Fitness Evaluation of CMORPH Satellite-derived Precipitation Data in KOREA

This study analyzes the application possibilities of the satellite-derived precipitation to water resources field. Precipitation observed by ground gauges and climate prediction center morphing method (CMORPH) which is global scale precipitation estimated by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Climate Prediction Center (NOAA CPC) using satellite images are compared to evaluate the quality of precipitation estimated from satellite images. Precipitation data from 10-years (2002 to 2011) is applied. The correlation coefficient of 1-day cumulative precipitation is 0.87, but the 1-year precipitation is 4 to 5 times different. The variability of root mean square error (RMSE) become smaller as temporal resolution lower. On the results for the watershed scale, the precipitation from gauges and CMORPH shows better agreement as the watershed become larger.