Open AccessAssessment of TRMM data for precipitation measurement in B angladesh
Author(s) -
Tarek Mehedi Hasan,
Hassan Adil,
Bhattacharjee Joy,
Choudhury Sayedul Hasan,
Badruzzaman Abu Borhan Md.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
meteorological applications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.672
H-Index - 59
eISSN - 1469-8080
pISSN - 1350-4827
DOI - 10.1002/met.1633
Subject(s) - environmental science , precipitation , rain gauge , meteorology , climatology , standard deviation , atmospheric sciences , statistics , mathematics , geography , geology
Application of the T ropical R ainfall M easuring M ission ( TRMM ) can be an efficient method for precipitation measurement in B angladesh. The TRMM was a joint US − J apan space programme used to measure tropical rainfall with spatial and temporal distribution. This study analyses the reliability of TRMM data by comparing them with the rain gauge data of B angladesh M eteorological D epartment at 35 different locations. The comparison is made for the data from 1998 to 2010. Extensive analyses were performed on the basis of different temporal scales (daily, monthly, seasonal and yearly). Both datasets were compared for average, peak and total values. The correlation co‐efficient and bias of TRMM rainfall data with respect to rain gauge values were also determined. However, the rainfall products are also compared at the two most extreme elevation stations to observe the influence of station topography (if any). Results show that TRMM rainfall data closely match with rain gauge data for average values on an annual basis, and the correlation co‐efficient is found to be greater than 0.90. However, significant deviation is found for daily peak rainfall values. Again, a seasonal comparison shows that the TRMM data outputs match with station data except during the dry season. The rainfall data at the highest and lowest elevations show that the TRMM data follow a similar trend to the station data but they underestimate the value to some extent, especially during the wet season. Finally, it is inferred that the TRMM data are reliable in estimating the average rainfall in Bangladesh for hydrological analyses of watersheds.