Evaluation and Comparison of Historical Gridded Data Sets of Precipitation for Canada
Abstract
Canadian Precipitation Analysis (CaPA) has been developed by Environment Canada to produce the most accurate near real time precipitation estimates. It uses the Global Environmental Multiscale model (GEM) which is gridded data as a background, and assimilates the synoptic network of weather stations. Accurate estimation of precipitation is useful for calibration and/or validation of hydrological models, stream flow forecasting, and climate change studies. Since CaPA data are available only for the recent past, the development of historical data sets becomes important for hydrological modeling calibration. In Canada, the modeling of large watersheds is difficult due to the limitation of weather stations. Using atmospheric gridded data is one solution to overcome the limitation. This project will include assessment of existing reanalysis data sets as well as application of bias correction. The Adjusted Homogenized Canadian Climate Data (AHCCD) is used as a reference to assess other data sets. Potential candidates such as ERA-Interim, ANUSPLIN, and NARR will be assessed as alternatives to CaPA background. Those three data sets have relatively higher resolution than other existing datasets and they include daily surface precipitation. Therefore, they are selected for analysis. It can provide possible improvement of develop historical data and may be useful for hydrological modeling. In addition, the AHCCD data sets will be pre-assessed by comparison to the Environment Canada's CDCD data. This presentation will include preliminary results from the assessment and comparison of existing reanalysis datasets as well as appropriate methods for bias correction.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2013
- Bibcode:
- 2013AGUFM.H33G1481C
- Keywords:
-
- 1854 HYDROLOGY Precipitation