Evaluation of Satellite Precipitation Products over the Lake Titicaca Basin

Abstract

Satellite precipitation products (PPS) provide an alternative source for hydrometeorological applications mainly in areas where precipitation data is limited. However, it is necessary to evaluate the PPS to quantify the uncertainty in the precipitation estimate. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of the PPS GSMaP-G-NRT, PERSIANN-CCS, PERSIANN-CDR and PERSIANN over the Lake Titicaca basin (CLT). For the evaluation of the PPS, three performance metrics were used that evaluated the precision (correlation coefficient, CC), error (root mean square error, RMSE) and bias (percentage bias, PBIAS). The results indicate that PERSIANN-CDR and PERSIANN-CCS are the products that show a greater agreement with the measurements of rain gauges, but with a great bias for PERSIANN-CCS. The findings provide insight into the performance of PPS in the CLT that contributes to possible directions for improvement of the algorithms for better service in hydrometeorological applications.

Keywords
Lake Titicaca Basin; GSMaP; PERSIANN; PERSIANN-CCS; PERSIANN-CDR; satellite precipitation