Assessment of Reanalysis and Satellite Precipitation Products over the Dead Sea Region, Jordan

The extensive application of satellite-based data and reanalysis-based precipitation has significantly assisted hydro-meteorological research in locations with limited precipitation observations. Despite their inherent inaccuracies, which vary with distinct temperature zones, seasonal cycles, and land surface characteristics, the applicability of such precipitation products must be carefully considered before implementation in particular basins; moreover, precipitation products have never been examined in Jordan’s Dead Sea area. In addition to the scarcity of precipitation station gages and limited timescales, In this work, precipitation products derived from satellite data and reanalysis precipitation datasets were evaluated using statistical metrics based on the observed data, which was collected from 2015–2020. The results reveal that precipitation based on reanalysis is better quality than precipitation based on satellite. With ER, actual precipitation is most accurately captured, and the MR performed well compared to the remaining products. Then, a correction method for precipitation data (ERA-Ag and MERRA-2) was implemented. The findings reveal that the quality of rectification of ERA-Ag corrected is considerably improved, has the most excellent quality, and outperforms corrected MERRA-2. Besides, various statistical metrics were implemented to assess the performance of the HEC-HMS model. It is found that R-squared values are more than 0.5 in the calibrated and simulated (actual and ERA-Ag) models, indicating strong performance across all basins. ER represents satellite-based precipitation products, which have been frequently employed in hydrological models.