Evaluation of daily precipitation analyses in E‐OBS (v19.0e) and ERA5 by comparison to regional high‐resolution datasets in European regions
Abstract Gridded analyses of observed precipitation are an important data resource for environmental modelling, climate model evaluation and climate monitoring. In Europe, datasets that resolve the rich mesoscale variations widely exist for the national territories, but similar datasets covering the...
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crwiley:10.1002/joc.7269 2024-09-15T18:06:01+00:00 Evaluation of daily precipitation analyses in E‐OBS (v19.0e) and ERA5 by comparison to regional high‐resolution datasets in European regions Bandhauer, Moritz Isotta, Francesco Lakatos, Mónika Lussana, Cristian Båserud, Line Izsák, Beatrix Szentes, Olivér Tveito, Ole Einar Frei, Christoph European Commission 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/joc.7269 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/joc.7269 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1002/joc.7269 https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/joc.7269 en eng Wiley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ International Journal of Climatology volume 42, issue 2, page 727-747 ISSN 0899-8418 1097-0088 journal-article 2021 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.7269 2024-09-05T05:10:15Z Abstract Gridded analyses of observed precipitation are an important data resource for environmental modelling, climate model evaluation and climate monitoring. In Europe, datasets that resolve the rich mesoscale variations widely exist for the national territories, but similar datasets covering the entire continent are more recent. Here, we evaluate daily precipitation in two newly available pan‐European datasets: E‐OBS (v19.0e), a statistical analysis from rain‐gauge data, and ERA5, the new global reanalysis from ECMWF. Special interest is on how the refinements of grid spacing, the methodological upgrades and the quantification of uncertainty (ensemble), bear on capabilities at the mesoscale. The evaluation is conducted in three subregions, the Alps, the Carpathians and Fennoscandia, and involves as reference high‐quality regional datasets derived from dense rain‐gauge data. The study suggests that E‐OBS and ERA5 agree qualitatively well with the reference datasets. Major mesoscale patterns in the climatology (mean, wet‐day frequency, 95% quantile) are reproduced. The improvement over earlier versions of the datasets is evident. ERA5 was found to overestimate mean precipitation in all regions, related to too many wet days. The accuracy of E‐OBS was found to depend on station density, with spatial and temporal variations clearly less accurate in data sparse regions. In comparison, E‐OBS turned out to be superior to ERA5 in regions with dense data, but the two datasets are on a par in regions with sparse data, and partly ERA5 has advantages. For both datasets we find that the spatial resolution is coarser than the grid spacing, with overly smooth fields and an underestimation of high quantiles. Also, both datasets were found to be clearly overconfident in their uncertainty characterization (too small ensemble spread). Overall, the two datasets advance the characterization of precipitation on a pan‐European scale, but users are advised to take residual limitations into account in applications. Article in Journal/Newspaper Fennoscandia Wiley Online Library International Journal of Climatology 42 2 727 747 |
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Wiley Online Library |
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crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract Gridded analyses of observed precipitation are an important data resource for environmental modelling, climate model evaluation and climate monitoring. In Europe, datasets that resolve the rich mesoscale variations widely exist for the national territories, but similar datasets covering the entire continent are more recent. Here, we evaluate daily precipitation in two newly available pan‐European datasets: E‐OBS (v19.0e), a statistical analysis from rain‐gauge data, and ERA5, the new global reanalysis from ECMWF. Special interest is on how the refinements of grid spacing, the methodological upgrades and the quantification of uncertainty (ensemble), bear on capabilities at the mesoscale. The evaluation is conducted in three subregions, the Alps, the Carpathians and Fennoscandia, and involves as reference high‐quality regional datasets derived from dense rain‐gauge data. The study suggests that E‐OBS and ERA5 agree qualitatively well with the reference datasets. Major mesoscale patterns in the climatology (mean, wet‐day frequency, 95% quantile) are reproduced. The improvement over earlier versions of the datasets is evident. ERA5 was found to overestimate mean precipitation in all regions, related to too many wet days. The accuracy of E‐OBS was found to depend on station density, with spatial and temporal variations clearly less accurate in data sparse regions. In comparison, E‐OBS turned out to be superior to ERA5 in regions with dense data, but the two datasets are on a par in regions with sparse data, and partly ERA5 has advantages. For both datasets we find that the spatial resolution is coarser than the grid spacing, with overly smooth fields and an underestimation of high quantiles. Also, both datasets were found to be clearly overconfident in their uncertainty characterization (too small ensemble spread). Overall, the two datasets advance the characterization of precipitation on a pan‐European scale, but users are advised to take residual limitations into account in applications. |
author2 |
European Commission |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Bandhauer, Moritz Isotta, Francesco Lakatos, Mónika Lussana, Cristian Båserud, Line Izsák, Beatrix Szentes, Olivér Tveito, Ole Einar Frei, Christoph |
spellingShingle |
Bandhauer, Moritz Isotta, Francesco Lakatos, Mónika Lussana, Cristian Båserud, Line Izsák, Beatrix Szentes, Olivér Tveito, Ole Einar Frei, Christoph Evaluation of daily precipitation analyses in E‐OBS (v19.0e) and ERA5 by comparison to regional high‐resolution datasets in European regions |
author_facet |
Bandhauer, Moritz Isotta, Francesco Lakatos, Mónika Lussana, Cristian Båserud, Line Izsák, Beatrix Szentes, Olivér Tveito, Ole Einar Frei, Christoph |
author_sort |
Bandhauer, Moritz |
title |
Evaluation of daily precipitation analyses in E‐OBS (v19.0e) and ERA5 by comparison to regional high‐resolution datasets in European regions |
title_short |
Evaluation of daily precipitation analyses in E‐OBS (v19.0e) and ERA5 by comparison to regional high‐resolution datasets in European regions |
title_full |
Evaluation of daily precipitation analyses in E‐OBS (v19.0e) and ERA5 by comparison to regional high‐resolution datasets in European regions |
title_fullStr |
Evaluation of daily precipitation analyses in E‐OBS (v19.0e) and ERA5 by comparison to regional high‐resolution datasets in European regions |
title_full_unstemmed |
Evaluation of daily precipitation analyses in E‐OBS (v19.0e) and ERA5 by comparison to regional high‐resolution datasets in European regions |
title_sort |
evaluation of daily precipitation analyses in e‐obs (v19.0e) and era5 by comparison to regional high‐resolution datasets in european regions |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/joc.7269 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/joc.7269 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1002/joc.7269 https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/joc.7269 |
genre |
Fennoscandia |
genre_facet |
Fennoscandia |
op_source |
International Journal of Climatology volume 42, issue 2, page 727-747 ISSN 0899-8418 1097-0088 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.7269 |
container_title |
International Journal of Climatology |
container_volume |
42 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
727 |
op_container_end_page |
747 |
_version_ |
1810443529063759872 |