## 6 Concluding Remarks
Moreover, they found that GPM-3 IMERGHH is a useful next-generation rainfall product not only for acquiring ancillary datasets at ungauged locations (especially in a complex terrain), but also for enhancing observations of both light precipitation and convective rainfall, which has been a limitation of TRMM 3B42 V7. In addition, [PERSON] et al. [64] compared the performance of the TRMM 3B42V7 and IMERG over the Huaihe River basin in China and they confirmed that the IMERG product had better performance for detecting precipitation and provided more accurate precipitation estimates than TRMM 3B42 v7 data due to finer spatial and temporal resolutions. They underscored the need to assess the potential of the IMERG product in hydrological applications in a range of different environments. However, in contrast to the above two examples, the comparative study by [PERSON] et al. [65] in the Chindwin River basin, Myanmar, did not find any superiority of one of the satellite-derived precipitation products over the other. The authors underscore the importance of IMERG algorithm refinement in order to improve the accuracy of IMERG products over the country, where plenty of rainfall data are urgently needed for hydrological utilities, as indicated in the present study. For a more comprehensive survey of the literature on IMERG and TMPA comparisons, the reader is referred to [PERSON] et al. [66]. Despite the superior performance of the IMERG dataset in the present study, gaps in data persisted over mountainous regions as well as heavy-intensity precipitation events, indicating that it would not be used as a substitute for rain gauge data. However, it can be used as a promising alternative for rain gauge records during the relatively frequent light-intensity events until a new rain gauge network is in place, optimized, and implemented. Even when such an upgrade network is put into operation, IMERG can continue to supplement the in-situ data, either for monitoring purposes or for filling-in gaps in the network. The results of this study show that any alternative or complementary rainfall estimating system (i.e., satellite-based) adopted in arid and semi-arid environments receive most of their precipitation during cases with small amounts of rainfall. The skill of such a system to estimate precipitation adequately during such events is very important. Due to the limited amount of in-situ data, the effect of elevation on the estimation of rainfall from satellite-derived products cannot be done in a satisfactory way in the present study. This is a very challenging viewpoint that has been pursued in other studies with more ground-based data [58; 66]. This challenging viewpoint will be part of future work to investigate this aspect as well but following a substantial upgrade of the rain gauge network over the area. The value of the current study stems, on the one hand, from the impact it will have on the test site. The installation of the upgraded rain gauge network proposed by the authors (which will be presented in a companion paper) is a direct outcome of the present study. The upgraded network will drastically change the future of this arid area in many respects. On the other hand, it is clear from the present study that the available ad hoc data sources are limited and that there are also limitations in the resources of acquiring information about the rainy events in the test site, associated with the inadequate use of the corresponding remote sensing data (e.g., an extensive verification of the satellite-based precipitation estimations was not feasible). However, many of these limitations will be removed when the proposed network is put in operation. In addition, developers of IMERG algorithms will then have access to more on-the-ground information after the installation step is completed.