Comparison of TRMM multisatellite precipitation analysis (TMPA) products and daily-monthly gauge data over Bali

Research has been conducted to compare daily, monthly and seasonal rain rates derived from Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) multisatellite precipitation analysis (TMPA) using rain gauge analysis from 1998 to 2002. Three rain gauges in the Bali islands were employed. Statistical analysis was used to analyse the relationship of the TMPA product with the rain gauge data. Resulting statistical measures consisted of the linear correlation coefficient (r), the mean bias error (MBE), the root mean square error (RMSE) and the mean absolute error (MAE). The results of these analyses indicate that satellite data have lower values than the gauge estimation values. The validation analysis showed a very good relationship with the gauge data on monthly timescales. However, a poor relationship was found between the gauge data and the daily data analysis from the TMPA. The 3B42 and 3B43 products showed the same levels of relationship during the wet season and dry season. The correlation in the dry season was better than during the wet season. Statistical error levels during the wet season were better than in the dry season. The 3B43 showed slight improvement in these values when compared with the 3B42 (both the random error measurement and the scatter of the estimates were reduced). In general, the data from TMPA are potentially usable to replace rain gauge data, especially to replace the monthly data, if inconsistencies and errors are taken into account.