TRMM and Rain gauge dataset for Adama,Ethiopia.
Description
Drought – a very critical natural process which greatly affects the agriculture which is the major source for human existence. Various researches, experiments have been done in the past which monitored meteorological droughts using standardized indices of precipitation deficits. They mostly relied on rain gauge-based measurements which has the limitations of spatial coverage, data availability and cost efficiency. The purpose of this paper is the potential to apply the satellite derived rainfall product to monitor meteorological drought. Most common is the Standard Precipitation Index (SPI) for research and operational applications on meteorological and agricultural drought monitoring and early warning. The monthly precipitation data accuracy of TRMM (the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission) 3B43, was implemented by comparison with the rainfall data of five ground stations in and around Adama woreda from 1998 to 2015. The substantial correlations between the two sources were found during August, and the decision coefficients (R2) are 0.10, 0.25, 0.065, 0.05 and 0.49 respectively. TRMM rainfall data from 1998 to 2015 were used to calculate 3,6,9 and 12-month Standard Precipitation Index (SPI) pixel by pixel for Adama woreda. This 3,6,9 and 12 month SPI was incorporated to depict spatial patterns of meteorological drought and its severity during typical drought and wet years. Further, time series of SPI were considered to assess the drought risk in Adama woreda. We clinch that the TRMM product can properly monitor meteorological droughts though it has relatively short dataset length (~15 years). Lastly, we suggest an assimilation of rain gauge and satellite-based precipitation data to provide more robust estimates of meteorological drought severity.