  Being able to effectively identify clouds and monitor their evolution is one
important step toward more accurate quantitative precipitation estimation and
forecast. In this study, a new gradient-based cloud-image segmentation
technique is developed using tools from image processing techniques. This
method integrates morphological image gradient magnitudes to separable cloud
systems and patches boundaries. A varying scale-kernel is implemented to reduce
the sensitivity of image segmentation to noise and capture objects with various
finenesses of the edges in remote-sensing images. The proposed method is
flexible and extendable from single- to multi-spectral imagery. Case studies
were carried out to validate the algorithm by applying the proposed
segmentation algorithm to synthetic radiances for channels of the Geostationary
Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES-R) simulated by a high-resolution
weather prediction model. The proposed method compares favorably with the
existing cloud-patch-based segmentation technique implemented in the
PERSIANN-CCS (Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using
Artificial Neural Network - Cloud Classification System) rainfall retrieval
algorithm. Evaluation of event-based images indicates that the proposed
algorithm has potential to improve rain detection and estimation skills with an
average of more than 45% gain comparing to the segmentation technique used in
PERSIANN-CCS and identifying cloud regions as objects with accuracy rates up to
98%.
