Comprehensive comparison of different gridded precipitation products over geographic regions of Türkiye

Abstract

The traditionally used rain gauge stations provide the most reliable data on the spatiotemporal distribution of precipitation; however, they are limited in space and time. As an alternative to field observations, the gridded precipitation products (GPPs) offered by remote sensing missions are widely used. On account of the uncertainties associated with the GPPs, they have to be quality-checked for confidence in application over the region of interest. Although accuracy assessment of precipitation data is a common task, there is a gap in the literature regarding a comprehensive assessment of the currently available GPPs. In this study, 14 GPPs were used to investigate their performance in catching the spatio-temporal characteristics of precipitation over geographic regions of T & uuml;rkiye. According to the results, integrated multi-satellite retrievals for Global Precipitation Measurement (IMERG), multi-source weighted-ensemble precipitation (MSWEP), and Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) show better performance on monthly and annual scales while on the climatology scale, CHELSA, Climate Hazards Group Infrared Precipitation with Station, ERA5, and ERA5-Land also manifest better performance. The mean monthly correlation over Aegean Region (AEG), Marmara Region (MAR), Central Anatolian Region (CAR), Mediterranean Region (MED), Black Sea Region (BSR), East Anatolian Region (EAR), and South East Anatolian Region (SEA) are 0.77, 0.81, 0.77, 0.80, 0.79, 0.77, and 0.77, respectively. The annual assessment suggests that over the MAR, CAR, MED, and SEA, the IMERG mission performs very well. While TRMM showcases its best performance in the AEG, MED, BSR, and EAR, MSWEP performs well in the BSR and SEA Region. Overall, taking the country-average results into account, it can be stated that among the used GPPs, TRMM, MSWEP, and IMERG yield the best results for T & uuml;rkiye as a whole.