Precise and reliable rainfall data is crucial for regional water resource management. However, rainfall data in Ethiopia mainly characterized by sparse distribution and temporal inconsistency. Therefore, the spatial and temporal patterns of rainfall are poorly understood in the major basins. Recently, satellite rainfall products (SRPs) have been applied as an alternative source to obtain long-term rainfall data. This study evaluated the performance of three different SRPs, namely CHIRPS, PERSIANN_CDR, and TMPA3B42, with respect to observed data in the Upper Tekeze-Atbara River Basin using different statistical indices. The result showed that PERSIANN_CDR had very low PBIAS than other products. The PERSIANN_CDR had a slight overestimation tendency, while the CHIRPS and TMPA3B42 considerably overestimated observation rainfall. The PERSIANN_CDR performed well for kiremt, belg, and bega season, with the lowest RMSE value of 2.9, 1.4, and 0.8 mm/day, respectively. On the contrary, TMPA3B42 poorly performed for kiremt, belg, and bega seasons with the largest RMSE value of 3.1, 1.9, and 1.1 mm/day, respectively. The PERSIANN_CDR had the best skill to detect observation rainfall, while the CHIRPS had the worst detecting skill during all seasons. In kiremt seasons, the PERSIANN_CDR product showed a good estimation of the observed rainfall almost in all parts of the basin except for a slight overestimation in northwestern and underestimation in southwestern regions. Overall, the findings of this study demonstrated the PERSIANN_CDR product potentials and use for analyzing rainfall distribution and variability in Ethiopia’s Upper Tekeze-Atbara River Basin.

Citation:Achenafi Teklay (2022) Spatio-temporal Validation of Multi-Source Satellite Rainfall Products in the Upper Tekeze-Atbara Basin, Ethiopia, International Journal of Environment and Pollution Research, Vol.10, No.2 pp.50-76

Keywords: CHIRPS, PERSIANN_CDR, Spatio-temporal, TMPA3B42, Tekeze-Atbara, Validation, satellite rainfall products