Evaluation of TRMM Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis during the passage of Tropical Cyclones over Fiji

Abstract

Fiji is prone to the devastating effects of heavy rainfall during the passage of tropical cyclones (TCs) and as such accurate measurement of rainfall during such events is urgent for effective disaster mitigation and risk analysis. Fiji, however, has a sparse distribution of rain gauges, thus there is a deficiency in the accurate measurement of rainfall. This gap could be filled by satellite-based rainfall estimates but before they are used, they need to be validated against a reference dataset for their accuracy and limitations. This study thus validates the TRMM based Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) estimates over the island of Fiji. The study shows that TMPA has moderate ski..