Abstract
This study is a statistical and hydrological assessment of three high-spatial resolution precipitation products over Ouergha basin (Northern Morocco). PESIANN-CCS (Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Networks - Cloud Classification System) 0.04° × 0.04°, CHIRPS (Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station data) 0.05°× 0.05°, and TRMM 3B42 (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission version 7) 0.25° × 0.25° are assessed using observed data from 11 rain gauge stations and 4 flow-gauge stations, over the period 2003–2010. This assessment is performed at different time and space scales using continuous and categorical statistical scores, and finally a hydrological modeling using GR4J Model. Results show that all the products perform poorly at daily time steps. PERSIANN and TRMM have a negative bias while CHIRPS has a positive one. CHIRPS and TRMM exhibit a significant improvement at monthly scale. In winter, all products have the best correlation but also the largest errors. PERSIANN generously overestimates the summer rain. CHIRPS shows the best annual correlation and captures very well the spatial pattern of mean annual precipitations. CHIRPS also shows a better performance over the PERSIANN and TRMM in reproducing stream flow. However, it’s still not enough since the Nash criterion is around 0.52. Results of this study show the necessity of a bias correction in order to increase the accuracy of the satellite precipitation products in estimating daily rainfall and reproducing streamflow. This correction may be the subject of a further study.
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Karmouda, N., Kacimi, I., ElKharrim, M. et al. Geo-statistical and hydrological assessment of three satellite precipitation products over Ouergha basin (Northern Morocco). Arab J Geosci 15, 235 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-021-09124-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-021-09124-6