Climate Variability and Change—Hydrological Impacts (Proceedings of the Fifth FRIEND World
Conference held at Havana, Cuba, November 2006), IAHS Publ. 308, 2006, 75–80.
An evaluation of the potential use of satellite rainfall
data for input to water resource estimation models in southern Africa
DENIS A. HUGHES
Institute for Water Research, Rhodes University, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa
Abstract Global or near global
satellite rainfall data are becoming readily available and have the potential
to provide the rainfall data inputs required for water resource availability
modelling in the face of shrinking ground-based networks. However, the
difficulties of using both sets of rainfall data in models with existing
calibrations based on raingauge data are not well understood. An assessment
using three basins in southern Africa yielded mixed results. There is clearly a
need for some “corrections” to be applied to the satellite data to achieve
consistency with the gauged rainfall information, but it is not usually clear
what form these “corrections” should take. It is important to note that in some
areas there are very few gauges currently available and the satellite data
represent a viable substitute.
Key words satellite data; rainfall data;
hydrological models; developing countries; water resources; southern Africa