Evaluation of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission 3B43 product over an inland area in Brazil and the effects of satellite boost on rainfall estimates

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to evaluate the monthly mean areal rainfall estimated using the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) 3B43 version 7 product over an inland area in Central Brazil. Furthermore, we investigated the effect of TRMM orbit boost (in August 2001) over the 3B43 estimates. The TRMM 3B43 estimates were compared to reference rainfall data, collected at 67 rain gauge stations irregularly distributed in the study area. The results showed a good agreement between the TRMM 3B43 areal monthly mean rainfall estimations and reference data (r>0.97). The error analysis showed that the TRMM 3B43 product tends to overestimate the areal monthly mean rainfall at approximately 1.24%. The root-mean-square error (RMSE) for the entire period was 19.66 mm month−1 (15.75%). A Monte Carlo simulation and Wilcoxon statistical test showed that the RMSE increased significantly (p-value <0.01) after the boost, rising from 15.20 to 23.06 mm month−1. However, the increase in the RMSE does not preclude the use of the TRMM 3B43 product for estimating the monthly mean areal rainfall over the Upper Paraná watershed. The impacts of boost on TRMM 3B43 estimates were observed only for rainfall rates higher than 250 mm month−1.