Validation of satellite rainfall products for operational flood forecasting: the case of the Evros catchment.

n extensive validation of two of the most popular and recently upgraded satellite rainfall products, 3B42 and 3B42RT, was performed over the Evros catchment in southeastern Europe using data recorded from January 2000 to April 2009. For conducting this validation study, the Climate Prediction Center's (CPC) ground data were used. The satellite data products were aggregated to daily time series, remapped to spatial resolution of 0.5°, validated against CPC, and intercompared using a variety of statistical indices and coefficients. After the validation process, all three data sets (CPC, 3B42, and 3B42RT) were separately fed in a statistical rainfall-runoff model, in order to predict the five major recorded flood events which occurred in the Evros catchment during the last decade. It has been found that post-calibration with ground data, which is present only in 3B42 product, is a necessity for operational flood forecasting and similar studies conducted in areas at mid-latitudes. Knowledge of rainfall events with small intensities is crucial for estimating the total rainfall height and drastically improves the skill of the satellite product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]