Articles | Volume 19, issue 19
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-19-9489-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-19-9489-2026
Development and technical paper
 | 
07 Oct 2026
Development and technical paper |  | 07 Oct 2026

Virtual Rain v1.0: a unified toolkit for high-resolution rainfall simulation and disaggregation

Francesco Cappelli, Salvatore Grimaldi, Andrea Petroselli, and Emanuele Santinami

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Cited articles

Cappelli, F. and Grimaldi, S.: Methodological developments of the CoSMoS framework for the statistical modeling of precipitation time series, in: Statistical Science: From Theory to Applied Research II, edited by: Martella, F., Arima, S., Marino, M. F., and Mollica, C., Italian Statistical Society Series on Advances in Statistics, Springer, Cham, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-30877-1_75, 2026. 
Cappelli, F., Papalexiou, S. M., Markonis, Y., and Grimaldi, S.: PyCoSMoS: An advanced toolbox for simulating real-world hydroclimatic data, Environ. Model. Softw., 178, 106076, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2024.106076, 2024. 
Cappelli, F., Volpi, E., Langousis, A., Deidda, R., Perdios, A., Furcolo, P., and Grimaldi, S.: Sub-daily rainfall simulation using multifractal canonical disaggregation: A parsimonious calibration strategy based on intensity–duration–frequency curves, Stoch. Environ. Res. Risk Assess., 39, 1–19, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00477-024-02827-8, 2025a. 
Cappelli, F., Volpi, E., Langousis, A., Deidda, R., Perdios, A., and Grimaldi, S.: Rainfall simulation based on parsimonious calibration of a multifractal canonical disaggregation scheme in the Arno River Basin, Italy, J. Hydrol. Reg. Stud., 59, 102447, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2025.102447, 2025b. 
Cappelli, F., Volpi, E., Langousis, A., Papalexiou, S. M., Deidda, R., Perdios, A., and Grimaldi, S.: Simulating sub-daily rainfall time series in the absence of sub-daily observations, J. Hydrol., 675, 135660, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2026.135660, 2026a.  
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Short summary
Rainfall information is essential for flood studies and water management, but detailed records are often unavailable. We developed Virtual Rain, an open toolkit that generates realistic rainfall series and converts daily rainfall data into finer time scales. Using commonly available rainfall records and information on rainfall extremes, the tool reproduces key rainfall characteristics with good accuracy. It is freely available through open-source software and an interactive web platform.
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