Assembly of satellite-based rainfall datasets in situ data and rainfall climatology contours for the MENA region

Information on the spatio-temporal distribution of rainfall is very critical for addressing water related disasters, especially in the arid to semi-arid regions of the Middle East and North Africa region. However, availability of reliable rainfall datasets for the region is limited. In this study we combined observation from satellite-based rainfall data, in situ rain gauge observation and rainfall climatology to create a reliable regional rainfall dataset for Jordan, West Bank and Lebanon. First, we validated three satellite-based rainfall products using rain gauge observations obtained from Jordan (205 stations), Palestine (44 stations) and Lebanon (8 stations). We used the daily 25-km Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission over 2000 – 2016; daily 10-km Rainfall Estimate for Africa (RFE) rainfall over 2001 – 2016; daily 5-km Climate Hazards Group Infrared Precipitation with Station (CHIRPS) rainfall over 1981-2015; daily 25-km Multi-Source Weighted-Ensemble Precipitation (MSWEP) over 1984-2015. The validation was conducted between in situ rain gauge observation and satellite rainfall data and resulted in utilizing the MSWEP dataset in correlation with a bias correction grid. The created rainfall dataset was used to estimate stream flow in the region and determine suitable areas of aquifer recharge.

Data and Resources

Field Value
accessLevel public
bureauCode {010:12}
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catalog_describedBy https://project-open-data.cio.gov/v1.1/schema/catalog.json
identifier USGS:6011866bd34e162231fed3c1
metadata_type geospatial
modified 20210709
old-spatial 34.1986, 29.4455, 39.1646, 34.7638
publisher U.S. Geological Survey
publisher_hierarchy Department of the Interior > U.S. Geological Survey
resource-type Dataset
source_datajson_identifier true
source_hash 2d0ffa5ae46537984764c1fb8232dab1f43e8d14
source_schema_version 1.1
spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[34.1986, 29.4455], [34.1986, 34.7638], [ 39.1646, 34.7638], [ 39.1646, 29.4455], [34.1986, 29.4455]]]}
theme {geospatial}
Groups
  • AmeriGEOSS
  • National Provider
  • North America
Tags
  • amerigeo
  • amerigeoss
  • ckan
  • geo
  • geoscientificinformation
  • geoss
  • inlandwaters
  • jordan
  • lebanon
  • national
  • north-america
  • precipitation
  • united-states
  • usgs-6011866bd34e162231fed3c1
  • west-bank
isopen False
license_id notspecified
license_title License not specified
maintainer Gabriel Senay
maintainer_email senay@usgs.gov
metadata_created 2025-11-21T03:08:37.133158
metadata_modified 2025-11-21T03:08:37.133162
notes Information on the spatio-temporal distribution of rainfall is very critical for addressing water related disasters, especially in the arid to semi-arid regions of the Middle East and North Africa region. However, availability of reliable rainfall datasets for the region is limited. In this study we combined observation from satellite-based rainfall data, in situ rain gauge observation and rainfall climatology to create a reliable regional rainfall dataset for Jordan, West Bank and Lebanon. First, we validated three satellite-based rainfall products using rain gauge observations obtained from Jordan (205 stations), Palestine (44 stations) and Lebanon (8 stations). We used the daily 25-km Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission over 2000 – 2016; daily 10-km Rainfall Estimate for Africa (RFE) rainfall over 2001 – 2016; daily 5-km Climate Hazards Group Infrared Precipitation with Station (CHIRPS) rainfall over 1981-2015; daily 25-km Multi-Source Weighted-Ensemble Precipitation (MSWEP) over 1984-2015. The validation was conducted between in situ rain gauge observation and satellite rainfall data and resulted in utilizing the MSWEP dataset in correlation with a bias correction grid. The created rainfall dataset was used to estimate stream flow in the region and determine suitable areas of aquifer recharge.
num_resources 2
num_tags 15
title Assembly of satellite-based rainfall datasets in situ data and rainfall climatology contours for the MENA region