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Procedia Engineering 154 (2016) 154 – 157

12th International Conference on Hydroinformatics, HIC 2016

Validation of TRMM daily precipitation data for extreme events

analysis. The case of Piura watershed in Peru
Juan Cabreraa*, Raul Tupac Yupanquib, Pedro Raub
a
Faculty of Civil Engineering, National University of Engineering, 210 Tupac Amaru Av., Lima 25, Peru
b
Institute for Effects Mitigation of El Niño Phenomenom, National University of Engineering, 1150 Tupac Amaru Av., Lima 25, Peru

Abstract

The use of TRMM satellite daily information (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission) is proposed to estimate
extreme precipitation over ungauged areas and time periods. Assuming precipitation non-stationarity as signal
fluctuations due to the ENSO impact, it is possible to find common features between in-situ and TRMM data sets by
multi-resolution analysis (MRA) with wavelet transform, especially during the wet period where maximal
precipitation series are obtained. This method could be applied on other stations as a regionalization for obtaining
rainfall datasets as a solution of data scarcity. It is shown some results obtained into the objectives of a local project
of improving the statistical downscaling of TRMM and its applicability in water engineering projects.

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Published Elsevier Ltd.Ltd.
Elsevier This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of HIC 2016.
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of HIC 2016
Keywords: ENSO, Extreme events, TRMM, Wavelet transform

1. Introduction

The Northwestern of Peru is affected continuously for El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Some of those
were classified as extraordinary events in terms of precipitation as in years of 1983 and 1998, resulting in an average
increase of daily rainfall around of 900% over Piura lower watershed, which concentrates many of infrastructure

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +511-4811070

E-mail address: juancabrera@uni.edu.pe

1877-7058 © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of HIC 2016
doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2016.07.436
 Juan Cabrera et al. / Procedia Engineering 154 (2016) 154 – 157 155

placed in ungauged areas. It is proposed the use of TRMM 3B42 v.7 dataset (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission),
considering a comparison and correction based on available in-situ data. Knowing precipitation non-stationarity
could be interpreted as signal fluctuations due to the ENSO impact level, it is possible to find common features
between in-situ and TRMM data by multi-resolution analysis (MRA) with wavelet transform, considering maximum
extreme events of this region. As is explained in Ref [6], this technique was applied over the Altiplano in the South
of Peru, characterized for minimum extreme events.

2. Case Study

2.1. Study Area and Data

ENSO represents an ocean-atmospheric phenomenon characterized by above normal sea surface temperatures
(SSTs) anomalies [2]. Along Peruvian Northern coast, the influence of SST1+2 region (NOAA, ERSST v3b) is
notorious, being proposed for Peruvian specialized agencies the use of ICEN (Coastal El Niño Index) which consists
on 3-month SST1+2 running mean [4] for categorize the years. An in-depth description of the climatic context of
this region has been developed by Rau [8] and knowing that until today, it is not very clear the quantification of the
ENSO impact over hourly or daily events due to the nature of the climatic process, being only possible to find
approximate patterns [7].

This study focuses on the Piura watershed covering 6 monthly and 3 daily in-situ stations from SENAMHI,
distributed at different altitudes from 10 to 2500 m.a.s.l. (see Fig. 1a). Daily records out of extraordinary ENSO
events were completed and validated considering the definition of extreme event as 3-day running means percentile
above 90 with a Gamma distribution fit [5]. TRMM 3B42 v7 daily data covers around 19 grids (0.25°x0.25°, ~770
km2/grid) with continuous and complete record. It was analyzed 16 years from 1998 to 2013, taking account the in-
situ data availability in the wet period, from January to May, where TRMM data are more reliable [3].

2.2. Methodology

MRA with wavelet is a technique which allows the decomposition of a signal into various resolution levels that
retain the main features of the original signal; considering that orthogonal wavelets permit to separate effectively the
low and high frequency signal contents at each resolution level, determining a base-trend with a noise series in each
resolution, reconstructed in terms of original features. The validation was done by entropy which permits to obtain
the resolution decomposition level and compare similarities between in-situ and reconstructed data. These
calculations were processed with WATER software [6] in the period where both datasets are available.
To complete data, methodology proposed by Arias [1] which considers a downscaling technique with a temporal
disaggregation coefficient was applied. This methodology suggest that daily precipitation could be complete to a
period without daily but at least monthly in-situ records, by assuming that total precipitation in a month is distributed
proportionally in each daily record for TRMM.
The correction and completion can be verified by the RMSE and determination coefficient (R²) for daily and
monthly level.

3. Results

3.1. Validation of TRMM 3B42

Altitudinal variation in the watershed has an influence over the ENSO impact level; high altitudinal records as in
Huarmaca station (2240 m.a.s.l.) have a R² of 0.22 with ICEN index and low altitudinal records as in Miraflores
station (30 m.a.s.l.), around 0.55. This behaviour is found for a daily scale too and each year is categorized as E-EN:
Extreme El Niño, N: Normal, W-EN: Weak El Niño, M-EN: Moderate El Niño, M-LN: Moderate La Niña (see
Table 1) for the period from January to May.
156 Juan Cabrera et al. / Procedia Engineering 154 (2016) 154 – 157

From Fig. 1b, TRMM daily correction with wavelet transform until 5 degrees of resolution by entropy, shows a
very good lineal adjustment with Miraflores station (R²=0.98, RMSE=5%, Y=1.01X+0.23) improving the original
case of TRMM without correction (R²=0.46, RMSE=200%, Y=0.50X+1.32) in the period of January to May from
1998 to 2003. . It is a “point - grid” case analysis and it could not be applied into a regionalization with neighbouring
stations because of properties of both series (TRMM and 1-in-situ station) are very similar at high degree of
resolution as 5. We also considered surrounding stations and it descended until a degree of 3. The criteria of
selecting those degrees depend on the scale of application [8].

Fig. 1 a) Location map of the study area. b) Scatter plot of TRMM original (o) and corrected (c) with in-situ data. Table 1.

3.2. Obtaining maximum precipitation series

From Table 1, extreme events obtained with TRMM corrected with wavelet (1998-2003) shows a very good
approximation to in-situ data and corresponding dates. Completed extreme events with temporal disaggregation
(2004-2013) offer a regular behaviour of approximation to in-situ data, assuming the dates of occurrence as the same
of TRMM, after compare with some dispersed in-situ daily available records in 2007-2008 and 2011.

Table 1. List of extreme events and dates in Miraflores station, TRMM original (o) and corrected (c) grid (period 1998-2003)
and completed (period 2004 - 2013).

Miraflores TRMM o TRMM c

Category
Year
(Jan-May) P max P max P max
Date Date Date
(mm) (mm) (mm)
1998 E-EN 173.6 24-ene 93.6 22-ene 173.6 24-ene
1999 N 16.0 15-feb 15.6 24-feb 14.7 15-feb
2000 N 6.4 04-abr 10.9 05-abr 6.4 04-abr
2001 N 61.5 18-mar 61.7 22-mar 60.5 18-mar
2002 W-EN 103.5 28-mar 49.5 07-abr 103.5 28-mar
2003 N 16.0 01-feb 12.2 17-mar 15.1 01-feb
2004 N - - 2.6 19-mar 0.0 19-mar
2005 N - - 19.0 06-mar 5.3 06-mar
2006 N - - 26.1 04-feb 15.3 04-feb
2007 M-EN 6.2 18-feb 11.6 13-mar 1.7 13-mar
2008 N 29.5 19-feb 47.0 19-feb 42.5 19-feb
2009 N - - 17.6 21-feb 11.6 21-feb
 Juan Cabrera et al. / Procedia Engineering 154 (2016) 154 – 157 157

2010 N - - 30.0 06-feb 50.2 06-feb

2011 N 1.8 08-feb 11.2 26-mar 0.0 26-mar
2012 N - - 27.4 08-feb 17.2 08-feb
2013 M-LN - - 55.5 03-mar 25.8 03-mar

4. Conclusions

It was presented the advantages of the TRMM 3B42 correction with wavelet transform offering a very good
approximation to in-situ data. This technique could be applied on other stations as a regionalization considering
ENSO effects and try to obtain information in ungauged regions and periods as a solution of data scarcity; however,
temporal disaggregation technique needs to be improved with data availability.
This paper is the first part of a more complex research which is developing nowadays.

References

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