Precipitation uncertainty and variability: observations, ensemble simulation and downscaling
Precipitation uncertainty and variability: observations, ensemble simulation and downscaling
Editor(s): R. Deidda, A. Bàrdossy, A. A. Carsteanu, G. Grossi, A. Langousis, and F. Pappenberger
The assessment of precipitation variability and uncertainty is crucial in a variety of applications, such as flood risk forecasting, evaluation of the hydrological impacts of climate change, determination of design floods, and hydrological modelling in general. Within this framework, this special issue of HESS aims to gather contributions on research, application advances, and future needs in the understanding and modeling of precipitation variability, and its sources of uncertainty. Specifically, contributions focusing on one or more of the following topics are particularly welcome:
  • Novel studies aimed at the assessment and representation of different sources of uncertainty, versus natural variability of precipitation.
  • Methods to account for different levels of accuracy in precipitation time series, e.g. due to changes and improvements in observation networks.
  • Uncertainty and variability in spatially and temporally heterogeneous multi-source precipitation products.
  • Estimation of precipitation variability and uncertainty at ungauged sites.
  • Process conceptualization and modeling approaches at different spatial and temporal scales, including model parameter identification and calibration, and sensitivity analyses to different parameterizations and scales of process representation.
  • Physically and statistically based approaches to downscale information from meteorological and climate models to spatial and temporal scales useful for hydrological modeling and applications.
  • Modeling approaches based on ensemble simulation, and methods for synthetic representation of precipitation variability and uncertainty.
  • Scale invariance properties of precipitation in space and/or time.

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09 May 2014
Stochastic spatial disaggregation of extreme precipitation to validate a regional climate model and to evaluate climate change impacts over a small watershed
P. Gagnon and A. N. Rousseau
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 1695–1704, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-1695-2014,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-1695-2014, 2014
19 Feb 2014
Climate changes of hydrometeorological and hydrological extremes in the Paute basin, Ecuadorean Andes
D. E. Mora, L. Campozano, F. Cisneros, G. Wyseure, and P. Willems
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 631–648, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-631-2014,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-18-631-2014, 2014
18 Dec 2013
Large scale snow water equivalent status monitoring: comparison of different snow water products in the upper Colorado Basin
G. A. Artan, J. P. Verdin, and R. Lietzow
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 5127–5139, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-5127-2013,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-5127-2013, 2013
01 Nov 2013
On the importance of observational data properties when assessing regional climate model performance of extreme precipitation
M. A. Sunyer, H. J. D. Sørup, O. B. Christensen, H. Madsen, D. Rosbjerg, P. S. Mikkelsen, and K. Arnbjerg-Nielsen
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 4323–4337, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-4323-2013,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-4323-2013, 2013
28 Oct 2013
Optimising predictor domains for spatially coherent precipitation downscaling
S. Radanovics, J.-P. Vidal, E. Sauquet, A. Ben Daoud, and G. Bontron
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 4189–4208, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-4189-2013,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-4189-2013, 2013
23 Oct 2013
Precipitation accumulation analysis – assimilation of radar-gauge measurements and validation of different methods
E. Gregow, E. Saltikoff, S. Albers, and H. Hohti
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 4109–4120, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-4109-2013,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-4109-2013, 2013
15 Oct 2013
Precipitation and snow cover in the Himalaya: from reanalysis to regional climate simulations
M. Ménégoz, H. Gallée, and H. W. Jacobi
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 3921–3936, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-3921-2013,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-3921-2013, 2013
14 Jun 2013
Radar subpixel-scale rainfall variability and uncertainty: lessons learned from observations of a dense rain-gauge network
N. Peleg, M. Ben-Asher, and E. Morin
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 2195–2208, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-2195-2013,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-2195-2013, 2013
05 Jun 2013
A flood episode in northern Italy: multi-model and single-model mesoscale meteorological ensembles for hydrological predictions
S. Davolio, M. M. Miglietta, T. Diomede, C. Marsigli, and A. Montani
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 2107–2120, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-2107-2013,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-2107-2013, 2013
29 May 2013
Regional climate models downscaling in the Alpine area with multimodel superensemble
D. Cane, S. Barbarino, L. A. Renier, and C. Ronchi
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 2017–2028, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-2017-2013,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-2017-2013, 2013
08 Apr 2013
Structural break or long memory: an empirical survey on daily rainfall data sets across Malaysia
F. Yusof, I. L. Kane, and Z. Yusop
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 1311–1318, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-1311-2013,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-1311-2013, 2013
22 Mar 2013
Theoretical framework to estimate spatial rainfall averages conditional on river discharges and point rainfall measurements from a single location: an application to western Greece
A. Langousis and V. Kaleris
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 1241–1263, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-1241-2013,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-1241-2013, 2013
28 Feb 2013
Evaluation of high-resolution satellite precipitation products using rain gauge observations over the Tibetan Plateau
Y. C. Gao and M. F. Liu
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 837–849, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-837-2013,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-837-2013, 2013
19 Feb 2013
Benefits from using combined dynamical-statistical downscaling approaches – lessons from a case study in the Mediterranean region
N. Guyennon, E. Romano, I. Portoghese, F. Salerno, S. Calmanti, A. B. Petrangeli, G. Tartari, and D. Copetti
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 705–720, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-705-2013,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-705-2013, 2013
29 Jan 2013
| Highlight paper
On the nature of rainfall intermittency as revealed by different metrics and sampling approaches
G. Mascaro, R. Deidda, and M. Hellies
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 17, 355–369, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-355-2013,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-17-355-2013, 2013
03 Dec 2012
Future changes in extreme precipitation in the Rhine basin based on global and regional climate model simulations
S. C. van Pelt, J. J. Beersma, T. A. Buishand, B. J. J. M. van den Hurk, and P. Kabat
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 16, 4517–4530, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-16-4517-2012,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-16-4517-2012, 2012
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