Hydrologic evaluation of Multisatellite Precipitation Analysis standard precipitation products in basins beyond its inclined latitude band: A case study in Laohahe basin, China

Abstract

Two standard Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Multisatellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) products, 3B42RT and 3B42V6, were quantitatively evaluated in the Laohahe basin, China, located within the TMPA product latitude band (50°NS) but beyond the inclined TRMM satellite latitude band (36°NS). In general, direct comparison of TMPA rainfall estimates to collocated rain gauges from 2000 to 2005 show that the spatial and temporal rainfall characteristics over the region are well captured by the 3B42V6 estimates. Except for a few months with underestimation, the 3B42RT estimates show unrealistic overestimation nearly year round, which needs to be resolved in future upgrades to the real‐time estimation algorithm. Both model‐parameter error analysis and hydrologic application suggest that the three‐layer Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC‐3L) model cannot tolerate the nonphysical overestimation behavior of 3B42RT through the hydrologic integration processes, and as such the 3B42RT data have almost no hydrologic utility, even at the monthly scale. In contrast, the 3B42V6 data can produce much better hydrologic predictions with reduced error propagation from input to streamflow at both the daily and monthly scales. This study also found the error structures of both RT and V6 have a significant geo‐topography‐dependent distribution pattern, closely associated with latitude and elevation bands, suggesting current limitations with TRMM‐era algorithms at high latitudes and high elevations in general. Looking into the future Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) era, the Geostationary Infrared (GEO‐IR) estimates still have a long‐term role in filling the inevitable gaps in microwave coverage, as well as in enabling sub‐hourly estimates at typical 4‐km grid scales. Thus, this study affirms the call for a real‐time systematic bias removal in future upgrades to the IR‐based RT algorithm using a simple scaling factor. This correction is based on MW‐based monthly rainfall climatologies applied to the combined monthly satellite‐gauge research products.