Estimating average annual rainfall by ordinary kriging and TRMM precipitation products in midwestern Brazil

• Published in: Journal of South American earth sciences Vol. 118; p. 103937
• Main Authors: Charles, Thaís da Silva, Lopes, Tárcio Rocha, Duarte, Sergio Nascimento, Nascimento, Jéssica Garcia, Ricardo, Hugo de Carvalho, Pacheco, Adriano Bicioni
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.10.2022
• Subjects: Interpolation of precipitation; Precipitation for hydrological models; Remote sensing; Precipitation for hydrological models; Interpolation of precipitation; Remote sensing
• ISSN: 0895-9811; 1873-0647
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jsames.2022.103937

Precipitation data in extensive regions are difficult to acquire, either due to a lack of rain gauges installed in the region, or failures in stations and reading errors. There are numerous difficulties in obtaining continuous data for a long period of time. In Brazil, due to the large territorial extension, the availability of information is often not enough for all regions of interest. Especially, in developing countries, monitoring by gauges is limited in terms of infrastructure, density, and frequency of observations. Hydrological regionalization consists of an alternative for obtaining information on flows from water courses in cases where there is a lack of measured data. The main input in hydrological regionalization models to estimate the flow in water courses is the average annual precipitation. In this context, this study aims to calculate the average annual precipitation in drainage basins in the state of Goiás and the Federal District of Brazil, two important regions regarding the conservation of water resources. Two methods were used for this purpose - ordinary kriging of the data from rain gauges, and the average of remote sensing monthly products from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM). The average annual precipitation obtained by ordinary kriging and remote sensing showed high agreement. Considering the ordinary kriging as a standard method, the precipitation from satellite products showed a good performance for hydrology approaches and represents an important tool to assist water agencies in the study area for estimating the flow in water courses. •The satellite method represents an important basic tool to help water agencies.•There is a correlation of the precipitation between the kriging and TRMM data.•The TRMM satellite can be used to estimate average annual precipitation values.