Hydrologic Assessment of the Uncertainty of Six Remote Sensing Precipitation Estimates Driven by a Distributed Hydrologic Model in the Blue Nile Basin

Abstract

AbstractBecause of the sparseness of the ground monitoring network, precipitation estimations based on satellite products (PESPs) are currently requisite tools for hydrological simulation research and applications. The evaluation of six global high-resolution PESPs (TRMM 3B42V7, GPGP-1DD, TRMM 3B42RT, CMORPH-V1.0, PERSIANN, and PERSIANN-CDR) is the ultimate purpose of this research. Additionally, the distributed Hydrological River Basin Environmental Assessment Model (Hydro-BEAM) is used to investigate their potential effects in streamflow predictions over the Blue Nile basin (BNB) during the period 2001 to 2007. The correctness of the studied PESPs is assessed by applying categorical criteria to appraise their performances in estimating and reproducing precipitation amounts, while statistical indicators are utilized to determine their rain detection capabilities. Our findings reveal that TRMM 3B42V7 outperforms the remaining product in both the estimation of precipitation and the hydrological simulation, as reflected in highest NSE and R2 values ranges from 0.85 to 0.94. Generally, the TRMM 3B42V7 precipitation product exhibits tremendous potential as a substitute for precipitation estimates in the BNB, which will provide powerful forcing input data for distributed hydrological models. Overall, this study will hopefully provide a better comprehension of the usefulness and uncertainties of various PESPs in streamflow simulations, particularly in this region.