Evaluating the TRMM Multisatellite Precipitation Analysis for Extreme Precipitation and Streamflow in Ganjiang River Basin, China

Shanshan Jiang,Yuhan Huang,Sheng Chen,Zengxin Zhang,Xi Chen

doi:10.1155/2017/2902493

Abstract

Based on the observed precipitation data and TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission) 3B42 RTV7 and 3B42 V7 precipitation products from 2003 to 2010, the extreme precipitation and streamflow in the Ganjiang River basin were analyzed. The VIC hydrological model was used to simulate the streamflow driven by RTV7/V7 precipitation products in the Ganjiang River basin. The results show that (1) both of the RTV7 and V7 precipitation products have good applicability in precipitation estimation in the Ganjiang River basin and the correlation between the observed precipitation and RTV7 (V7) was as higher as 0.85 (0.86); (2) the RTV7/V7 precipitation products can well be used to simulate the streamflow by using the VIC hydrological model and the correlation between the observed streamflow and simulated streamflow driven by RTV7 (V7) products was as high as 0.86 (0.89); (3) the extreme precipitation varied greatly in the Ganjiang River basin and both of the RTV7 and V7 can capture the pattern of extreme precipitation in the Ganjiang River basin; however, higher extreme precipitation can be found in the northern Ganjiang River basin; (4) the extreme streamflow simulated driven by RTV7/V7 products agreed well with the observed extreme streamflow in the Ganjiang River basin. This study indicated that the TRMM 3B42 RTV7 and V7 products can be well used in the estimation of extreme precipitation and extreme streamflow.

Highlights

Climate events may exert serious impacts on human society and have drawn increasing concerns in the world [1, 2]
The areas with less extreme higher precipitation are mainly concentrated in the southern part of Ganjiang River basin, and lower precipitation was found in the middle reaches (Figures 4(a)–4(c))
It can be seen that both of V7 and RTV7 overestimated the extreme precipitation for the 95% threshold; especially the RTV7 overestimated it more clearly

Summary

Introduction

Climate events may exert serious impacts on human society and have drawn increasing concerns in the world [1, 2]. The direct observation of ground meteorological station is more accurate but affected by station network density, terrain, and other factors [6], while the ground-based radar observation is affected by the electronic signals, operating environment, and other sources of error which has a greater uncertainty in the complex terrain (Yang et al, 2006) To address this problem, a number of remotely sensed precipitation products with high spatial and temporal resolution have been developed [7]. The VIC (Variable Infiltration Capacity) hydrological model was combined with TRMM precipitation data to simulate the streamflow in the Ganjiang River basin. In this paper, we will analyze the spatial and temporal characteristics of extreme precipitation and streamflow by using the TRMM data and VIC hydrological model in the Ganjiang River basin. This work might be benefit to the improvement for the monitoring, modeling, and forecasting techniques in extreme precipitation and streamflow by using satellite precipitation products

Date and Method

Result

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Discussion

Conclusions