Accuracy Analysis of IMERG Satellite Rainfall Data and Its Application in Long-term Runoff Simulation

Abstract

Frequent flood disasters have caused serious damage to karst areas with insufficient measured rainfall data, and the analysis of the applicability of satellite rainfall data in runoff simulation is helpful to the local water management. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to analyze the accuracy of IMERG satellite rainfall data and apply it to long-term runoff simulations in a karst area—the Xiajia River basin, China. First, R (correlation coefficient) and POD (probability of detection) are applied to analyze the accuracy of the IMERG data, and the SWAT model is used for runoff simulation. The results show that the accuracy of the original IMERG data is poor (R range from 0.412 to 0.884 and POD range from 47.33 to 100), and the simulation results are “Unsatisfactory” (NSE (Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient) ranged from 0.17 to 0.32 and RSR (root mean square standard deviation ratio) ranged from 0.81 to 0.92). Therefore, the GDA correction method is used to correct the original IMERG data, and then the accuracy analysis and runoff simulation are carried out. The results show that the accuracy of the corrected IMERG data is better than that of the original data (R range from 0.886 to 0.987 and POD range from 94.08 to 100), and the simulation results of the corrected IMERG data are “Satisfactory” (NSE is over 0.55 and RSR is approximately 0.65). Therefore, the corrected data have a certain applicability in long-term continuous runoff simulations.

Keywords

• IMERG
• accuracy analysis
• runoff simulation
• long-term
• SWAT model
• karst area