Comparison of drought projections using two UK weather generators

Abstract

Possible changes in drought under future climate scenarios may pose unprecedented challenges for water resources, as well as other environmental and societal issues, and need assessment to quantify their associated risk. Two weather generators, based upon (a) the Neyman-Scott Rectangular Pulses (NSRP) model as implemented by the United Kingdom Climate Projections 09 (UKCP09) study, and (b) the generalized linear model (GLM) approach, are used to investigate potential variations in drought conditions for six catchments in the UK under climate projections. The results show that both weather generators provide rainfall simulations having satisfactory monthly statistics. However, the rainfall series from the UKCP09 weather generators lack inter-annual variability, whereas the GLM simulations, which include non-stationary global circulation model (GCM) outputs as driving variables, seem to have a more appropriate representation of the observed drought conditions. For drought projections in the 2080s, the UKCP09 simulations provide repetitive patterns without much temporal variation, similar to the results in the control period. This study suggests that for the drought index considered here (a 3-month drought severity index) the GLM approach appears to be a more appropriate model for drought study on inter-annual scales in comparison with the UKCP09 weather generator.

Editor D. Koutsoyiannis

Citation Chun, K.P., Wheater, H.S., and Onof, C., 2013. Comparison of drought projections using two UK weather generators. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 58 (2), 295–309.