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 [...]