Salazar et al. (2025) Spatio-Temporal Evaluation of MSWEP, CHIRPS and ERA5-Land Reveals Regional-Specific Responses Across Complex Topography in Bolivia

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Identification

• Journal: Atmosphere
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-11-11
• Authors: Álvaro Salazar, Daniel M. Larrea‐Alcázar, Angéline Bertin, Nicolás Gouin, Alejandro Pareja, Luis Miguel Morales, Oswaldo Maillard, Diego Ocampo Melgar, Francisco A. Squeo
• DOI: 10.3390/atmos16111281

Research Groups

Not explicitly stated in the provided text.

Short Summary

This study evaluated three gridded precipitation datasets (MSWEP V2.2, CHIRPS V2, and ERA5-Land) against ground-based observations in Bolivia from 1980-2022, finding MSWEP V2.2 to be the most reliable across most regions and identifying significant precipitation declines in the Llanos.

Objective

• To evaluate the reliability of three widely used gridded precipitation datasets (MSWEP V2.2, CHIRPS V2, and ERA5-Land) against monthly station records in five distinct regions of Bolivia for hydrological and climate applications, and to identify long-term precipitation trends.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Bolivia, covering five distinct regions: Altiplano, Valles, Llanos, Chaco, and Amazonian lowlands.
• Temporal Scale: Monthly records from 1980 to 2022 (43 years).

Methodology and Data

• Models used: MSWEP V2.2, CHIRPS V2, ERA5-Land (evaluated datasets)
• Data sources: Monthly ground-based station records

Main Results

• MSWEP V2.2 consistently outperformed CHIRPS V2 and ERA5-Land across most regions of Bolivia, achieving the highest combined skill.
• MSWEP V2.2 showed the highest Combined Accuracy Index (CAI) in Altiplano (0.91), Valles (0.85), and Amazonian lowlands (0.93).
• CHIRPS V2 performed best in the Llanos (CAI: 0.85) and similarly to MSWEP in the Chaco (CAI: 0.81 vs 0.80).
• ERA5-Land systematically overestimated precipitation across Bolivia, with annual biases exceeding 36 mm per month.
• Significant precipitation declines were observed, particularly in the Llanos region (e.g., MSWEP: -0.88 mm per year; CHIRPS: -1.19 mm per year; ERA5-Land: -0.90 mm per year), while changes in other regions were weaker or nonsignificant.

Contributions

• Identified MSWEP V2.2 as the most reliable gridded precipitation dataset for Bolivia, a region characterized by complex topography and data scarcity.
• Proposed a robust and transferable methodological framework (integrating a Combined Accuracy Index and autocorrelation-corrected trend analysis) for validating gridded precipitation products in other data-scarce and environmentally diverse regions.

Funding

Not explicitly stated in the provided text.

Citation

@article{Salazar2025SpatioTemporal,
  author = {Salazar, Álvaro and Larrea‐Alcázar, Daniel M. and Bertin, Angéline and Gouin, Nicolás and Pareja, Alejandro and Morales, Luis Miguel and Maillard, Oswaldo and Melgar, Diego Ocampo and Squeo, Francisco A.},
  title = {Spatio-Temporal Evaluation of MSWEP, CHIRPS and ERA5-Land Reveals Regional-Specific Responses Across Complex Topography in Bolivia},
  journal = {Atmosphere},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.3390/atmos16111281},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos16111281}
}