{"title":"Evaluation of national and international gridded meteorological products for rainfall-runoff modelling in Northern Italy","authors":"","doi":"10.1016/j.ejrh.2024.102031","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Study region</h3><div>Northern Italy.</div></div><div><h3>Study focus</h3><div>Gridded meteorological products provide spatially-distributed meteorological forcings, facilitating hydrological modeling in large-scale experiments. However, their accuracy, in particular as far as precipitation is concerned, varies considerably in space and time, and rigorous validation of these products is essential before their application. This study conducts a large-scale evaluation of five meteorological datasets in Northern Italy through i) a direct comparison of precipitation and temperature estimates and ii) an indirect validation, assessing their ability to reproduce streamflow when used to force the CemaNeige-GR6J hydrological model. The tested datasets include two gauged-based products, namely SCIA (the reference gridded dataset from the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research) and E-OBS, two products based on reanalyses (the global ERA5-Land and the national MERIDA) and a gauged-corrected global satellite precipitation product (CHIRPS).</div></div><div><h3>New hydrological insights for the region</h3><div>Gauge-based datasets provide the best streamflow simulations when the underlying station density is high: SCIA, based on a uniform and dense gauge network across the entire study area, confirms to be the best choice as the climatic reference dataset, while the use of E-OBS is not recommended in Piedmont due to the low number of stations. In areas with low station density, reanalyses may yield to more accurate results: among reanalysis-based products, the Italian MERIDA dataset outperforms ERA5-Land. Finally, CHIRPS results to be the least accurate precipitation dataset.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48620,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Hydrology-Regional Studies","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":4.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-11-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Hydrology-Regional Studies","FirstCategoryId":"89","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221458182400380X","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"WATER RESOURCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Study region
Northern Italy.
Study focus
Gridded meteorological products provide spatially-distributed meteorological forcings, facilitating hydrological modeling in large-scale experiments. However, their accuracy, in particular as far as precipitation is concerned, varies considerably in space and time, and rigorous validation of these products is essential before their application. This study conducts a large-scale evaluation of five meteorological datasets in Northern Italy through i) a direct comparison of precipitation and temperature estimates and ii) an indirect validation, assessing their ability to reproduce streamflow when used to force the CemaNeige-GR6J hydrological model. The tested datasets include two gauged-based products, namely SCIA (the reference gridded dataset from the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research) and E-OBS, two products based on reanalyses (the global ERA5-Land and the national MERIDA) and a gauged-corrected global satellite precipitation product (CHIRPS).
New hydrological insights for the region
Gauge-based datasets provide the best streamflow simulations when the underlying station density is high: SCIA, based on a uniform and dense gauge network across the entire study area, confirms to be the best choice as the climatic reference dataset, while the use of E-OBS is not recommended in Piedmont due to the low number of stations. In areas with low station density, reanalyses may yield to more accurate results: among reanalysis-based products, the Italian MERIDA dataset outperforms ERA5-Land. Finally, CHIRPS results to be the least accurate precipitation dataset.
期刊介绍:
Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies publishes original research papers enhancing the science of hydrology and aiming at region-specific problems, past and future conditions, analysis, review and solutions. The journal particularly welcomes research papers that deliver new insights into region-specific hydrological processes and responses to changing conditions, as well as contributions that incorporate interdisciplinarity and translational science.