Comparing Precipitation during Typhoons in the Western North Pacific Using Satellite and In Situ Observations

Abstract

Typhoons are known for causing heavy precipitation, very strong winds, and storm surges. With climate change, the occurrence, strength, and duration of typhoons are changing. Daily, weekly, and monthly precipitation from in situ stations from the NOAA Global Historical Climatological Network (GHCN) were compared in the Western North Pacific from 2000 to 2018 against two widely used datasets: NASA’s TRMM TMPA and PERSIANN-CDR. Additionally, precipitation levels during twenty-five typhoons were compared using precipitation estimates. There have been reductions in the average number of typhoons per year from 1959 to present and by month during the months of August, September, and October. Satellite-derived precipitation estimates from PERSIANN and TRMM TMPA explained approximately 50% of the variation in weekly cumulative precipitation and approximately 72% of the variation in monthly cumulative precipitation during the study period (March 2000–December 2018) when using all available stations. When analysis was completed using only stations close to the best track for the entire duration of a typhoon, 62% of the variation was explained, which is comparable to the weekly and monthly cumulative comparisons. However, most of the stations available and with sufficient data were not located in the tracks of the typhoons. It is of utmost importance to better understand typhoon events by utilizing precipitation data from satellite remote sensing in the Western North Pacific.

Assessment of Satellite Precipitation Data Sets for High Variability and Rapid Evolution of Typhoon Precipitation Events in the Philippines

“…Several studies have conducted in China (C. Huang et al., 2019; D. Li et al., 2022; D. Wang et al., 2016; Yu et al., 2009), Taiwan (S. Chen et al., 2013; W.‐R. Huang et al., 2021), India (Reddy et al., 2022), Vietnam (Pham & Vu, 2020), and Western North Pacific (Sutton et al., 2022) to assess the ability of SPDS during heavy precipitation events caused by typhoons. Therefore, this study evaluated the performance of near‐real‐time three SPDs (IMERG, GSMaP, and PERSIANN), during five typhoons related heavy precipitation events in the Philippines between 2016 and 2018.…”

Research on the Monitoring Ability of Fengyun-Based Quantitative Precipitation Estimates for Capturing Heavy Precipitation: A Case Study of the “7·20” Rainstorm in Henan Province, China

“…Benefitting from the development of satellite-borne sensors and precipitation retrieval techniques, satellite-based remote sensing offers a complementary perspective compared to ground-based rain gauges, by providing spatially continuous and temporally complete precipitation estimates with high quality on a global scale [11][12][13]. To date, many scholars have explored the performance and monitoring capability of satellite-based precipitation estimates in extreme precipitation events [14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. From some studies, Prakash et al [21] comprehensively examined the detection capabilities of satellite-based precipitation estimates in India, and the research showed that the Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for Global Precipitation Measurement (IMERG) has significant improvements in terms of capturing heavy rainfall compared to the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA).…”