Operational implementation of satellite-rain gauge data merging for hydrological modeling.

Systems exposed to hydroclimatic variability, such as the integrated electric system in Uruguay, increasingly require real-time multiscale information to optimize management. Monitoring of the precipitation field is key to inform the future hydroelectric energy availability. We present an operationa...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: De Vera, Alejandra, Alfaro, Pablo, Terra, Rafael
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:Uruguay
Institución:Universidad de la República
Repositorio:COLIBRI
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:colibri.udelar.edu.uy:20.500.12008/38410
Acceso en línea:https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/13/4/533
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12008/38410
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Daily precipitation
Satellite-based estimates
Precipitation data merging
Geostatistical methods
Hydrological modeling
Hydropower generation
Operational modeling
Descripción
Sumario:Systems exposed to hydroclimatic variability, such as the integrated electric system in Uruguay, increasingly require real-time multiscale information to optimize management. Monitoring of the precipitation field is key to inform the future hydroelectric energy availability. We present an operational implementation of an algorithm that merges satellite precipitation estimates with rain gauge data, based on a 3-step technique: (i) Regression of station data on the satellite estimate using a Generalized Linear Model; (ii) Interpolation of the regression residuals at station locations to the entire grid using Ordinary Kriging and (iii) Application of a rain/no rain mask. The operational implementation follows five steps: (i) Data download and daily accumulation; (ii) Data quality control; (iii) Merging technique; (iv) Hydrological modeling and (v) Electricity-system simulation. The hydrological modeling is carried with the GR4J rainfall-runoff model applied to 17 sub-catchments of the G. Terra basin with routing up to the reservoir. The implementation became operational at the Electricity Market Administration (ADME) on June 2020. The performance of the merged precipitation estimate was evaluated through comparison with an independent, dense and uniformly distributed rain gauge network using several relevant statistics. Further validation is presented comparing the simulated inflow to the estimate derived from a reservoir mass budget. Results confirm that the estimation that incorporates the satellite information in addition to the surface observations has a higher performance than the one that only uses rain gauge data, both in the rainfall statistical evaluation and hydrological simulation.