Temporal statistical downscaling of precipitation and temperature forecasts using a stochastic weather generator

Statistical downscaling is based on the fact that the large-scale climatic state and regional/local physiographic features control the regional climate. In the present paper, a stochastic weather generator is applied to seasonal precipitation and temperature forecasts produced by the International Research Institute for Climate and Society(IRI). In conjunction with the GLM(generalized linear modeling) weather generator, a resampling scheme is used to translate the uncertainty in the seasonal forecasts(the IRI format only specifies probabilities for three categories: below normal, near normal, and above normal) into the corresponding uncertainty for the daily weather statistics. The method is able to generate potentially useful shifts in the probability distributions of seasonally aggregated precipitation and minimum and maximum temperature, as well as more meaningful daily weather statistics for crop yields, such as the number of dry days and the amount of precipitation on wet days. The approach is extended to the case of climate change scenarios, treating a hypothetical return to a previously observed drier regime in the Pampas.     

用多元线性回归分析作凯里站5月逐日晴雨预报

利用多元回归分析方法建立凯里站逐日晴雨预报方程。预报因子的资料来自“黔东南州短期预报业务自动化系统”，通过“0，1”编码方案进行处理。建立的回归方程预报效果呆投入业务使用。     

CHAC: a weather pattern classification system for regional climate downscaling of daily precipitation

A weather pattern clustering method is applied and calibrated to Argentinean daily weather stations in order to predict daily precipitation data. The clustering technique is based on k-means and is applied to a set of 17 atmospheric variables from the ERA-40 reanalysis covering the period 1979–1999. The set of atmospheric variables represent the different components of the atmosphere (dynamical, thermal and moisture). Different sensitivity tests are applied to optimize (1) the number of observations (weather patterns) per cluster, (2) the spatial domain size of the weather pattern around the station and (3) the number of members of the ensembles. All the sensitivity tests are compared using the ROC (Relative Operating Characteristic) Skill Score (RSS) derived from the ROC curve used to assess the performance of a predictive system. First, we found the number of observations per cluster to be optimum for values larger than 39. Second, the spatial domain size (~4° × 4°) was found to be closer to a local scale than to a synoptic scale, certainly due to a dominant role of the moisture components in the optimization of the transfer function. Indeed, when reducing the set of variables to the subset of dynamical variables, the predictive skill of the method is significantly reduced, but at the same time the domain size must be increased. A potential improvement of the method may therefore be to consider different domains for dynamical and non-dynamical variables. Third, the number of members per ensembles of simulations was estimated to be always two to three times larger than the mean number of observations per cluster (meaning that at least all the observed weather patterns are selected by one member). The skill of the statistical method to predict daily precipitation is found to be relatively homogeneous all over the country for different thresholds of precipitation.     

Performance comparison of three predictor selection methods for statistical downscaling of daily precipitation

Predictor selection is a critical factor affecting the statistical downscaling of daily precipitation. This study provides a general comparison between uncertainties in downscaled results from three commonly used predictor selection methods (correlation analysis, partial correlation analysis, and stepwise regression analysis). Uncertainty is analyzed by comparing statistical indices, including the mean, variance, and the distribution of monthly mean daily precipitation, wet spell length, and the number of wet days. The downscaled results are produced by the artificial neural network (ANN) statistical downscaling model and 50 years (1961–2010) of observed daily precipitation together with reanalysis predictors. Although results show little difference between downscaling methods, stepwise regression analysis is generally the best method for selecting predictors for the ANN statistical downscaling model of daily precipitation, followed by partial correlation analysis and then correlation analysis.     

Coupling statistical and dynamical methods for spatial downscaling of precipitation

The resolution of General Circulation Models (GCMs) is too coarse for climate change impact studies at the catchment or site-specific scales. To overcome this problem, both dynamical and statistical downscaling methods have been developed. Each downscaling method has its advantages and drawbacks, which have been described in great detail in the literature. This paper evaluates the improvement in statistical downscaling (SD) predictive power when using predictors from a Regional Climate Model (RCM) over a GCM for downscaling site-specific precipitation. Our approach uses mixed downscaling, combining both dynamic and statistical methods. Precipitation, a critical element of hydrology studies that is also much more difficult to downscale than temperature, is the only variable evaluated in this study. The SD method selected here uses a stepwise linear regression approach for precipitation quantity and occurrence (similar to the well-known Statistical Downscaling Model (SDSM) and called SDSM-like herein). In addition, a discriminant analysis (DA) was tested to generate precipitation occurrence, and a weather typing approach was used to derive statistical relationships based on weather types, and not only on a seasonal basis as is usually done. The existing data record was separated into a calibration and validation periods. To compare the relative efficiency of the SD approaches, relationships were derived at the same sites using the same predictors at a 300km scale (the National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis) and at a 45km scale with data from the limited-area Canadian Regional Climate Model (CRCM) driven by NCEP data at its boundaries. Predictably, using CRCM variables as predictors rather than NCEP data resulted in a much-improved explained variance for precipitation, although it was always less than 50?% overall. For precipitation occurrence, the SDSM-like model slightly overestimated the frequencies of wet and dry periods, while these were well-replicated by the DA-based model. Both the SDSM-like and DA-based models reproduced the percentage of wet days, but the wet and dry statuses for each day were poorly downscaled by both approaches. Overall, precipitation occurrence downscaled by the DA-based model was much better than that predicted by the SDSM-like model. Despite the added complexity, the weather typing approach was not better at downscaling precipitation than approaches without classification. Overall, despite significant improvements in precipitation occurrence prediction by the DA scheme, and even going to finer scales predictors, the SD approach tested here still explained less than 50?% of the total precipitation variance. While going to even smaller scale predictors (10–15?km) might improve results even more, such smaller scales would basically transform the direct outputs of climate models into impact models, thus negating the need for statistical downscaling approaches.     

Improve the prediction of summer precipitation in the Southeastern China by a hybrid statistical downscaling model

We attempt to apply year-to-year increment prediction to develop an effective statistical downscaling scheme for summer (JJA, June–July–August) rainfall prediction at the station-to-station scale in Southeastern China (SEC). The year-to-year increment in a variable was defined as the difference between the current year and the previous year. This difference is related to the quasi-biennial oscillation in interannual variations in precipitation. Three predictors from observations and six from three general circulation models (GCMs) outputs of the development of a European multi-model ensemble system for seasonal to interannual prediction (DEMETER) project were used to establish this downscaling model. The independent sample test and the cross-validation test show that the downscaling scheme yields better predicted skill for summer precipitation at most stations over SEC than the original DEMETER GCM outputs, with greater temporal correlation coefficients and spatial anomaly correlation coefficients, as well as lower root-mean-square errors.     

A comparison study of three statistical downscaling methods and their model-averaging ensemble for precipitation downscaling in China

This study evaluated the performance of three frequently applied statistical downscaling tools including SDSM, SVM, and LARS-WG, and their model-averaging ensembles under diverse moisture conditions with respect to the capability of reproducing the extremes as well as mean behaviors of precipitation. Daily observed precipitation and NCEP reanalysis data of 30 stations across China were collected for the period 1961–2000, and model parameters were calibrated for each season at individual site with 1961–1990 as the calibration period and 1991–2000 as the validation period. A flexible framework of multi-criteria model averaging was established in which model weights were optimized by the shuffled complex evolution algorithm. Model performance was compared for the optimal objective and nine more specific metrics. Results indicate that different downscaling methods can gain diverse usefulness and weakness in simulating various precipitation characteristics under different circumstances. SDSM showed more adaptability by acquiring better overall performance at a majority of the stations while LARS-WG revealed better accuracy in modeling most of the single metrics, especially extreme indices. SVM provided more usefulness under drier conditions, but it had less skill in capturing temporal patterns. Optimized model averaging, aiming at certain objective functions, can achieve a promising ensemble with increasing model complexity and computational cost. However, the variation of different methods' performances highlighted the tradeoff among different criteria, which compromised the ensemble forecast in terms of single metrics. As the superiority over single models cannot be guaranteed, model averaging technique should be used cautiously in precipitation downscaling.     

中国天气发生器非降水变量模拟参数分布特征

对基于马尔可夫链的理查森型中国天气发生器降水模拟已经有过比较系统的研究,但对非降水变量的模拟及其参数的分布特征等的研究还有待进一步深入。文中根据中国669个站点1971—2000年的逐日降水、最高气温、最低气温和日照时数资料,分干、湿两种状态计算了中国天气发生器各非降水变量的模拟参数——干、湿日条件下平均值和标准差的傅立叶系数以及各变量残差序列之间当天和后延一天的自相关、互相关系数,并分析了这些模拟参数在中国的空间分布规律,为中国天气发生器的进一步推广应用以及模拟参数的空间插值提供了技术支撑。     

Postprocessing of simulated precipitation for impact research in West Africa. Part II: A weather generator for daily data

Data from global and regional climate models refer to grid cells and, hence, are basically different from station data. This particularly holds for variables with enhanced spatio-temporal variability like precipitation. On the other hand, many applications like for instance hydrological models require atmospheric data with the statistical characteristics of station data. Here, we present a dynamical-statistical tool to construct virtual station data based on regional climate model output for tropical West Africa. This weather generator (WEGE) incorporates daily gridded rainfall from the model, an orographic term and a stochastic term, accounting for the chaotic spatial distribution of local rain events within a model grid box. In addition, the simulated probability density function of daily precipitation is adjusted to available station data in Benin. It is also assured that the generated data are still consistent with other model parameters like cloudiness and atmospheric circulation. The resulting virtual station data are in excellent agreement with various observed characteristics which are not explicitly addressed by the WEGE algorithm. This holds for the mean daily rainfall intensity and variability, the relative number of rainless days and the scaling of precipitation in time. The data set has already been used successfully for various climate impact studies in Benin.     

Comparison of regional climate model and statistical downscaling simulations of different winter precipitation change scenarios over Romania

Summary Regional climate model and statistical downscaling procedures are used to generate winter precipitation changes over Romania for the period 2071–2100 (compared to 1961–1990), under the IPCC A2 and B2 emission scenarios. For this purpose, the ICTP regional climate model RegCM is nested within the Hadley Centre global atmospheric model HadAM3H. The statistical downscaling method is based on the use of canonical correlation analysis (CCA) to construct climate change scenarios for winter precipitation over Romania from two predictors, sea level pressure and specific humidity (either used individually or together). A technique to select the most skillful model separately for each station is proposed to optimise the statistical downscaling signal. Climate fields from the A2 and B2 scenario simulations with the HadAM3H and RegCM models are used as input to the statistical downscaling model. First, the capability of the climate models to reproduce the observed link between winter precipitation over Romania and atmospheric circulation at the European scale is analysed, showing that the RegCM is more accurate than HadAM3H in the simulation of Romanian precipitation variability and its connection with large-scale circulations. Both models overestimate winter precipitation in the eastern regions of Romania due to an overestimation of the intensity and frequency of cyclonic systems over Europe. Climate changes derived directly from the RegCM and HadAM3H show an increase of precipitation during the 2071–2100 period compared to 1961–1990, especially over northwest and northeast Romania. Similar climate change patterns are obtained through the statistical downscaling method when the technique of optimum model selected separately for each station is used. This adds confidence to the simulated climate change signal over this region. The uncertainty of results is higher for the eastern and southeastern regions of Romania due to the lower HadAM3H and RegCM performance in simulating winter precipitation variability there as well as the reduced skill of the statistical downscaling model.     

统计降尺度方法在天津小时降水和气温精细化预报中的应用

基于ECWMF模式预报数据对2018年3—11月降水和2 m温度进行统计降尺度,利用先频率匹配法、再阈值法对插值后的降水订正,利用Kalman滤波型的递减平均统计降尺度法对插值后的温度订正,最终获得逐小时降水量和温度的预报。结果表明：(1)对于晴雨预报准确率,绝大多数预报时效频率匹配法和阈值法均对其有明显提高,前者最大改进幅度可达20%以上。对于相对误差,阈值法对空报现象有较显著改进。对于1 h降雨量大于等于20 mm的短时强降水,频率匹配法订正后的TS评分有明显提高。对2018年“安比”台风事件,除具有以上改进效果外,频率匹配法提高了降水主体形态和量级的预报水平,阈值法对空报站订正正确。(2)对于温度的ECWMF模式预报检验,几乎在任何预报时效内都是3月的绝对误差最大。通过Kalman滤波型的递减平均统计降尺度法后,各月的绝对误差都有不同程度减小。总体上,订正后的绝对误差曲线仍具有订正前的周期性波动,波峰、波谷位置也与订正前基本一致,且绝对误差越大,订正幅度越大。个例分析也表明订正后保留了温度预报空间分布的准确性,且绝对误差有明显下降。     

一种基于全球动力模式和SMART原理结合的统计降尺度区域季节气候预测方法

针对江苏夏季旱涝和高温热浪等异常气候的预测难题,以江苏夏季站点降水和气温为预测目标,建立了一种基于全球动力模式BCC_CSM1.1（m）和最优可预测气候模态和异常相对倾向（SMART）原理结合的统计降尺度季节气候预测方法。利用历史观测资料和SVD方法提取决定中国夏季降水异常相对倾向的同期热带地区向外长波辐射（Outgoing Longwave Radiation,OLR）和北半球中高纬500 hPa位势高度场异常相对倾向的最优可预测气候模态,并利用逐步回归法构建其与同期江苏站点降水和气温异常相对倾向同期关系的统计降尺度模型;将动力模式对最优可预测气候模态的预测带入统计降尺度模型,实现对区域降水和气温异常相对倾向的预测;最后通过引入观测的近期背景异常实现对降尺度的降水和气温总距平的预测。通过对1991—2019年江苏夏季降水和气温的回报检验表明,本文建立的统计降尺度模型效果较BCC_CSM1.1（m）动力模式的直接预测效果有显著提高,为区域精细化季节气候预测提供了一种有效的手段。     

Comparison of artificial neural network and multivariate linear regression methods for estimation of daily soil temperature in an arid region

Soil temperature (T _S) strongly influences a wide range of biotic and abiotic processes. As an alternative to direct measurement, indirect determination of T _S from meteorological parameters has been the focus of attention of environmental researchers. The main purpose of this study was to estimate daily T _S at six depths (5, 10, 20, 30, 50 and 100?cm) by using a multilayer perceptron (MLP) artificial neural network (ANN) model and a multivariate linear regression (MLR) method in an arid region of Iran. Mean daily meteorological parameters including air temperature (T _a), solar radiation (R _S), relative humidity (RH) and precipitation (P) were used as input data to the ANN and MLR models. The model results of the MLR model were compared to those of ANN. The accuracy of the predictions was evaluated by the correlation coefficient (r), the root mean-square error (RMSE) and the mean absolute error (MAE) between the measured and predicted T _S values. The results showed that the ANN method forecasts were superior to the corresponding values obtained by the MLR model. The regression analysis indicated that T _a, RH, R _S and P were reasonably correlated with T _S at various depths, but the most effective parameters influencing T _S at different depths were T _a and RH.     

A multiple linear statistical model for estimating the mean maximum urban heat island

Summary ¶This study examines the spatial and quantitative influence of urban factors on the surface air temperature field of the medium-sized of Szeged, Hungary, using mobile measurements under different weather conditions in the periods of March 1999–February 2000 and April–October 2002. Efforts have been concentrated on the development of the urban heat island (UHI) in its peak development during the diurnal cycle. Tasks included: (1) determination of spatial distribution of mean maximum UHI intensity and some urban surface parameters (built-up and water surface ratios, sky view factor, building height) using the standard Kriging procedure, as well as (2) development of a statistical model in the so-called heating and non-heating seasons using the above mentioned parameters and their areal extensions. In both seasons the spatial distribution of the mean maximum UHI intensity fields had a concentric shape with some local irregularities. The intensity reaches more than 2.1°C (heating season) and 3.1°C (non-heating season) in the centre of the city. For both seasons statistical model equations were determined by means of stepwise multiple linear regression analysis. As the measured and calculated mean maximum UHI intensity patterns show, there is a clear connection between the spatial distribution of the urban thermal excess and the examined land-use parameters, so these parameters play an important role in the evolution of the strong UHI intensity field. From the above mentioned parameters the sky-view factor and the building height were the most determining factors which are in line with the urban surface energy balance. Therefore in the future, using our model it will be possible to predict mean maximum UHI intensity in other cities, which have land-use features similar to Szeged.Received September 26, 2002; revised February 25, 2003; accepted March 22, 2003 Published online July 30, 2003     

Evaluating climate change effects on runoff by statistical downscaling and hydrological model GR2M

The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the impacts of climate change on Izmir-Tahtali freshwater basin, which is located in the Aegean Region of Turkey. For this purpose, a developed strategy involving statistical downscaling and hydrological modeling is illustrated through its application to the basin. Prior to statistical downscaling of precipitation and temperature, the explanatory variables are obtained from National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalysis data set. All possible regression approach is used to establish the most parsimonious relationship between precipitation, temperature, and climatic variables. Selected predictors have been used in training of artificial neural networks-based downscaling models and the trained models with the obtained relationships have been operated to produce scenario precipitation and temperature from the simulations of third Generation Coupled Climate Model. Biases from downscaled outputs have been reduced after downscaling process. Finally, the corrected downscaled outputs have been transformed to runoff by means of a monthly parametric hydrological model GR2M to assess the probable impacts of temperature and precipitation changes on runoff. According to the A1B climate scenario results, statistically significant trends are foreseen for precipitation, temperature, and runoff in the study basin.