scholarly journals Evaluation of Satellite Precipitation Products in Simulating Streamflow in a Humid Tropical Catchment of India Using a Semi-Distributed Hydrological Model

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 2400
Author(s):  
Thalli Mani Sharannya ◽  
Nadhir Al-Ansari ◽  
Surajit Deb Barma ◽  
Amai Mahesha

Precipitation obtained from rain gauges is an essential input for hydrological modelling. It is often sparse in highly topographically varying terrain, exhibiting a certain amount of uncertainty in hydrological modelling. Hence, satellite rainfall estimates have been used as an alternative or as a supplement to station observations. In this study, an attempt was made to evaluate the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station data (CHIRPS), employing a semi-distributed hydrological model, i.e., Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), for simulating streamflow and validating them against the flows generated by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) rainfall dataset in the Gurupura river catchment of India. Distinct testing scenarios for simulating streamflow were made to check the suitability of these satellite precipitation data. The TRMM was able to better estimate rainfall than CHIRPS after performing categorical and continuous statistical results with respect to IMD rainfall data. While comparing the performance of model simulations, the IMD rainfall-driven streamflow emerged as the best followed by the TRMM, CHIRPS-0.05, and CHIRPS-0.25. The coefficient of determination (R2), Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), and percent bias (PBIAS) were in the range 0.63 to 0.86, 0.62 to 0.86, and −14.98 to 0.87, respectively. Further, an attempt was made to examine the spatial distribution of key hydrological signature, i.e., flow duration curve (FDC) in the 30–95 percentile range of non-exceedance probability. It was observed that TRMM underestimated the flow for agricultural water availability corresponding to 30 percent, even though it showed a good performance compared to the other satellite rainfall-driven model outputs.

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 2015-2032
Author(s):  
Alemshet Belayneh ◽  
Gashaw Sintayehu ◽  
Kibrit Gedam ◽  
Tirunesh Muluken

Abstract Accurate measurement of precipitation is vital to investigate the spatial and temporal patterns of precipitation at various scales for rainfall-runoff modeling. However, accurate and consistent precipitation measurement is relatively sparse in many developing countries like Ethiopia. Nevertheless, satellite precipitation products may serve as important inputs for modeling in an area with scarce field data for a wide range of hydrological applications. In this study we evaluate the high-resolution satellite rainfall products for hydrological simulation, the Climate Hazards Group Infrared Precipitation with Stations (CHIRPS) and Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Multisatellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA_3B42v7) satellite rainfall products for stream flow simulation at daily temporal and 0.25° × 0.25° spatial resolution. The study area is located in Dabus watershed, Abbay basin, Ethiopia. We applied a nonlinear power law to remove the systematic error of satellite precipitation estimates for input into HEC-HMS hydrological model for runoff generation. The performance of the satellite rainfall and hydrological model was evaluated using Nash–Sutcliffe efficiency (ENS), coefficient of determination (R2), relative volume error (RVE), and percentage error of peak flow objective functions. The result of HEC-HMS model performance revealed R2 of 0.78, ENS of 0.69 for CHIRPS_2 and R2 of 0.79, ENS of 0.76 for TMPA_3B42v7 satellite rainfall products during calibration periods. Our result indicated that the HEC-HMS model well predicated catchment runoff for both satellite precipitation products. The study shows that the model performance was significantly improved when bias-corrected satellite rainfall input replaced than the original uncorrected satellite products. Overall, our study showed that gauge-based simulation outperformed than satellite in terms of all objective functions over the study area.


Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 1803
Author(s):  
Xiaoli Chen ◽  
Guoru Huang

The assessment of various precipitation products’ performances in extreme climatic conditions has become a topic of interest. However, little attention has been paid to the hydrological substitutability of these products. The objective of this study is to explore the performance of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Multi-Satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) product in the Feilaixia catchment, China. To assess its applicability in extreme consecutive climates, several statistical indices are adopted to evaluate the TMPA performance both qualitatively and quantitatively. The Cox–Stuart test is used to investigate extreme climate trends. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model is used to test the TMPA hydrological substitutability via three scenarios of runoff simulation. The results demonstrate that the overall TMPA performance is acceptable, except at high-latitudes and locations where the terrain changes greatly. Moreover, the accuracy of the SWAT model is high both in the semi-substitution and full-substitution scenarios. Based on the results, the TMPA product is a useful substitute for the gauged precipitation in obtaining acceptable hydrologic process information in areas where gauged sites are sparse or non-existent. The TMPA product is satisfactory in predicting the runoff process. Overall, it must be used with caution, especially at high latitudes and altitudes.


Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 594 ◽  
Author(s):  
Majid Fereidoon ◽  
Manfred Koch ◽  
Luca Brocca

Hydrological models are widely used for many purposes in water sector projects, including streamflow prediction and flood risk assessment. Among the input data used in such hydrological models, the spatial-temporal variability of rainfall datasets has a significant role on the final discharge estimation. Therefore, accurate measurements of rainfall are vital. On the other hand, ground-based measurement networks, mainly in developing countries, are either nonexistent or too sparse to capture rainfall accurately. In addition to in-situ rainfall datasets, satellite-derived rainfall products are currently available globally with high spatial and temporal resolution. An innovative approach called SM2RAIN that estimates rainfall from soil moisture data has been applied successfully to various regions. In this study, first, soil moisture content derived from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for the Earth observing system (AMSR-E) is used as input into the SM2RAIN algorithm to estimate daily rainfall (SM2R-AMSRE) at different sites in the Karkheh river basin (KRB), southwest Iran. Second, the SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) hydrological model was applied to simulate runoff using both ground-based observed rainfall and SM2R-AMSRE rainfall as input. The results reveal that the SM2R-AMSRE rainfall data are, in most cases, in good agreement with ground-based rainfall, with correlations R ranging between 0.58 and 0.88, though there is some underestimation of the observed rainfall due to soil moisture saturation not accounted for in the SM2RAIN equation. The subsequent SWAT-simulated monthly runoff from SM2R-AMSRE rainfall data (SWAT-SM2R-AMSRE) reproduces the observations at the six gauging stations (with coefficient of determination, R² > 0.71 and NSE > 0.56), though with slightly worse performances in terms of bias (Bias) and root-mean-square error (RMSE) and, again, some systematic flow underestimation compared to the SWAT model with ground-based rainfall input. Additionally, rainfall estimates of two satellite products of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), 3B42 and 3B42RT, are used in the calibrated SWAT- model after bias correction. The monthly runoff predictions obtained with 3B42- rainfall have 0.42 < R2 < 0.72 and−0.06 < NSE < 0.74 which are slightly better than those obtained with 3B42RT- rainfall, but not as good as the SWAT-SM2R-AMSRE. Therefore, despite the aforementioned limitations, using SM2R-AMSRE rainfall data in a hydrological model like SWAT appears to be a viable approach in basins with limited ground-based rainfall data.


2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 903-920 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Qi ◽  
C. Zhang ◽  
G. Fu ◽  
C. Sweetapple ◽  
H. Zhou

Abstract. The applicability of six fine-resolution precipitation products, including precipitation radar, infrared, microwave and gauge-based products, using different precipitation computation recipes, is evaluated using statistical and hydrological methods in northeastern China. In addition, a framework quantifying uncertainty contributions of precipitation products, hydrological models, and their interactions to uncertainties in ensemble discharges is proposed. The investigated precipitation products are Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) products (TRMM3B42 and TRMM3B42RT), Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS)/Noah, Asian Precipitation – Highly-Resolved Observational Data Integration Towards Evaluation of Water Resources (APHRODITE), Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Networks (PERSIANN), and a Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation (GSMAP-MVK+) product. Two hydrological models of different complexities, i.e. a water and energy budget-based distributed hydrological model and a physically based semi-distributed hydrological model, are employed to investigate the influence of hydrological models on simulated discharges. Results show APHRODITE has high accuracy at a monthly scale compared with other products, and GSMAP-MVK+ shows huge advantage and is better than TRMM3B42 in relative bias (RB), Nash–Sutcliffe coefficient of efficiency (NSE), root mean square error (RMSE), correlation coefficient (CC), false alarm ratio, and critical success index. These findings could be very useful for validation, refinement, and future development of satellite-based products (e.g. NASA Global Precipitation Measurement). Although large uncertainty exists in heavy precipitation, hydrological models contribute most of the uncertainty in extreme discharges. Interactions between precipitation products and hydrological models can have the similar magnitude of contribution to discharge uncertainty as the hydrological models. A better precipitation product does not guarantee a better discharge simulation because of interactions. It is also found that a good discharge simulation depends on a good coalition of a hydrological model and a precipitation product, suggesting that, although the satellite-based precipitation products are not as accurate as the gauge-based products, they could have better performance in discharge simulations when appropriately combined with hydrological models. This information is revealed for the first time and very beneficial for precipitation product applications.


2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 886-900
Author(s):  
Jia Wang ◽  
Xin-hua Zhang ◽  
Chong-Yu Xu ◽  
Hao Wang ◽  
Xiao-hui Lei ◽  
...  

AbstractMany developing countries and regions are currently facing serious water environmental problems, especially the lack of monitoring systems for medium- to small-sized watersheds. The load duration curve (LDC) is an effective method to identify polluted waterbodies and clarify the point sources or non-point sources of pollutants. However, it is a large challenge to establish the LDC in small river basins due to the lack of available observed runoff data. In addition, the LDC cannot yet spatially trace the specific sources of the pollutants. To overcome the limitations of LDC, this study develops a LDC based on a distributed hydrological model of the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). First, the SWAT model is used to generate the runoff data. Then, for the control and management of over-loaded polluted water, the spatial distribution and transportation of original sources of point and non-point pollutants are ascertained with the aid of the SWAT model. The development procedures of LDC proposed in this study are applied to the Jian-jiang River basin, a tributary of the Yangtze River, in Duyun city of Guizhou province. The results indicate the effectiveness of the method, which is applicable for water environmental management in data-scarce river basins.


Author(s):  
X. Cui ◽  
W. Sun ◽  
J. Teng ◽  
H. Song ◽  
X. Yao

Abstract. Calibration of hydrological models in ungauged basins is now a hot research topic in the field of hydrology. In addition to the traditional method of parameter regionalization, using discontinuous flow observations to calibrate hydrological models has gradually become popular in recent years. In this study, the possibility of using a limited number of river discharge data to calibrate a distributed hydrological model, the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), was explored. The influence of the quantity of discharge measurements on model calibration in the upper Heihe Basin was analysed. Calibration using only one year of daily discharge measurements was compared with calibration using three years of discharge data. The results showed that the parameter values derived from calibration using one year’s data could achieve similar model performance with calibration using three years’ data, indicating that there is a possibility of using limited numbers of discharge data to calibrate the SWAT model effectively in poorly gauged basins.


2014 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Joel Nobert ◽  
Patric Kibasa

Rainfall runoff modelling in a river basin is vital for number of hydrologic applicationincluding water resources assessment. However, rainfall data from sparse gauging stationsare usually inadequate for modelling which is a major concern in Tanzania. This studypresents the results of comparison of Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM)satellite rainfall products at daily and monthly time-steps with ground stations rainfalldata; and explores the possibility of using satellite rainfall data for rainfall runoffmodelling in Pangani River Basin, Tanzania. Statistical analysis was carried out to find thecorrelation between the ground stations data and TRMM estimates. It was found thatTRMM estimates at monthly scale compare reasonably well with ground stations data.Time series comparison was also done at daily and annual time scales. Monthly and annualtime series compared well with coefficient of determination of 0.68 and 0.70, respectively.It was also found that areal rainfall comparison in the northern parts of the study area hadpoor results compared to the rest of areas. On the other hand, rainfall runoff modellingwith ground stations data alone and TRMM data set alone was carried out using five Real-Time River Flow Forecasting System models and then outputs combined by Models OutputsCombination Techniques. The results showed that ground stations data performed betterduring calibration period with coefficient of efficiency of 76.7%, 81.7% and 89.1% forSimple Average Method, Weight Average Method and Neural Network Method respectively.Simulation results using TRMM data were 59.8%, 73.5% and 76.8%. It can therefore beconcluded that TRMM data are adequate and promising in hydrological modelling.


2009 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 1019-1029 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Pallard ◽  
A. Castellarin ◽  
A. Montanari

Abstract. We investigate the links between the drainage density of a river basin and selected flood statistics, namely, mean, standard deviation, coefficient of variation and coefficient of skewness of annual maximum series of peak flows. The investigation is carried out through a three-stage analysis. First, a numerical simulation is performed by using a spatially distributed hydrological model in order to highlight how flood statistics change with varying drainage density. Second, a conceptual hydrological model is used in order to analytically derive the dependence of flood statistics on drainage density. Third, real world data from 44 watersheds located in northern Italy were analysed. The three-level analysis seems to suggest that a critical value of the drainage density exists for which a minimum is attained in both the coefficient of variation and the absolute value of the skewness coefficient. Such minima in the flood statistics correspond to a minimum of the flood quantile for a given exceedance probability (i.e., recurrence interval). Therefore, the results of this study may provide useful indications for flood risk assessment in ungauged basins.


2016 ◽  
Vol 20 (7) ◽  
pp. 2827-2840 ◽  
Author(s):  
Delphine J. Leroux ◽  
Thierry Pellarin ◽  
Théo Vischel ◽  
Jean-Martial Cohard ◽  
Tania Gascon ◽  
...  

Abstract. Precipitation forcing is usually the main source of uncertainty in hydrology. It is of crucial importance to use accurate forcing in order to obtain a good distribution of the water throughout the basin. For real-time applications, satellite observations allow quasi-real-time precipitation monitoring like the products PERSIANN (Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Networks, TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission) or CMORPH (CPC (Climate Prediction Center) MORPHing). However, especially in West Africa, these precipitation satellite products are highly inaccurate and the water amount can vary by a factor of 2. A post-adjusted version of these products exists but is available with a 2 to 3 month delay, which is not suitable for real-time hydrologic applications. The purpose of this work is to show the possible synergy between quasi-real-time satellite precipitation and soil moisture by assimilating the latter into a hydrological model. Soil Moisture Ocean Salinity (SMOS) soil moisture is assimilated into the Distributed Hydrology Soil Vegetation Model (DHSVM) model. By adjusting the soil water content, water table depth and streamflow simulations are much improved compared to real-time precipitation without assimilation: soil moisture bias is decreased even at deeper soil layers, correlation of the water table depth is improved from 0.09–0.70 to 0.82–0.87, and the Nash coefficients of the streamflow go from negative to positive. Overall, the statistics tend to get closer to those from the reanalyzed precipitation. Soil moisture assimilation represents a fair alternative to reanalyzed rainfall products, which can take several months before being available, which could lead to a better management of available water resources and extreme events.


2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 1745-1784 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Sun ◽  
D. Jiang ◽  
J. Wang ◽  
Y. Zhu

Abstract. The study presented a new method of validating the remote-sensing (RS) retrieval of evapotranspiration (ET) under the support of a distributed hydrological model: Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). In this method, the output runoff data based on a fusion of ET data, meteorological data and rainfall data, etc. were compared with the observed runoff data, so as to carry out validation analysis. A new pattern of validating the ET data obtained from RS retrieval, which was more appropriate than the conventional means of observing the ET at several limited stations based on eddy covariance, was proposed. It has integrated the advantage of high requirement of ET with high spatial resolution in the distributed hydrological model and that of the capacity of providing ET with high spatial resolution in RS methods. First, the ET data in five years (2000–2004) were retrieved with RS according to the principle of energy balance. The temporal/spatial ditribution of monthly ET data and related causes were analyzed in the year of 2000, and the monthly ET in the five years was calculated according to the PM model. Subsequently, the results of the RS retrieval of ET and the PM-based ET calculation were compared and validated. Finnaly, the ET data obtained from RS retrieval was evaluated with the new method, under the support of SWAT, meteorologic data, Digital Elevation Model (DEM), landuse data and soil data, etc. as the input, being compared with the PM-based ET. According to the ET data analysis, it can be inferred that the ET obtained from RS retrieval was more continuous and stable with less saltation, while the PM-based ET presented saltation, especially in the year of 2000 and 2001. The correlation coefficient between the monthly ET in two methods reaches 0.8914, which could be explained by the influence from clouds and the inadequate representativeness of the meteorologic stations. Moreover, the PM-based ET was smaller than the ET obtained from RS retrieval, which was in accordance with previous studies (Jamieson, 1982; Dugas and Ainsworth, 1985; Benson et al., 1992; Pereira and Nova, 1992). After the data fusion, the correlation (R2=0.8516) between the monthly runoff obtained from the simulation based on ET retrieval and the observed data was higher than that (R2=0.8411) between the data obtained from the PM-based ET simulation and the observed data. As for the RMSE, the result (RMSE=26.0860) between the simulated runoff based on ET retrieval and the observed data was also superior to the result (RMSE=35.71904) between the simulated runoff obtained with PM-based ET and the observed data. As for the MBE parameter, the result (MBE=−8.6578) for the RS retrieval method was obviously better than that (MBE=−22.7313) for the PM-based method. The comparison of them showed that the RS retrieval had better adaptivity and higher accuracy than the PM-based method, and the new approach based on data fusion and the distributed hydrological model was feasible, reliable and worth being studied further.


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