Evaluation of Version-7 TRMM Multi-Satellite Precipitation Analysis Product during the Beijing Extreme Heavy Rainfall Event of 21 July 2012

The latest Version-7 (V7) Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) products were released by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in December of 2012. Their performance on different climatology, locations, and precipitation types is of great interest to the satellite-based precipitation community. This paper presents a study of TMPA precipitation products (3B42RT and 3B42V7) for an extreme precipitation event in Beijing and its adjacent regions (from 00:00 UTC 21 July 2012 to 00:00 UTC 22 July 2012). Measurements from a dense rain gauge network were used as the ground truth to evaluate the latest TMPA products. Results are summarized as follows. Compared to rain gauge measurements, both 3B42RT and 3B42V7 generally captured the rainfall spatial and temporal pattern, having a moderate spatial correlation coefficient (CC, 0.6) and high CC values (0.88) over the broader Hebei, Beijing and Tianjin (HBT) regions, but the rainfall peak is 6 h ahead of gauge observations. Overall, 3B42RT showed higher estimation than 3B42V7 over both HBT and Beijing. At the storm center, both 3B42RT and 3B42V7 presented a relatively large deviation from the temporal variation of rainfall and underestimated the storm by 29.02% and 36.07%, respectively. The current study suggests that the latest TMPA products still have limitations in terms of resolution and accuracy, especially for this type of extreme event within a latitude area on the edge of coverage of TRMM precipitation radar and microwave imager. Therefore, TMPA users should be cautious when 3B42RT and 3B42V7 are used to model, monitor, and forecast both flooding hazards in the Beijing urban area and landslides in the mountainous west and north of Beijing.

[1]  Roongroj Chokngamwong,et al.  Thailand Daily Rainfall and Comparison with TRMM Products , 2008 .

[2]  Yihui Ding,et al.  The Beijing extreme rainfall of 21 July 2012: “Right results” but for wrong reasons , 2013 .

[3]  Yang Hong,et al.  Performance evaluation of radar and satellite rainfalls for Typhoon Morakot over Taiwan: Are remote-sensing products ready for gauge denial scenario of extreme events? , 2013 .

[4]  Emmanouil N. Anagnostou,et al.  Uncertainty Quantification of Mean-Areal Radar-Rainfall Estimates , 1999 .

[5]  Yudong Tian,et al.  Multitemporal Analysis of TRMM-Based Satellite Precipitation Products for Land Data Assimilation Applications , 2007 .

[6]  Paul L. Smith,et al.  A Study of Sampling-Variability Effects in Raindrop Size Observations , 1993 .

[7]  Céline Lutoff,et al.  Toward a Space–Time Framework for Integrated Water and Society Studies , 2012 .

[8]  John D. Tuttle,et al.  Comparison of Ground-Based Radar and Geosynchronous Satellite Climatologies of Warm-Season Precipitation over the United States , 2008 .

[9]  Craig F. Bohren,et al.  Radar Backscattering by Inhomogeneous Precipitation Particles , 1980 .

[10]  Y. Hong,et al.  Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Imagery Using an Artificial Neural Network Cloud Classification System , 2004 .

[11]  M. Lehning,et al.  Inhomogeneous precipitation distribution and snow transport in steep terrain , 2008 .

[12]  J. Janowiak,et al.  The Version 2 Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) Monthly Precipitation Analysis (1979-Present) , 2003 .

[13]  Sharon E. Nicholson,et al.  Validation of TRMM and Other Rainfall Estimates with a High-Density Gauge Dataset for West Africa. Part II: Validation of TRMM Rainfall Products , 2003 .

[14]  Y. Hong,et al.  The TRMM Multisatellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA): Quasi-Global, Multiyear, Combined-Sensor Precipitation Estimates at Fine Scales , 2007 .

[15]  G. Huffman,et al.  TRMM and Other Data Precipitation Data Set Documentation , 2015 .

[16]  Peter J. Webster,et al.  Were the 2010 Pakistan floods predictable? , 2011 .

[17]  Tomoo Ushio,et al.  Evaluation of GSMaP Precipitation Estimates over the Contiguous United States , 2010 .

[18]  F. Hirpa,et al.  Evaluation of High-Resolution Satellite Precipitation Products over Very Complex Terrain in Ethiopia , 2010 .

[19]  Yang Hong,et al.  Hydrologic evaluation of Multisatellite Precipitation Analysis standard precipitation products in basins beyond its inclined latitude band: A case study in Laohahe basin, China , 2010 .

[20]  Corinne Le Quéré,et al.  Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis , 2013 .

[21]  Guosheng Liu,et al.  Passive Microwave Precipitation Retrievals Using TMI during the Baiu Period of 1998. Part I: Algorithm Description and Validation , 2000 .

[22]  Guosheng Liu,et al.  Passive microwave precipitation retrievals using TMI during the Baiu period of 1998 , 2000, SPIE Asia-Pacific Remote Sensing.

[23]  Stanley A. Morain,et al.  Comparison of TRMM and water district rain rates over New Mexico , 2005 .

[24]  Chris Kidd,et al.  Global Precipitation Measurement , 2008 .

[25]  Robert F. Adler,et al.  An intercomparison of three satellite infrared rainfall techniques over Japan and surrounding waters , 1993 .

[26]  Yi-Ming Wei,et al.  Beijing storm of July 21, 2012: observations and reflections , 2013, Natural Hazards.

[27]  Y. Kuo,et al.  The Impacts of Taiwan Topography on the Predictability of Typhoon Morakot’s Record-Breaking Rainfall: A High-Resolution Ensemble Simulation , 2010 .

[28]  Jonathan D. Hall,et al.  High-Resolution Modeling of Typhoon Morakot (2009): Vortex Rossby Waves and Their Role in Extreme Precipitation over Taiwan , 2013 .

[29]  J. Janowiak,et al.  CMORPH: A Method that Produces Global Precipitation Estimates from Passive Microwave and Infrared Data at High Spatial and Temporal Resolution , 2004 .

[30]  W. Petersen,et al.  Global precipitation measurement: Methods, datasets and applications , 2012 .

[31]  Y. Hong,et al.  Comparison of TRMM 2A25 Products, Version 6 and Version 7, with NOAA/NSSL Ground Radar-Based National Mosaic QPE , 2013 .

[32]  Dino Giuli,et al.  Spatial rainfall rate estimation through combined use of radar reflectivity and raingauge data , 2004, IGARSS 2004. 2004 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium.

[33]  S. Sorooshian,et al.  Evaluation of PERSIANN system satellite-based estimates of tropical rainfall , 2000 .

[34]  Yang Hong,et al.  Evaluation of the successive V6 and V7 TRMM multisatellite precipitation analysis over the Continental United States , 2013 .

[35]  W. Collins,et al.  Global climate projections , 2007 .

[36]  Y. Hong,et al.  Similarity and difference of the two successive V6 and V7 TRMM multisatellite precipitation analysis performance over China , 2013 .