Spatio-temporal trend and homogeneity analysis of gridded and gauge precipitation in Indravati River basin, India

The study aims to analyze spatio-temporal variations in rainfall data over Indravati River basin, India. Three rainfall data sets, Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Multisatellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA), India Meteorological Department (IMD) grid, and IMD gauge were used. Data from 2001 to 2013 were analyzed for three time scales, namely, daily, monthly, and annual. Analysis showed good correlation between IMD gauge and TMPA grid rainfall at monthly time scale, poor correlation is observed at daily and annual time scales. Mann-Kendall (MK) trend test reveals a significant increasing trend of IMD gauge and IMD grid data, whereas TMPA rainfall is free from trends at the majority of stations for daily time scale. Nevertheless, both IMD grid as well as TMPA grid rainfall can be considered as a better representative of rainfall, since it is attained from observed rainfall data over the country. The Pettitt and standard normal homogeneity tests show that TMPA rainfall has a more non-homogeneous nature, whereas IMD grid rainfall and IMD gauge rainfall data are homogeneous. Overall, the trend and homogeneity analysis indicate that TMPA grid and IMD grid rainfall is in line with IMD gauge data, however IMD grid rainfall has the edge over TMPA grid data.