Assessing the Water Budget Closure Accuracy of Satellite/Reanalysis-Based Hydrological Data Products over Mainland China

A good water budget involving four variables, including precipitation (P), evapotranspiration (ET), streamflow (R), and terrestrial water storage change (TWSC), is reflected in two aspects: a high accuracy against observations for each budget component and the low water budget closure residual error (Delta Res). Due to the lack of consideration of observations of budget components in existing water budget closure assessment methods (BCMs), when the Delta Res of budget components is low, their error against respective observations may still be high. In this study, we assess the water budget closure accuracy of satellite/reanalysis-based hydrological data products over mainland China based on six popular P products and multiple datasets of additional budget components (ET, R, and TWSC). The results indicated that the Delta Res changes between +/- 15 mm over mainland China. Satellite P products such as GPM IMERG showed better performance by comparing them with rain gauge-based observations. However, reanalysis P products such as GLDAS and FLDAS showed a better water budget closure since the selected datasets of additional budget components (ET and R) are also derived from reanalysis datasets. This indicates that these same data sources for budget components make it easier to close the water budget. The further development of satellite P products should consider the closure of the water budget with other water cycle variables.

Automated summary

This study evaluates the accuracy of water budget closure for satellite/reanalysis-based hydrological data products in mainland China, and finds that satellite P products are relatively more accurate, while reanalysis P products show better budget closure performance.