Application of satellite and reanalysis precipitation for hydrological modeling in data-scarce Porijõgi catchment, Estonia

Mar 10, 2023, 11:50 AM
15m
Fully online event

Fully online event

Online oral presentation (12 min) Data and models

Speaker

Desalew Meseret Moges (University of Tartu)

Description

The lack of adequate and reliable gauge observations has long been a major obstacle for hydrological modeling. This study focuses on a comprehensive evaluation of hydrological applicability of satellite and reanalysis-based precipitation products (IMERG, ERA5, PERSIANN-CDR, SM2RASC, and CMORPH-CRT) in Porijõgi catchment, Estonia. The evaluations were carried out in two parts: 1) evaluating the quality of satellite and reanalysis-based precipitation products relative to gauge observations, 2) comparing gauge-simulated streamflow with satellite and reanalysis-based simulations using the SWAT model. Results show reasonable variation in the detection capability of satellite and reanalysis-based precipitation products with further influence on the streamflow simulations. IMERG, ERA5, and PERSIANN-CDR show better detection capability for the monthly precipitation and demonstrated reliable performance in simulating the monthly streamflow. However, SM2RASC and CMORPH-CRT products have a common tendency to underestimate the gauged precipitation and fail to show satisfactory performance in streamflow simulation. Overall, our findings suggest that satellite and reanalysis-based precipitation products can be a priori alternative sources of precipitation data for hydrological applications in poorly gauged areas. However, along with the efforts to improve satellite and reanalysis-based precipitation products, it is important to develop more effective bias adjustment techniques at a daily scale.

Primary authors

Desalew Meseret Moges (University of Tartu) Dr Kmoch Alexander (University of Tartu) Dr Uuemaa Evelyn (University of Tartu)

Presentation materials

There are no materials yet.