Comparison of global precipitation estimates across a range of temporal and spatial scales

Journal of Climate

Volumn 29, Issue 21, 2016, Pages 7773-7795

  Gehne, Maria ^a   Hamill, Thomas M ^b   Kiladis, George N ^b   Trenberth, Kevin E ^c  

^a UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO   (United States)

^b NOAA EARTH SYSTEM RESEARCH LABORATORY   (United States)

^c NATIONAL CENTER FOR ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH   (United States)

Author keywords

Climate variability; Precipitation; Reanalysis data; Satellite observations; Seasonal variability; Water budget

Indexed keywords

BUDGET CONTROL; PRECIPITATION (CHEMICAL); RAIN GAGES; RANDOM ERRORS; SIGNAL TO NOISE RATIO; TIME MEASUREMENT;

CLIMATE VARIABILITY; REANALYSIS; SATELLITE OBSERVATIONS; SEASONAL VARIABILITY; WATER BUDGET;

RAIN;

GLOBAL CLIMATE; PRECIPITATION (CLIMATOLOGY); RAINGAUGE; SATELLITE DATA; SEASONAL VARIATION; SPATIOTEMPORAL ANALYSIS; WATER BUDGET;

EID: 84995466925     PISSN: 08948755     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1175/JCLI-D-15-0618.1     Document Type: Article

References (74)

1. Adam, J. C., and D. P. Lettenmaier, 2003: Adjustment of global gridded precipitation for systematic bias. J. Geophys. Res., 108, 4257, doi:10.1029/2002JD002499.
2. Adler, R. F., C. Kidd, G. Petty, M. Morrissey, and H. M. Goodman, 2001: Intercomparison of global precipitation products: The Third Precipitation Intercomparison Project (PIP-3). Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 82, 1377-1396, doi:10.1175/1520-0477(2001)082<1377:IOGPPT>2.3.CO;2.
3. Adler, R. F., and Coauthors, 2003: The Version-2 Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) monthly precipitation analysis (1979-present). J. Hydrometeor., 4, 1147-1167, doi:10.1175/1525-7541(2003)004<1147:TVGPCP>2.0.CO;2.
4. Ashouri, H., K.-L. Hsu, S. Sorooshian, D. K. Braithwaite, K. R. Knapp, L. D. Cecil, B. R. Nelson, and O. P. Prat, 2015: PERSIANN-CDR: Daily precipitation climate data record from multisatellite observations for hydrological and climate studies. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 96, 69-83, doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-13-00068.1.
5. Becker, A., P. Finger, A. Meyer-Christoffer, B. Rudolf, K. Schamm, U. Schneider, and M. Ziese, 2013: A description of the global land-surface precipitation data products of the Global Precipitation Climatology Centre with sample applications including centennial (trend) analysis from 1901-present. Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 5, 71-99, doi:10.5194/essd-5-71-2013.
6. Bell, T. L., A. Abdullah, R. L. Martin, and G. R. North, 1990: Sampling errors for satellite-derived tropical rainfall: Monte Carlo study using a space-time stochastic model. J. Geophys. Res., 95, 2195-2205, doi:10.1029/JD095iD03p02195.
7. Bolvin, D., 2001: Global precipitation at one-degree daily resolution from multisatellite observations, version 1.2. NASA GSFC, accessed 7 August 2014. [Available online at ftp://meso.gsfc.nasa.gov/pub/1dd-v1.2.]
8. Bosilovich, M. G., and Coauthors, 2015a: MERRA-2: Initial evaluation of the climate. NASA Tech. Rep. Series on Global Modeling and Data Assimilation NASA/TM-2015-104606, Vol. 43, 139 pp.
9. Bosilovich, M. G., and Coauthors, 2015b: Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, version 2. NASA, accessed 9 February 2016. [Available online at http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/uui/search/(use search term MERRA-2).]
10. Braithwaite, D., 2000: PERSIANN 0.25° Product Access Tools. Center for Hydrometeorology and Remote Sensing, University of California, Irvine, accessed 4 August 2014. [Available online at http://chrs.web.uci.edu/persiann/data.html.]
11. Brown, J. D., D.-J. Seo, and J. Du, 2012: Verification of precipitation forecasts from NCEP's short-range ensemble forecast (SREF) system with reference to ensemble streamflow prediction using lumped hydrologic models. J. Hydrometeor., 13, 808-836, doi:10.1175/JHM-D-11-036.1.
12. Chen, M., W. Shi, P. Xie, V. B. S. Silva, V. E. Kousky, R. W. Higgins, and J. E. Janowiak, 2008: Assessing objective techniques for gauge-based analyses of global daily precipitation. J. Geophys. Res., 113, D04110, doi:10.1029/2007JD009132.
13. CMORPHv1.0, 2015: NOAA CPC Morphing Technique ("CMORPH"), version 1.0, CRT. NOAA Center for Weather and Climate Prediction, Climate Prediction Center, accessed 9 February 2016. [Available online at http://ftp.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/precip/CMORPH_V1.0/CRT/.]
14. Daly, C., R. P. Neilson, and D. L. Phillips, 1994: A statistical-topographic model for mapping climatological precipitation over mountainous terrain. J. Appl. Meteor., 33, 140-158, doi:10.1175/1520-0450(1994)033<0140:ASTMFM>2.0.CO;2.
15. Dee, D. P., and Coauthors, 2011a: The ERA-Interim reanalysis: Configuration and performance of the data assimilation system. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 137, 553-597, doi:10.1002/qj.828.
16. Dee, D. P., and Coauthors, 2011b: ERA-Interim. ECMWF, accessed 5 August 2014. [Available online at http://www.ecmwf.int/en/research/climate-reanalysis/era-interim.]
17. Gu, G., and R. F. Adler, 2011: Precipitation and temperature variations on the interannual time scale: Assessing the impact of ENSO and volcanic eruptions. J. Climate, 24, 2258-2270, doi:10.1175/2010JCLI3727.1.
18. Gutowski, W. J., S. G. Decker, R. A. Donavon, Z. Pan, R. W. Arritt, and E. S. Takle, 2003: Temporal-spatial scales of observed and simulated precipitation in central U.S. climate. J. Climate, 16, 3841-3847, doi:10.1175/1520-0442(2003)016<3841:TSOOAS>2.0.CO;2.
19. Haerter, J. O., P. Berg, and S. Hagemann, 2010: Heavy rain intensity distributions on varying time scales and at different temperatures. J. Geophys. Res., 115, D17102, doi:10.1029/2009JD013384.
20. Hamill, T. M., 2012: Verification of TIGGE multimodel and ECMWF reforecast-calibrated probabilistic precipitation forecasts over the contiguous United States. Mon. Wea. Rev., 140, 2232-2252, doi:10.1175/MWR-D-11-00220.1.
21. Harris, I., P. Jones, T. Osborn, and D. Lister, 2014: Updated high-resolution grids of monthly climatic observations-The CRU TS3.10 dataset. Int. J. Climatol., 34, 623-642, doi:10.1002/joc.3711.
22. Hsu, K.-L., X. Gao, S. Sorooshian, and H. V. Gupta, 1997: Precipitation estimation from remotely sensed information using artificial neural networks. J. Appl. Meteor., 36, 1176-1190, doi:10.1175/1520-0450(1997)036<1176:PEFRSI>2.0.CO;2.
23. Huffman, G. J., and Coauthors, 1997: The Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) combined precipitation dataset. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 78, 5-20, doi:10.1175/1520-0477(1997)078<0005:TGPCPG>2.0.CO;2.
24. Huffman, G. J., R. F. Adler, M. M. Morrissey, D. T. Bolvin, S. Curtis, R. Joyce, B. McGavock, and J. Susskind, 2001: Global precipitation at one-degree daily resolution from multisatellite observations. J. Hydrometeor., 2, 36-50, doi:10.1175/1525-7541(2001)002<0036:GPAODD>2.0.CO;2.
25. Huffman, G. J., and Coauthors, 2007: The TRMM Multisatellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA): Quasi-global, multiyear, combined-sensor precipitation estimates at fine scales. J. Hydrometeor., 8, 38-55, doi:10.1175/JHM560.1.
26. Huffman, G. J., E. Stocker, D. Bolvin, E. Nelkin, and R. Adler, 2012: TRMM version 7 3B42 and 3B43 data sets. NASA/GSFC, accessed 5 January 2014. [Available online at http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/gesNews/trmm_v7_multisat_precip.]
27. Janowiak, J. E., P. Bauer, W. Wang, P. A. Arkin, and J. Gottschalck, 2010: An evaluation of precipitation forecasts from operational models and reanalyses including precipitation variations associated with MJO activity. Mon. Wea. Rev., 138, 4542-4560, doi:10.1175/2010MWR3436.1.
28. Joyce, B., and J. Janowiak, 2005: NOAA CPC Morphing Technique ("CMORPH"). NOAA Climate Prediction Center, accessed 7 January 2014. [Available online at http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/janowiak/cmorph_description.html.]
29. Joyce, R. J., J. E. Janowiak, P. A. Arkin, and P. Xie, 2004: CMORPH: A method that produces global precipitation estimates from passive microwave and infrared data at high spatial and temporal resolution. J. Hydrometeor., 5, 487-503, doi:10.1175/1525-7541(2004)005<0487:CAMTPG>2.0.CO;2.
30. Kennedy, A. D., X. Dong, B. Xi, S. Xie, Y. Zhang, and J. Chen, 2011: A comparison of MERRA and NARR reanalyses with the DOE ARM SGP data. J. Climate, 24, 4541-4557, doi:10.1175/2011JCLI3978.1.
31. Kidd, C., and G. Huffman, 2011: Global precipitation measurement. Meteor. Appl., 18, 334-353, doi:10.1002/met.284.
32. Kidd, C., P. Bauer, J. Turk, G. J. Huffman, R. Joyce, K. L. Hsu, and D. Braithwaite, 2012: Intercomparison of high-resolution precipitation products over northwest Europe. J. Hydrometeor., 13, 67-83, doi:10.1175/JHM-D-11-042.1.
33. Kobayashi, S., and Coauthors, 2015a: JRA-55: Japanese 55-year reanalysis, daily 3-hourly and 6-hourly data. Research Data Archive at NCAR, accessed June 2015. [Available online at http://rda.ucar.edu/datasets/ds628.0/.]
34. Kobayashi, S., and Coauthors, 2015b: The JRA-55 reanalysis: General specifications and basic characteristics. J. Meteor. Soc. Japan, 93, 5-48, doi:10.2151/jmsj.2015-001.
35. Lien, G.-Y., T. Miyoshi, and E. Kalnay, 2016: Assimilation of TRMM multisatellite precipitation analysis with a low-resolution NCEP global forecasting system. Mon. Wea. Rev., 144, 643-661, doi:10.1175/MWR-D-15-0149.1.
36. Lin, Y., and K. E. Mitchell, 2005: The NCEP stage II/IV hourly precipitation analyses: Development and applications. 19th Conf. on Hydrology, San Diego, CA, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 1.2. [Available online at https://ams.confex.com/ams/pdfpapers/83847.pdf.]
37. Lindvall, J., G. Svensson, and C. Hannay, 2013: Evaluation of near-surface parameters in the two versions of the atmospheric model in CESM1 using flux station observations. J. Climate, 26, 26-44, doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-12-00020.1.
38. Liu, Q., and Coauthors, 2011: The contributions of precipitation and soil moisture observations to the skill of soil moisture estimates in a land data assimilation system. J. Hydrometeor., 12, 750-765, doi:10.1175/JHM-D-10-05000.1.
39. McLaughlin, D., Y. Zhou, D. Entekhabi, and V. Chatdarong, 2006: Computational issues for large-scale land surface data assimilation problems. J. Hydrometeor., 7, 494-510, doi:10.1175/JHM493.1.
40. Meng, J., R. Yang, H. Wei, M. Ek, G. Gayno, P. Xie, and K. Mitchell, 2012: The land surface analysis in the NCEP Climate Forecast System Reanalysis. J. Hydrometeor., 13, 1621-1630, doi:10.1175/JHM-D-11-090.1.
41. Mesinger, F., and Coauthors, 2006: North American Regional Reanalysis. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 87, 343-360, doi:10.1175/BAMS-87-3-343.
42. Peterson, T. C., and Coauthors, 1998: Homogeneity adjustments of in situ atmospheric climate data: A review. Int. J. Climatol., 18, 1493-1517, doi:10.1002/(SICI)1097-0088(19981115)18:13<1493::AID-JOC329>3.0.CO;2-T.
43. Prat, O. P., and B. R. Nelson, 2015: Evaluation of precipitation estimates over CONUS derived from satellite, radar, and rain gauge data sets at daily to annual scales (2002-2012). Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 2037-2056, doi:10.5194/hess-19-2037-2015.
44. Rasmussen, R., and Coauthors, 2012: How well are we measuring snow? The NOAA/FAA/NCAR winter precipitation test bed. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 93, 811-829, doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-11-00052.1.
45. Rienecker, M., and Coauthors, 2011a: MERRA: NASA's Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications. J. Climate, 24, 3624-3648, doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-11-00015.1.
46. Rienecker, M., and Coauthors, 2011b: MERRA: NASA's Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications. NASA, accessed August 2014. [Available online at http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/uui/search/%22MERRA%22.]
47. Rodell, M., and Coauthors, 2015: The observed state of the water cycle in the early twenty-first century. J. Climate, 28, 8289-8318, doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-14-00555.1.
48. Ruane, A. C., 2010a: NARR's atmospheric water cycle components. Part I: 20-year mean and annual interactions. J. Hydrometeor., 11, 1205-1219, doi:10.1175/2010JHM1193.1.
49. Ruane, A. C., 2010b: NARR's atmospheric water cycle components. Part II: Summertime mean and diurnal interactions. J. Hydrometeor., 11, 1220-1233, doi:10.1175/2010JHM1279.1.
50. Saha, S., and Coauthors, 2010a: The NCEP Climate Forecast System Reanalysis. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 91, 1015-1057, doi:10.1175/2010BAMS3001.1.
51. Saha, S., and Coauthors, 2010b: The NCEP Climate Forecast System Reanalysis. Research Data Archive at NCAR, accessed August 2014. [Available online at http://rda.ucar.edu/datasets/ds093.0/.]
52. Sapiano, M. R. P., and P. A. Arkin, 2009: An intercomparison and validation of high-resolution satellite precipitation estimates with 3-hourly gauge data. J. Hydrometeor., 10, 149-166, doi:10.1175/2008JHM1052.1.
53. Sardeshmukh, P. D., G. P. Compo, and C. Penland, 2015: Need for caution in interpreting extreme weather statistics. J. Climate, 28, 9166-9187, doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-15-0020.1.
54. Schlosser, C. A., and P. R. Houser, 2007: Assessing a satellite-era perspective of the global water cycle. J. Climate, 20, 1316-1338, doi:10.1175/JCLI4057.1.
55. Sevruk, B., M. Ondrás, and B. Chvila, 2009: The WMO precipitation measurement intercomparisons. Atmos. Res., 92, 376-380, doi:10.1016/j.atmosres.2009.01.016.
56. Smith, E. A., J. E. Lamm, and R. Adler, 1998: Results of WetNet PIP-2 project. J. Atmos. Sci., 55, 1483-1536, doi:10.1175/1520-0469(1998)055<1483:ROWPP>2.0.CO;2.
57. Sohn, B. J., H.-J. Han, and E.-K. Seo, 2010: Validation of satellite-based high-resolution rainfall products over the Korean Peninsula using data from a dense rain gauge network. J. Appl. Meteor. Climatol., 49, 701-714, doi:10.1175/2009JAMC2266.1.
58. Sorooshian, S., K. Hsu, X. Gao, H. V. Gupta, B. Imam, and D. Braithwaite, 2000: Evaluation of PERSIANN system satellite-based estimates of tropical rainfall. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 81, 2035-2046, doi:10.1175/1520-0477(2000)081<2035:EOPSSE>2.3.CO;2.
59. Sorooshian, S., K. Hsu, D. Braithwaite, H. Ashouri, and N. C. Program, 2014: NOAA Climate Data Record (CDR) of precipitation estimation from remotely sensed information using artificial neural networks (PERSIANN-CDR), version 1 revision 1. NOAA National Climatic Data Center, accessed 28 July 2015. [Available online at ftp://data.ncdc.noaa.gov/cdr/persiann/files/.]
60. Stephens, G. L., and Coauthors, 2010: Dreary state of precipitation in global models. J. Geophys. Res., 115, D24211, doi:10.1029/2010JD014532.
61. Susskind, J., P. Piraino, L. Rokke, L. Iredell, and A. Mehta, 1997: Characteristics of the TOVS Pathfinder Path A dataset. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 78, 1449-1472, doi:10.1175/1520-0477(1997)078<1449:COTTPP>2.0.CO;2.
62. Trenberth, K. E., and D. J. Shea, 2005: Relationships between precipitation and surface temperature. Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L14703, doi:10.1029/2005GL022760.
63. Trenberth, K. E., and J. T. Fasullo, 2013: Regional energy and water cycles: Transports from ocean to land. J. Climate, 26, 7837-7851, doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-13-00008.1.
64. Trenberth, K. E., A. Dai, R. M. Rasmussen, and D. B. Parsons, 2003: The changing character of precipitation. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 84, 1205-1217, doi:10.1175/BAMS-84-9-1205.
65. Trenberth, K. E., L. Smith, T. Qian, A. Dai, and J. Fasullo, 2007: Estimates of the global water budget and its annual cycle using observational and model data. J. Hydrometeor., 8, 758-769, doi:10.1175/JHM600.1.
66. Trenberth, K. E., J. T. Fasullo, and J. Kiehl, 2009: Earth's global energy budget. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 90, 311-323, doi:10.1175/2008BAMS2634.1.
67. Trenberth, K. E., J. T. Fasullo, and J. Mackaro, 2011: Atmospheric moisture transports from ocean to land and global energy flows in reanalyses. J. Climate, 24, 4907-4924, doi:10.1175/2011JCLI4171.1
68. Trenberth, K. E., A. Dai, G. van der Schrier, P. D. Jones, J. Barichivich, K. R. Briffa, and J. Sheffield, 2014: Global warming and changes in drought. Nat. Climate Change, 4, 17-22, doi:10.1038/nclimate2067.
69. Wilcox, E. M., and L. J. Donner, 2007: The frequency of extreme rain events in satellite rain-rate estimates and an atmospheric general circulation model. J. Climate, 20, 53-69, doi:10.1175/JCLI3987.1.
70. Wolff, D. B., and B. L. Fisher, 2008: Comparisons of instantaneous TRMM ground validation and satellite rain-rate estimates at different spatial scales. J. Appl. Meteor. Climatol., 47, 2215-2237, doi:10.1175/2008JAMC1875.1.
71. Xie, P., 2009: CPC unified gauge-based analysis of global daily precipitation. NOAA Climate Prediction Center, accessed 5 August 2014. [Available online at http://ftp.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/precip/CPC_UNI_PRCP.]
72. Xie, P., and P. A. Arkin, 1997: Global precipitation: A 17-year monthly analysis based on gauge observations, satellite estimates, and numerical model outputs. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 78, 2539-2558, doi:10.1175/1520-0477(1997)078<2539:GPAYMA>2.0.CO;2.
73. Xie, P., M. Chen, S. Yang, A. Yatagai, T. Hayasaka, Y. Fukushima, and C. Liu, 2007: A gauge-based analysis of daily precipitation over East Asia. J. Hydrometeor., 8, 607-627, doi:10.1175/JHM583.1.
74. Yatagai, A., K. Kamiguchi, O. Arakawa, A. Hamada, N. Yasutomi, and A. Kitoh, 2012: APHRODITE: Constructing a long-term daily gridded precipitation dataset for Asia based on a dense network of rain gauges. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 93, 1401-1415, doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-11-00122.1.