Graphical Abstract

Komatsu, K. K., Y. Iijima, Y. Kaneko, and D. Oyunbaatar, 2021: Validation of GSMaP products for a heavy rainfall event over complex terrain in Mongolia captured by the GPM core observatory. J. Meteor. Soc. Japan, 99, 1003-1022.
Special Edition on Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM): 5th Anniversary,
https://doi.org/10.2151/jmsj.2021-048
Graphical Abstract Published

Plain Language Summary: Detailed comparisons with rainfall products by Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation (GSMaP) were conducted using summer precipitation over Mongolia and a heavy rainfall event near Ulaanbaatar. The measurement by the core-satellite of the Global Precipitation Measurement mission (GPM) and the regional atmospheric modeling also cooperated the comparison for the rainfall event. As a result, the gauge-calibrated GSMaP effectively moderates the enormous error of the ungauged ones. However, the gauge-calibrated GSMaP over mountainous areas may be affected by a potential underestimation of gauge analysis due to the missing localized precipitation occurring in the significant gaps of the routine observation network.

Original PDF

Highlights:

For national scale precipitation, the use of rain gauge calibration can effectively correct the tendency of satellite-only GSMaP products to overestimate precipitation.
As for the case study, the GSMaP_Gauge may overcorrect rainfall over a mountain region with a far less surface observation station.
As Mongolia has a complex terrain with a sparse observation network, the uncertainty of rain-gauge-based analysis resulting from the sparse network is likely to limit the accuracy of satellite-based precipitation estimates.