Assessing the Applicability of Three Precipitation Products, IMERG, GSMaP, and ERA5, in China over the Last Two Decades

The accuracy of gridded precipitation products is uncertain in different temporal and spatial dimensions. Analyzing the applicability of precipitation products is a prerequisite before applying them to hydrometeorological and other related research. In this study, we selected three gridded precipitation products, Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for Global Precipitation Measurement (IMERG), Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation (GSMaP), and the fifth generation of atmospheric reanalysis of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ERA5), including their data from 2001 to 2020. Using the data from 699 ground observation stations, we evaluated the applicability of these three precipitation products in China. Based on five statistical and five classification indicators, we first assessed the applicability of the three precipitation products on daily, monthly, and annual time scales, respectively, and then evaluated their applicability in different spatial dimensions, including basins, agriculture, and geomorphology. The results showed that: (1) IMERG data had the best accuracy on annual and monthly time scales, with both correlation coefficient (CC) values greater than 0.95 and Kling–Gupta efficiency (KGE) values greater than 0.90. On a daily time scale, the accuracy of all three precipitation products differed when statistical or categorical indicators were considered alone. However, the applicability of IMERG data was best among the three precipitation products when both types of indicators were considered. (2) The accuracy of the three precipitation products gradually decreased along the southeast–northwest direction. The applicability of ERA5 data was better in northern regions than in other regions in China, especially in arid and semi-arid regions in northern China. The applicability of IMERG data was better in southern regions with more precipitation and in high-altitude regions than in other regions in China. (3) The applicability of the three precipitation products in plain areas was generally better than in mountain areas. Among them, ERA5 data were more accurate in plain areas, while IMERG data were more accurate in mountain areas. This study can provide a reference for the selection of data sources of gridded precipitation products in different time scales and spatial dimensions in China.