Satellite-based rainfall estimates to simulate daily streamflow using a hydrological model over Gambia watershed

Abstract

ABSTRACT Satellite rainfall products (SRPs) have the potential to overcome the limitations of ground-based rainfall observations and provide an alternative to inadequately or ungauged watersheds. However, due to the relatively poor accuracy and associated uncertainties to SRPs, it is necessary to evaluate their quality and applicability for each investigated watershed. This paper evaluates the usefulness of SRPs as forcing data for hydrological modeling under different scenarios and assesses their applicability for the Kedougou, Mako and Simenti sub-basins of the Gambia River. To achieve this, the “Génie Rural à 4 paramètres Journalier model” (GR4J) hydrological model was employed to simulate the streamflow considering four different scenarios: i) non-calibrated GR4J model run with uncorrected SRPs (Scenario 1); ii) non-calibrated model run with corrected SRPs (Scenario 2); GR4J model was calibrated and validated using uncorrected SRPs, and then they were utilized to drive the model (Scenario 3); GR4J model was calibrated and validated and then run using forcing inputs from corrected SRPs (Scenario 4). Results revealed that under Scenario 1 the SRPs performed poorly over the three sub-basins, while under scenario 2, the simulated daily streamflows showed relative improvement when run using corrected SRPs with 6 or 10 rainfall stations. Under the scenarios 3 and 4, the calibrated model provides significant improvement of the simulated streamflow with both the corrected and non-corrected SRPs. Finally, the SRPs demonstrate potential for use in watersheds where there are no rain gauges. The performance loss from scenario 4 (considered as the reference) to scenario 3 does not exceed 20%. Similarly, the performance loss from scenario 4 to scenario 2 does not exceed 50% when the SRPs are corrected using 3 and 6 rainfall stations (e.g., in the Kedougou sub-basin). Thus, they can be considered acceptable for hydrological simulations when the hydrological model is calibrated with measured streamflow.