Calculation of monthly precipitation anomaly percentage using web-serviced remote sensing data

The traditional drought monitoring index, monthly precipitation anomaly percentage, is experimented to calculate using web-serviced remote sensing data in this paper. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) monthly precipitation rate products are puplished by Goddard Space Flight Center in internet, all products can be downloaded freely. First, the monthly rainfall of China in July and August of 1998–2008 was derived from the TRMM monthly precipitation rate products, then used the monthly rainfall to calculate the monthly precipitation anomaly percentage in July 2006, August 2006, July 2007, and August 2007. The monthly precipitation anomaly percentage were verified with the observed data from China Meteorological Administration. The comparisons indicate that the monthly precipitation anomaly percentage is not obviously different from the observed data. The monthly precipitation anomaly percentage which is calculated using TRMM data can denote drought fairly well.