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High‐Frequency Intermittency in Observed and Model‐Simulated Precipitation
Author(s) -
Covey Curt,
Doutriaux Charles,
Gleckler Peter J.,
Taylor Karl E.,
Trenberth Kevin E.,
Zhang Yongxin
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2018gl078926
Subject(s) - precipitation , environmental science , climatology , diurnal cycle , climate model , atmospheric sciences , intermittency , variance (accounting) , climate change , meteorology , geology , geography , turbulence , oceanography , accounting , business
A newly reprocessed, bias‐corrected version of hourly satellite observations that provides global coverage of precipitation at high space‐time resolution is evaluated and compared with climate model simulations. Irregular subdaily fluctuations are the dominant component around the world, greater than variance of daily mean precipitation, and much greater than variance associated with the mean diurnal cycle of precipitation. Irregular subdaily fluctuations of precipitation are severely underestimated by models, even after taking into account the observational “error bars” implied by different space‐time resolutions. Variance of daily mean precipitation is less severely underestimated. Although mean diurnal cycle amplitudes vary among the models, this component is but a small part of total precipitation variance. Therefore, the total precipitation variance is significantly underestimated by models in general. Further exploration of model‐data discrepancies in precipitation at high‐time frequency may lead to new and useful climate model diagnostics.