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VARIABILITY CHARACTERISTICS OF MONTHLY PRECIPITATION IN CENTRAL OKLAHOMA 1
Author(s) -
Rossel Frédéric,
Garbrecht Jurgen
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
jawra journal of the american water resources association
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.957
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1752-1688
pISSN - 1093-474X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1752-1688.1999.tb04229.x
Subject(s) - precipitation , environmental science , hydrology (agriculture) , atmospheric sciences , physical geography , meteorology , geology , geography , geotechnical engineering
To fully take advantage of regional climate forecast information for agricultural applications, the relationship between divisional and station scale precipitation characteristics must be quantified. The spatial variability of monthly precipitation is assumed to consist of two components: a systematic and a random component. The systematic component is defined by differences in long‐term mean precipitation between stations within a climate division, and the random component by differences between station and divisional standardized values. For the Central Climate Division of Oklahoma, the systematic component has a positive precipitation gradient from west to east with a slope ranging between 3 to 16 mm of precipitation per 100 km depending on the month of the year. On the other hand, the random component ranges between 27 to 48 percent of the mean temporal variation of the monthly precipitation. This significant random spatial variability leads to large localized departures from divisional values, and clearly demonstrates the critical influence of the random component in the utilization of divisional climate forecasts for local agricultural applications. The results of this study also provide an uncertainty range for local monthly precipitation projections that are derived from divisional climate information.