Abstract
The accuracy of Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) multi-satellite precipitation analysis (TMPA) daily accumulated precipitation products (3B42RTV7 and 3B42V7) was evaluated for a small basin (the Nanliu river basin). A direct comparison was performed against gauge observations from a period of 9 years (2000–2009) at temporal and spatial scales. The results show that the temporal-spatial precipitation characteristics of the Nanliu river basin are highly consistent with 3B42V7 relative to 3B42RTV7, with higher correlation coefficient (CC) approximately 0.9 at all temporal scales except for the daily scale and a lower relative bias percentage. 3B42V7 slightly overestimates precipitation at all temporal scales except the yearly scale; it slightly underestimates the precipitation at the daily spatial scale. The results also reveal that the precision of TMPA products increases with longer time-aggregated data, and the detection capability of daily TMPA precipitation products are enhanced by augmentation with daily precipitation rates. In addition, daily TMPA products were input into the Xin’anjiang hydrologic model; the results show that 3B42V7-based simulated outputs were well in line with actual stream flow observations, with a high CC (0.90) and Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient (NSE, 0.79), and the results adequately captured the pattern of the observed flow curve.
Highlights
Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) is one of the most important precipitation projects currently in operation, with widespread coverage (50°S~50°N)
This work aims to answer the following two questions: First, can TRMM Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) products be used for a small basin area with the desired level of precision at all temporal scales? Second, do the TMPA products drive hydrologic models well? The Nanliu River (Fig. 1), which flows to the sea, is the largest river in China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, with an approximate river length of 287 km and drainage area of 8600 km[2]
The gauge-derived spatial distribution (Fig. 2(a),(b)) was derived from 9-year mean observation values from 8 gauge stations (7 reference stations selected for this study plus the Hengxian rainfall gauge located in the bounding rectangle of the Nanliu river basin) based on inverse distance weight (IDW) and ordinary kriging (OK) interpolation methods using ArcGIS 10.1, respectively
Summary
TRMM is one of the most important precipitation projects currently in operation, with widespread coverage (50°S~50°N). TMPA data have been broadly evaluated[1, 4,5,6,7,8] and employed for numerous applications such as hydrological modeling[3, 9], soil moisture predication[10], fire detection[11], and agriculture[12]. The accuracy of TRMM products has been accepted for most low-latitude areas and large-medium scales, but few studies have reported evaluations of the products against rain gauge observations for small basin areas or the Beibu Gulf region. The Nanliu river basin (8600 km2) was selected as a case study to evaluate the applicability of TMPA products in small basin areas. This work aims to answer the following two questions: First, can TMPA products be used for a small basin area with the desired level of precision at all temporal scales (daily, monthly, seasonal, flood seasonal or non-flood seasonal and yearly)? The average annual temperature range is 21.5 °C to 22.4 °C
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
