horizontal gradi-
ents, a technique applied here too. However the detrended
interpolation clearly shows limitation, when compared to the
radar maps. Small-scale structures are not represented and the
individual exposure of a mountain and the influence of
surrounding terrain are not considered. Moreover, the influ-
ence of topographic pathways for moisture transport is totally
left out as an influencing factor. To model all these parameters
under constantly changing boundary conditions of wind di-
rection, wind speed, moisture transport and radiative forcing of
convection as proposed by Kyriakidis et al. (2001) appears
almost impossible in such a remote region, where there are
very few climate data available. Hence, the application of re-
mote sensing techniques is indispensable.
The second most important process is local heating with
resulting convective showers. This process is responsible for
the majority of rain falls in the western sectors, although a
288 R. Rollenbeck, J. Bendix / Atmospheric Research 99 (2011) 277–289
contribution of advective spillover and a certain amount of
orographic rain is still present there. However, the altitudinal
range of orographic rains jumps from about 1500 m on the
eastern escarpment to elevations above 3000 m, after air
masses have crossed the main mountain chains. Apparently,
the rainout causes a significant horizontal gradient.
Convective enhancement of rain rates also occurs on the
eastern sides, where normally advective processes dominate,
as can be seen in the examples presented in this study.
Convective processes, normally well reproduced by current
climate models, are strongly overestimated, if downscaled to
the resolution necessary to represent the strong gradients
given here, especially, when orographic enhancement is in-
volved (McGregor, 1996, p. 112).
The traditional distinction of a primarily convective
regime in tropical lowlands and the absolute dominance of
advective processes in tropical mountains obviously are too
simple. Bendix and Lauer (1992) already identified the un-
usual patterns of the variations in the annual cycle occurring
on the east Andean escarpment, but due to a lack of
observations could not identify the complexity of the processes
involved. Emck (2007) analyzed high-resolution point data
along two profiles crossing the Andes in the study region and
identified the influence of exposure and moisture pathways,
but also could not observe process dynamics, because the
remote sensing perspective was missing. Several attempts have
been made, to improve interpolation techniques by applying
external drift variables (Buytaert et al., 2006) and incorporating
wind dynamics, derived from cloud tracking (Giovannettone
and Barros, 2008). However, all these geostatistical models
remain specifically suited to certain types of mountains with
specific characteristics. The strong interannual variations,
which occurred during the only 6 years of radar observation,
show, that only real time observations can capture the dynamic
of precipitation distribution. Remote sensing instruments are
the only mean to cover remote regions with a scarcity of
observation. The long period of below-normal precipitation
from 2005 till 2007 was registered by some stations, but the
extent of this event and the spatial response of the rainfall fields
would have gone unnoticed without the radar data. The dry
period in the Nudo de Loja was certainly triggered by the
drought which occurred in the Amazon basin in 2005, however,
there is still no clear concept, why this period lasted so much
longer in the Andes mountains of south Ecuador.
Regarding the methodological advances, an advantage of
the straightforward blending technique presented here is,
that it can be used with a very limited set of ground truth
data, which is normally the case in mountain regions with
extreme rainfall. It also is rather robust against variations in
radar sensitivity and propagation conditions, normally the
biggest problems for radar calibration.
Acknowledgments
The authors are indebted to the German Research
Foundation (DFG) for the funding of the work in the scope
of the Research Unit RU816 ‘Biodiversity and Sustainable
Management of a Megadiverse Mountain Ecosystem in South
Ecuador’, sub project B3.1 (BE 1780/15-1). Many thanks to
Michael Richter and T. Peters for providing the data of the
ECSF and Cerro met stations collected within the sub project
B1.4 (RI370/18-1). We also would like to thank the foun-
dation Nature & Culture International (NCI) Loja and San
Diego for logistic support.
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