scholarly journals Evaluation of Satellite-Based Rainfall Estimates in the Lower Mekong River Basin (Southeast Asia)

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (22) ◽  
pp. 2709 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chelsea Dandridge ◽  
Venkat Lakshmi ◽  
John Bolten ◽  
Raghavan Srinivasan
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Watershed Modeling ◽  
Rain Gauge ◽  
Mekong River ◽  
Coefficient Of Determination ◽  
Mekong River Basin ◽  
In Situ Data ◽  
Rainfall Estimates

Satellite-based precipitation is an essential tool for regional water resource applications that requires frequent observations of meteorological forcing, particularly in areas that have sparse rain gauge networks. To fully realize the utility of remotely sensed precipitation products in watershed modeling and decision-making, a thorough evaluation of the accuracy of satellite-based rainfall and regional gauge network estimates is needed. In this study, Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Multi-Satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) 3B42 v.7 and Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station data (CHIRPS) daily rainfall estimates were compared with daily rain gauge observations from 2000 to 2014 in the Lower Mekong River Basin (LMRB) in Southeast Asia. Monthly, seasonal, and annual comparisons were performed, which included the calculations of correlation coefficient, coefficient of determination, bias, root mean square error (RMSE), and mean absolute error (MAE). Our validation test showed TMPA to correctly detect precipitation or no-precipitation 64.9% of all days and CHIRPS 66.8% of all days, compared to daily in-situ rainfall measurements. The accuracy of the satellite-based products varied greatly between the wet and dry seasons. Both TMPA and CHIRPS showed higher correlation with in-situ data during the wet season (June–September) as compared to the dry season (November–January). Additionally, both performed better on a monthly than an annual time-scale when compared to in-situ data. The satellite-based products showed wet biases during months that received higher cumulative precipitation. Based on a spatial correlation analysis, the average r-value of CHIRPS was much higher than TMPA across the basin. CHIRPS correlated better than TMPA at lower elevations and for monthly rainfall accumulation less than 500 mm. While both satellite-based products performed well, as compared to rain gauge measurements, the present research shows that CHIRPS might be better at representing precipitation over the LMRB than TMPA.

scholarly journals Downscaling of SMAP Soil Moisture in the Lower Mekong River Basin

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chelsea Dandridge ◽  
Bin Fang ◽  
Venkat Lakshmi
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Surface Temperature ◽  
River Basin ◽  
River Basins ◽  
Large River ◽  
Mekong River ◽  
Mekong River Basin ◽  
In Situ Data ◽  
Large River Basins

In large river basins where in situ data were limited or absent, satellite-based soil moisture estimates can be used to supplement ground measurements for land and water resource management solutions. Consistent soil moisture estimation can aid in monitoring droughts, forecasting floods, monitoring crop productivity, and assisting weather forecasting. Satellite-based soil moisture estimates are readily available at the global scale but are provided at spatial scales that are relatively coarse for many hydrological modeling and decision-making purposes. Soil moisture data are obtained from NASA’s soil moisture active passive (SMAP) mission radiometer as an interpolated product at 9 km gridded resolution. This study implements a soil moisture downscaling algorithm that was developed based on the relationship between daily temperature change and average soil moisture under varying vegetation conditions. It applies a look-up table using global land data assimilation system (GLDAS) soil moisture and surface temperature data, and advanced very high resolution radiometer (AVHRR) and moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and land surface temperature (LST). MODIS LST and NDVI are used to obtain downscaled soil moisture estimates. These estimates are then used to enhance the spatial resolution of soil moisture estimates from SMAP 9 km to 1 km. Soil moisture estimates at 1 km resolution are able to provide detailed information on the spatial distribution and pattern over the regions being analyzed. Higher resolution soil moisture data are needed for practical applications and modelling in large watersheds with limited in situ data, like in the Lower Mekong River Basin (LMB) in Southeast Asia. The 1 km soil moisture estimates can be applied directly to improve flood prediction and assessment as well as drought monitoring and agricultural productivity predictions for large river basins.

scholarly journals Upstream GPS Vertical Displacement and its Standardization for Mekong River Basin Surface Runoff Reconstruction and Estimation

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 18
Author(s):  
Hok Sum Fok ◽  
Linghao Zhou ◽  
Yongxin Liu ◽  
Zhongtian Ma ◽  
Yutong Chen
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
River Water ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Relative Error ◽  
Surface Runoff ◽  
Water Discharge ◽  
Vertical Displacement ◽  
Mekong River ◽  
Mekong River Basin

Surface runoff (R), which is another expression for river water discharge of a river basin, is a critical measurement for regional water cycles. Over the past two decades, river water discharge has been widely investigated, which is based on remotely sensed hydraulic and hydrological variables as well as indices. This study aims to demonstrate the potential of upstream global positioning system (GPS) vertical displacement (VD) and its standardization to statistically derive R time series, which has not been reported in recent literature. The correlation between the in situ R at estuaries and averaged GPS-VD and its standardization in the river basin upstream on a monthly temporal scale of the Mekong River Basin (MRB) is examined. It was found that the reconstructed R time series from the latter agrees with and yields a similar performance to that from the terrestrial water storage based on gravimetric satellite (i.e., Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE)) and traditional remote sensing data. The reconstructed R time series from the standardized GPS-VD was found to have a 2–7% accuracy increase against those without standardization. On the other hand, it is comparable to data that are obtained by the Palmer drought severity index (PDSI). Similar accuracies are exhibited by the estimated R when externally validated through another station location with in situ time series. The comparison of the estimated R at the entrance of river delta against that at the estuaries indicates a 1–3% relative error induced by the residual ocean tidal effect at the estuary. The reconstructed R from the standardized GPS-VD yields the lowest total relative error of less than 9% when accounting for the main upstream area of the MRB. The remaining errors may be the result of the combined effect of the proposed methodology, remaining environmental signals in the data time series, and potential time lag (less than a month) between the upstream MRB and estuary.

Generation of Stochastic Rainfall Estimates for the Mekong River Basin

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dumindu L. Jayasekera ◽  
Chia-Jeng Chen ◽  
Sharika U. S. Senarath ◽  
Marc P. Marcella
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Mekong River ◽  
Mekong River Basin ◽  
Rainfall Estimates

scholarly journals Daily River Discharge Estimation Using Multi-Mission Radar Altimetry Data and Ensemble Learning Regression in the Lower Mekong River Basin

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (22) ◽  
pp. 2684 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim ◽  
Lee ◽  
Chang ◽  
Bui ◽  
Jayasinghe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Ensemble Learning ◽  
River Discharge ◽  
Water Levels ◽  
Mekong River ◽  
Altimetry Data ◽  
Rating Curve ◽  
Mekong River Basin ◽  
Radar Altimetry

Estimating river discharge (Q) is critical for ecosystems and water resource management. Traditionally, estimating Q has depended on a single rating curve or the Manning equation. In contrast to the single rating curve, several rating curves at different locations have been linearly combined in an ensemble learning regression method to estimate Q (ELQ) at the Brazzaville gauge station in the central Congo River in a previous study. In this study, we further tested the proposed ELQ and apply it to the Lower Mekong River Basin (LMRB) with three locations: Stung Treng, Kratie, and Tan Chau. Two major advancements for estimating Q with ELQ are presented. First, ELQ successfully estimated Q at Tan Chau, downstream of Kratie, where hydrodynamic complexities exist. Since the hydrologic characteristics downstream of Kratie are extremely diverse and complex in time and space, most previous studies have estimated Q only upstream from Kratie with hydrologic models and statistical methods. Second, we estimated Q over the LMRB using ELQ with water levels (H) obtained from two radar altimetry missions, Envisat and Jason-2, which made it possible to estimate Q seamlessly from 2003 to 2016. Owing to ELQ with multi-mission radar altimetry data, we have overcome the problems of a single rating curve: Locations for estimating Q have to be close to virtual stations, e.g., a few tens of kilometers, because the performance of the single rating curve degrades as the distance between the location of Q estimation and a virtual station increases. Therefore, most previous studies had not used Jason-2 data whose cross-track interval is about 315 km at the equator. On the contrary, several H obtained from Jason-2 altimetry were used in this study regardless of distances from in-situ Q stations since the ELQ method compensates for degradation in the performance for Q estimation due to the poor rating curve with virtual stations away from in-situ Q stations. In general, the ELQ-estimated Q (QELQ) showed more accurate results compared to those obtained from a single rating curve. In the case of Tan Chau, the root mean square error (RMSE) of QELQ decreased by 1504/1338 m3/s using Envisat-derived H for the training/validation datasets. We successfully applied ELQ to the LMRB, which is one of the most complex basins to estimate Q with multi-mission radar altimetry data. Furthermore, our method can be used to obtain finer temporal resolution and enhance the performance of Q estimation with the current altimetry missions, such as Sentinel-3A/B and Jason-3.

An Optimal Rain-Gauge Network Using a GIS-Based Approach with Spatial Interpolation Techniques for the Mekong River Basin

2021 ◽  
Vol 114 (sp1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Van Men Huynh ◽  
Sunghoon Hong ◽  
Yongju Kwon ◽  
Van Ty Tran ◽  
Vuong Thu Minh Huynh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Spatial Interpolation ◽  
Rain Gauge ◽  
Mekong River ◽  
Mekong River Basin ◽  
Interpolation Techniques ◽  
Rain Gauge Network

scholarly journals Intercomparisons of Rainfall Estimates from TRMM and GPM Multisatellite Products over the Upper Mekong River Basin

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 413-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhihua He ◽  
Long Yang ◽  
Fuqiang Tian ◽  
Guangheng Ni ◽  
Aizhong Hou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
River Basin ◽  
Mekong River ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Local Domain ◽  
Mountainous Region ◽  
Mekong River Basin ◽  
Extreme Rain ◽  
Satellite Rainfall ◽  
Rain Events ◽  
Rainfall Estimates

Abstract The aim of this study is to evaluate the accuracy of daily rainfall estimates based on the GPM level-3 final product derived from the IMERG algorithm (abbreviated as IMERG) and TRMM 3B42, version 7 (abbreviated as 3B42), in the upper Mekong River basin, a mountainous region in southwestern China. High-density rain gauges provide exceptional resources for ground validation of satellite rainfall estimates over this region. The performance of the two satellite rainfall products is evaluated during two rainy seasons (May–October) over the period 2014–15, as well as their applications in hydrological simulations. Results indicate that 1) IMERG systematically reduces the bias value in rainfall estimates at the gridbox scale and presents a greater ability to capture rainfall variability at the local domain scale compared with 3B42; 2) IMERG improves the ability to capture rain events with moderate intensities and presents higher capability in detecting occurrences of extreme rain events, but significantly overestimates the amounts of these extreme events; and 3) IMERG generally produces comparable daily streamflow simulations to 3B42 and tends to outperform 3B42 in driving hydrological simulations when calibrating model parameters using each rainfall input. This study provides an early evaluation of the IMERG rainfall product over a mountainous region. The findings indicate the potential of the IMERG product in overestimating extreme rain events, which could serve as the basis for further improvement of IMERG rainfall retrieval algorithms. The hydrological evaluations described here could shed light on the emerging application of retrospectively generated IMERG products back to the TRMM era.

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