Evaluation of the Compatibility of TRMM Satellite Data with Precipitation Observation Data

Abstract

The availability of hydrological data is one of the challenges associated with developing water infrastructure in different areas. This led to the TRMM (Tropical Precipitation Measurement Mission) design by NASA, which involves using satellite weather monitoring technology to monitor and analyze tropical precipitation in different parts of the world. Therefore, this validation study was conducted to compare TRMM precipitation data with observed precipitation to determine its application as an alternate source of hydrological data. The Kuranji watershed was selected as the study site due to the availability of suitable data. Moreover, the validation analyses applied include the Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE), Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE), Coefficient Correlation (R), and Relative Error (RE). These used two calculation forms: one for the uncorrected data and another for the corrected data. The results showed that the best-adjusted data validation from the Gunung Nago station in 2016 was recorded to be RMSE = 62,298, NSE = 0.044, R = 0.902, and RE = 11,328. The closeness of the R-value to one implies that the corrected TRMM data outperforms the uncorrected ones. Therefore, it was generally concluded that the TRMM data matches the observed precipitation data and can be used for hydrological study in the Kuranji watershed