Abstract
Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation (GSMaP), Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Preconception with Station data (CHIRPS), Tropical Rain Measurement Mission Multisatellite Precipitation Analysis (TRMM 3B42 V7) and Rainfall Estimation from Soil Moisture Observations (SM2RAIN) are satellite precipitation products with high applicability, but their applicability in hydrological research in arid mountainous areas is not clear. Based on precipitation and runoff data, this study evaluated the applicability of each product to hydrological research in a typical mountainous basin (the Qaraqash River basin) in an arid region by using two methods: a statistical index and a hydrological model (Soil and Water Assessment Tool, SWAT). Simulation results were evaluated by Nash efficiency coefficient (NS), relative error (PBIAS) and determination coefficient (R2). The results show that: (1) The spatial distributions of precipitation estimated by these four products in the Qaraqash River basin are significantly different, and the multi-year average annual precipitation of GSMaP is 97.11 mm, which is the closest to the weather station interpolation results. (2) On the annual and monthly scales, GSMaP has the highest correlation (R ≥ 0.82) with the observed precipitation and the smallest relative error (BIAS < 6%). On the seasonal scale, the inversion accuracy of GSMaP in spring, summer and autumn is significantly higher than other products. In winter, all four sets of products perform poorly in estimating the actual precipitation. (3) Monthly runoff simulations based on SM2RAIN and GSMaP show good fitting (R2 > 0.6). In daily runoff simulation, GSMaP has the greatest ability to reproduce runoff changes. The study provides a reference for the optimization of precipitation image data and hydrological simulation in data-scarce areas.
Highlights
Precipitation is a major driving source of hydrological change and plays a vital role in the global hydrological cycle [1,2,3]
The region with the lowest annual precipitation is located in the northeastern part of the Qaraqash River basin according to all four of the satellite products (Figure 2)
The spatial distribution shown by CHIRPS indicates that the greatest amount of precipitation is mainly distributed in the northwestern part of the basin; it presents a spatial pattern with more precipitation in the central region and less precipitation in the north and south
Summary
Precipitation is a major driving source of hydrological change and plays a vital role in the global hydrological cycle [1,2,3]. Precipitation is the most vital input data for basin hydrological simulation, and its spatial and temporal distributions have significant effects on factors influencing the hydrological cycle, such as surface runoff, soil water content and surface evapotranspiration [5,6,7]. In alpine mountainous watersheds with complex terrain, precipitation observation sites are usually sparsely distributed, and most are in low-altitude areas such as river valleys. In this case, the representativeness of the observation data is poor, and rainfall input data have a greater influence on the hydrological simulation results of the basin [12]. An applicability assessment of multi-satellite precipitation data in mountainous areas is crucial to clarify the characteristics of regional precipitation changes and their impact on hydrological processes
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