Variation in the response of ground and satellite-based precipitation products in the interpretation of drought in Tumakuru District, Karnataka

The unpredictable weather phenomenon is a cause for major concern as it brings along with it a series of difficulties. This draws our attention to drought which is one of the reasons of concern and needs to be dealt with in an effective manner. Although the rain gauge stations with a resolution of 250 x 250 provide precipitation data, the emerging satellite products show bigger promise. The valuation of Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) data with the gauge data for 11 stations was conducted over the semi-arid region of Karnataka by means of data comparison and the drought indices such as Percent of Normal (PN), Modified China Z Index (MCZI), and Rainfall Anomaly Index (RAI). Comparative analysis was carried out for the monthly data using various statistical methods from the year 1998 to 2019. The study focuses on determining the feasibility and reliability of precipitation products in the analysis of drought. There is about 27.13% of similarity amongst the dataset for RAI while only 10.88% of data match for PN index. It was found that the satellite data is most suitable for the large-scale area while there are uncertainties when it comes to regional studies. The outcome of the result aims to provide a qualitative means to carry out drought-related studied and come up with beneficial solutions.