Abstract
The study employed pairwise statistics (BIAS, R and NSE) to assess the potential of five different satellite rainfall products (CHIRPS, PERSIANN, TRMM, RFE, and ARC) in reproducing the hydrology of the Black Volta Basin. This was achieved by using the HEC-HMS model calibrated with observed streamflow data from three gauged stations (Lawra, Chache and Bui). The study showed that the model is robust and capable of reproducing daily streamflow in the study basin with marginal BIAS (− 21.1–0.32%), satisfactory Nash–Sutcliffe Efficiency (0.73–0.85), and a high Pearson correlation coefficient (0.88–0.94) values during the simulation period (1998–2008). All the satellite rainfall products produced satisfactory results in terms of simulating the daily streamflows in the study basin, but the temporal dynamics were best replicated by CHIRPS, PERSIANN, and RFE. The gauge and satellite rainfall data performed better in simulating high streamflows as compared to the low streamflows in the study basin. There was a general underestimation of low and high streamflows in the study basin, which could be attributed to the errors in the satellite products that were propagated to the streamflow simulated through the hydrologic (HEC-HMS) model. Overall, the RFE dataset was better in simulating extreme streamflows in the study basin, this is followed by CHIRPS, PERSIANN, TRMM, and ARC in that order.
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Data availability
The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
This study was funded by the Regional Water and Environmental Sanitation Centre Kumasi (RWESCK) at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi with funding from the World Bank under the Africa Centre’s of Excellence project. “The views expressed in this paper do not reflect those of the World Bank, Ghana Government and KNUST.”
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All Authors contributed significantly to the successful completion of this article. FYL: material preparation, data acquisition analyses and report writing. EO, KAA, CG, SNO: supervised material preparation and data acquisition, critically reviewed data analysis and report and, approved final work for publication.
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Logah, F.Y., Obuobie, E., Adjei, K.A. et al. Capability of satellite rainfall products in simulating streamflows in the Black Volta Basin. Sustain. Water Resour. Manag. 9, 96 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40899-023-00871-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40899-023-00871-w