Assessment of five global gridded precipitation estimates over a southern Mediterranean basin (Tensift, Morocco)

Gridded Precipitation Products (GPPs) could exhibit discrepancies related to detecting precipitation amounts and patterns. This paper aims to evaluate the accuracy of five GPPs currently in operational production over the Tensift basin in the southern Mediterranean. The GPPs are reanalysis-based (ER...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Kaoutar Oukaddour, Younes Fakir, Michel Le Page
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2025-12-01
Series:Geomatics, Natural Hazards & Risk
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/19475705.2025.2468850
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849326240918405120
author Kaoutar Oukaddour
Younes Fakir
Michel Le Page
author_facet Kaoutar Oukaddour
Younes Fakir
Michel Le Page
author_sort Kaoutar Oukaddour
collection DOAJ
description Gridded Precipitation Products (GPPs) could exhibit discrepancies related to detecting precipitation amounts and patterns. This paper aims to evaluate the accuracy of five GPPs currently in operational production over the Tensift basin in the southern Mediterranean. The GPPs are reanalysis-based (ERA5, ERA5-Land, MERRA-2) and multi-source data fusion (TerraClimate, MSWEPv2.8). Their annual and monthly precipitation are compared to observations from fourteen ground gauges over the entire period from 1980 to 2021 and each decade of this period. A set of statistical metrics, such as the Kling Gupta Efficiency (KGE) and the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), as well as the Bias, served to carry out the evaluation. Four main findings could be highlighted: (i) GPPs have, in general, a good correlation with gauge data; hence they could be used to study the temporal variability of the observed annual and monthly precipitation. (ii) ERA5-Land does not bring significant improvements in precipitation estimates apart from its finer spatial resolution. (iii) GPPs perform better in the plain than in the mountains. (iv) TerraClimate and MSWEPv2.8 present better consistency across the decades. ERA5 and TerraClimate, the longest data series, were used to visualize the precipitation trends in the basin.
format Article
id doaj-art-c9b30a96e0da4f51a6c6a6ffcd7403bd
institution Kabale University
issn 1947-5705
1947-5713
language English
publishDate 2025-12-01
publisher Taylor & Francis Group
record_format Article
series Geomatics, Natural Hazards & Risk
spelling doaj-art-c9b30a96e0da4f51a6c6a6ffcd7403bd2025-08-20T03:48:11ZengTaylor & Francis GroupGeomatics, Natural Hazards & Risk1947-57051947-57132025-12-0116110.1080/19475705.2025.2468850Assessment of five global gridded precipitation estimates over a southern Mediterranean basin (Tensift, Morocco)Kaoutar Oukaddour0Younes Fakir1Michel Le Page2GEOSCIENCES Laboratory, Faculty of Sciences Semlalia, Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech, MoroccoGEOSCIENCES Laboratory, Faculty of Sciences Semlalia, Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech, MoroccoCentre d’Etudes Spatiales de la Biosphère (CESBIO), Université de Toulouse, CNES/CNRS/INRAE/IRD/UPS, Toulouse, FranceGridded Precipitation Products (GPPs) could exhibit discrepancies related to detecting precipitation amounts and patterns. This paper aims to evaluate the accuracy of five GPPs currently in operational production over the Tensift basin in the southern Mediterranean. The GPPs are reanalysis-based (ERA5, ERA5-Land, MERRA-2) and multi-source data fusion (TerraClimate, MSWEPv2.8). Their annual and monthly precipitation are compared to observations from fourteen ground gauges over the entire period from 1980 to 2021 and each decade of this period. A set of statistical metrics, such as the Kling Gupta Efficiency (KGE) and the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), as well as the Bias, served to carry out the evaluation. Four main findings could be highlighted: (i) GPPs have, in general, a good correlation with gauge data; hence they could be used to study the temporal variability of the observed annual and monthly precipitation. (ii) ERA5-Land does not bring significant improvements in precipitation estimates apart from its finer spatial resolution. (iii) GPPs perform better in the plain than in the mountains. (iv) TerraClimate and MSWEPv2.8 present better consistency across the decades. ERA5 and TerraClimate, the longest data series, were used to visualize the precipitation trends in the basin.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/19475705.2025.2468850Global precipitation estimatesTerraClimateERA5ERA5-LandMERRA-2MSWEPv2.8
spellingShingle Kaoutar Oukaddour
Younes Fakir
Michel Le Page
Assessment of five global gridded precipitation estimates over a southern Mediterranean basin (Tensift, Morocco)
Geomatics, Natural Hazards & Risk
Global precipitation estimates
TerraClimate
ERA5
ERA5-Land
MERRA-2
MSWEPv2.8
title Assessment of five global gridded precipitation estimates over a southern Mediterranean basin (Tensift, Morocco)
title_full Assessment of five global gridded precipitation estimates over a southern Mediterranean basin (Tensift, Morocco)
title_fullStr Assessment of five global gridded precipitation estimates over a southern Mediterranean basin (Tensift, Morocco)
title_full_unstemmed Assessment of five global gridded precipitation estimates over a southern Mediterranean basin (Tensift, Morocco)
title_short Assessment of five global gridded precipitation estimates over a southern Mediterranean basin (Tensift, Morocco)
title_sort assessment of five global gridded precipitation estimates over a southern mediterranean basin tensift morocco
topic Global precipitation estimates
TerraClimate
ERA5
ERA5-Land
MERRA-2
MSWEPv2.8
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/19475705.2025.2468850
work_keys_str_mv AT kaoutaroukaddour assessmentoffiveglobalgriddedprecipitationestimatesoverasouthernmediterraneanbasintensiftmorocco
AT younesfakir assessmentoffiveglobalgriddedprecipitationestimatesoverasouthernmediterraneanbasintensiftmorocco
AT michellepage assessmentoffiveglobalgriddedprecipitationestimatesoverasouthernmediterraneanbasintensiftmorocco