Ground validation of space-borne satellite rainfall products in Malaysia

Precipitation studies globally is not only important to hydrological cycling, but also very crucial to satellite and terrestrial communication system designs. This work presents the validation of ground based rainfall measurement with TRMM products and GPCC data. The result shows that an error bias of ±15 % exists between the ground and satellite rainfall measurements. The study also shows that the TRMM 3B43 V6 is in good agreement with the rain gauge rainfall measurement with highest and lowest correlation coefficient of 0.9721 and 0.7791 respectively. Therefore, TRMM 3B43 V6 is recommended for use in lieu of the ground measurement in Malaysia and its environs, most importantly for sea and remote areas where rain gauge cannot cover.