GPM Rainfall-based Streamflow Analyses for East Africa

Availability of reliable rainfall data has been a major challenge in Africa, which lacks extensive radar and precipitation gauge networks. Global Precipitation Mission (GPM) data products are meeting that need, with frequent, high-resolution rainfall available globally. SERVIR, a joint USAID-NASA project aimed at improving the environmental decision making capacity of developing countries, and the Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD) in Nairobi, Kenya, are collaborating to produce nowcasts of regional streamflow. The streamflow analyses are produced by the Coupled Routing and Excess STorage (CREST) model, with forcing from Integrated Multi-satellitE Retrievals for GPM (IMERG), and routing from a high-resolution topographical database. The streamflow products are used to issue “wet” and “very wet” condition alerts to the Kenya Department of Water Resources (DWR) when they exceed historical thresholds at select locations. Output from SERVIR's model is also made available online using the CREST Viewer.