Multi-Satellite Precipitation Products for Meteorological Drought

11 Sparse ground observation networks with minimal maintenance limit spatio-temporal coverage of 12 precipitation data in the Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh state of India, which constraint the 13 real-time drought assessment and monitoring. In this study, comparative analysis of three satellite 14 precipitation products including Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM-3B43), 15 Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Networks16 Climate Data Record (PERSIANN-CDR), and Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with 17 Station (CHIRPS version-2) with ground-measured Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) 18 precipitation data were performed to evaluate meteorological drought in Central India. Statistical 19 comparison was performed for nineteen years (1998-2016) at the grid level (39 grids) to assess the 20 performance and estimate the regional differences in the spatial distribution of satellite 21 precipitation products as compared to IMD data. The high-resolution CHIRPS showed the closest 22