Evaluation of Global Satellite Rainfall Products over Continental Europe

Abstract

Abstract An extensive evaluation of two global-scale high-resolution satellite rainfall products is performed using 8 yr (2003–10) of reference rainfall data derived from a network of rain gauges over Europe. The comparisons are performed at a daily temporal scale and 0.25° spatial grid resolution. The satellite rainfall techniques investigated in this study are the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) 3B42 V6 (gauge-calibrated version) and the Climate Prediction Center morphing technique (CMORPH). The intercomparison and validation of these satellite products is performed both qualitatively and quantitatively. In the qualitative part of the analysis, error maps of various validation statistics are shown, whereas the quantitative analysis provides information about the performance of the satellite products relative to the rainfall magnitude or ground elevation. Moreover, a time series analysis of certain error statistics is used to depict the temporal variations of the accuracy of the two satellite techniques. The topographical and seasonal influences on the performance of the two satellite products over the European domain are also investigated. The error statistics presented herein indicate that both orography and seasonal variability affect the efficiency of the satellite rainfall retrieval techniques. Specifically, both satellite techniques underestimate rainfall over higher elevations, especially during the cold season, and their performance is subject to seasonal changes. A significant difference between the two satellite products is that TRMM 3B42 V6 generally overestimates rainfall, while CMORPH underestimates it. CMORPH’s mean error is shown to be of higher magnitude than that of 3B42 V6, while in terms of random error variance, CMORPH exhibits lower (higher) values than those of 3B42 V6 in the winter (summer) months.