Joint statistics of rain intensity in eight Italian locations for satellite communication networks

The aim of the letter is to investigate the statistical dependence of rainfall intensity for pairs of stations separated by at least 20 km. Sixteen pairs of stations, with separations ranging from about 20 to 700 km, have been considered by analysing tipping-bucket raingauge data collected during an average period of two years. The analysis shows that the hypothesis of statistical independence cannot be assumed below 150¿200 km, while more realistic results can be obtained with reasonably simple procedures.