Hydrological Evaluation of Satellite-Based Precipitation Products in Hunan Province

Abstract

The quality of satellite-based precipitation products including TMPA 3B42, IMERG-early, IMERG-final, and CMORPH-CRT, is evaluated by comparing with gauge observations in Hunan province of China between 2017 and 2019. By using the outputs of the Dominant River Routing Integrated with VIC Environment (DRIVE) model, the hydrological applications of gauge- and satellite-based precipitation products are analyzed by comparing them with streamflow observations. Furthermore, we conduct a case study considering Typhoon Bailu. It is found that IMERG-final can produce better results compared to the other three satellite-based products against gauge-based precipitation. In terms of discharge simulations, the gauge-based precipitation provides the most accurate results, followed by IMERG-final. During Typhoon Bailu, the peak of the mean gauge-based precipitation in the rainfall center (24.5°N–26°N, 111°E–114°E) occurred on 25 August 2019, whereas the daily streamflow reached its peak one day later, suggesting the lagged impact of precipitation on streamflow. From the Taylor diagram, the gauge-based precipitation is the most accurate for estimating the streamflow during Typhoon Bailu, followed by IMERG-final, IMERG-early, TMPA 3B42, and CMORPH-CRT, respectively. Overall, gauge-based precipitation has the best performance in terms of hydrological application, whereas IMERG-final performs the best among four satellite-based precipitation products.