Abstract
Over the years, a number of climatological precipitation data sets have been compiled from conventional rain-gauge measurements, mainly from land based stations. Besides, remotely sensed precipitation data caid accumulated short-range forecasts from numerical weather prediction models are also used for studies of the globed climate and its variability. The different data sets comprise station-related time-series, climatological normals or long-term means, isohyetal maps as well as global or continental gridded data, A first purpose of this paper is to give a brief but probably incomplete overview of existing sources of precipitation information Second, some of the mostly used gridded climatologies including the new, still preliminary results of the GPCC are compared, A distinction is made between continental and oceanic areas. It is shown that the precipitation estimates are in reasonable agreement both in temporal and spatial variation, although some large regiorud differences were found having to be interpreted.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Arkin, P. A. (1993): The Global Precipitation Climatology Project (this issue).
Arpe, K. (1991): The hydrological cycle in the ECMWF short range forecats. Dynamics of Atmospheres and Oceans, 16, 33–60.
Bradley, R.S., P.M. Kelly, P.D. Jones, H.F. Diaz, and C. Goodess (1985): A Climatic Data Bank for the Northem Hemisphere Land Areas, 1851–1980. DOE Technical
Report No. TR017, US Department of Energy, Carbon Dioxide Research Division, Washington D.C..
Burtis, M.D. (1992): Catalog of data bases and reports. Oak Ridge National laboratory, ORNL/CDIAC-34/R2 No.3878, Tennessee.
Commission for Technical Co-cooperation in Africa South of the Sahara (1961): aimatological Atlas of Africa (CCTA/CSA Lagos, Nairobi). Printed by the Government Printer Pretoria, Rep. South Africa.
Dormán, CE. and R.H. Bourke (1979): Precipitation over the Pacific Ocean, 30°S to 60°N.- Month. Weath. Rev. 107 (7), 896–910.
Dormán, C.E. and R.H. Bourke (1981): Precipitation over the Atlantic Ocean, 30°S to 70°N.- Month. Weath. Rev. 109 (3), 941–948.
Eischeid, J.K., H.F. Diaz, R.S. Bradley and P.D. Jones (1991): A Comprehensive Precipitation Data Set for Global Land Areas. U.S.Department of Energy Report No. DOE/ ER 69017T-Hl,Washington D.C., 81 pp.
Geiger, R. (1965): Jährlicher Niederschlag. Wandkarte 1:30 Mill., Veriag Justus Perthes, Darmstadt.
GPCC (1993): Global Area-Mean Monthly Precipitation Totals on a 2.5° Grid for the Year 1988 (Preliminary Results, Derived from Rain-Gauge Measurements, Satellite Observations and Numerical Weather Prediction Results). Rep.-No. DWD/WZN- 1993/07–1, Offenbach a.M., pp and cover (to order from GPCC).
Hulme, M. (1991): An Intercomparison of Model and Observed Global Precipitation Climatologies. Geophys. Res. Lett., 18, 1715–1718.
Jaeger, L. (1976): Monatskarten des Niederschlags für die ganze Erde. Bericht des Deutschen Wetterdienstes, Nr. 139 (Band 18), 33 pp and plates.
Jenne, R.L. (1991): Data Available on CD-ROMs. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Scientific Computer Division; Boulder, Colorado.
Jones, P.D. (1989): Regional, Hemispheric and Global Scale Precipitation Measurements. Proc. WMO/IAHS/ETH Workshop on Precipitation Measurement, St. Moritz, 3–7 December 1989, 513–518.
Leemans, R. and W.P. Cramer (1990): The IIASA Database for Mean Monthly Values of Temperature, Precipitation and Cloudiness on a Global Terrestrial Grid. Working Paper WP-90–41, Biosphere Dynamics Project, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenburg, Austria, 62 pp.
Legates, D.R. (1987): A Climatology of Global Precipitation. Publ. in Climatology 40 (1), Newark, Delaware, 85 pp.
Morrissey, M.L. and J.S. Greene (1991): The Pacific AtoU Raingage Data Set. Planetary Geosciences Division Contribution/JIMAR No. 648, Honolulu, Hawaii.
Nicholson, S. (1988): Atlas of African Rainfall and Its Interannual Variability. Florida State University, Department of Meteorology, Tallahassee.
Rudolf, B. (1993): Management and Analysis of Precipitation Data on a Routine Basis. Proceedings Intern. WMO/IAHS/ETH Symp. on Precipitation and Evaporation, Slovak Hydromet Inst., Bratislava Vol. 1, 69–76.
Rudolf, B., W. Rueth and U. Schneider (1993): The Spatial Sampling Error of Areal Mean Monthly Precipitation Totals Analyzed from Gauge Measurements. Fourth Intemational Conference on Precipitation; Hydrological and Meteorological Aspects of Rainfall Measurement and Predictability, Iowa City, USA, 80–82. (see also Rudolf et al., this issue.)
Schemm, J., S. Schubert and J. Terry (1992): Estimates of monthly mean soil moisture for 1979–1989. NASA Technical Memorandum 104571, GSFC, Greenbelt, Maryland.
Schutz, C. and W.L. Gates (1972–74): Global Climatic Data for the Surface: R-1029- ARPA (1972), R-915/1-ARPA (1972), R-1317-ARPA (1973), R-1425-ARPA (1974), RAND Corporation, Santa Monica.
Sevmk, B. (1982): Method of Correction for Systematic Error in Point Precipitation Measurement for Operational Use. WMO-No. 589, 91 pp. (see also Sevmk and Nespor, this issue.)
Shea, D.J. (1986): Climatology atlas: 1950–1979, Surface Air Temperature, Precipitation, Sea-Level Pressure, and Sea-Surface Temperature (45°S-60°N). NCAR Technical Note, NCAR/TN-269+STR, Boulder, Colorado, 35 pp and plates.
Shea, D.J. and R. Jenne (1993): NCAR’s Historical and Climatological Data Base. In: Analysis Methods of Precipitation on a Global Scale. Report of a GEWEX Workshop organized by GPCC, WCRP-81, WMO/TD-No. 558, A/18-A/21.
Vose, R.S., R.L. Schmoyer, P.M. Steurer, T.C. Peterson, R. Heim, T.R. Karl and J.K. Eischeid (1992): The Global Historical Climatology Network: Long-Term Monthly Temperature, Precipitation, Sea Level Pressure, and Station Pressure Data. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL/CDL/C-53, 99 pp.
WMO/ICSU (1990): The Global Precipitation Climatology Project - Implementation and Data Management Plan. WMO/TD-No. 367, Geneva, 45 pp and 6 appendices.
WMO/UNESCO (1970): Climatic Atlas of Europe; Maps of Mean Temperature and Precipitation. Vol. 1.
WMO/UNESCO (1975): Climatic Atlas of South America; Maps of Mean Temperature and Precipitation. Vol. I.
WMO/UNESCO (1979): Climatic Atlas of North and Central America; Maps of Mean Temperarnre and Precipitation. Vol. I.
WMO/UNESCO (1981): Climatic Atlas of Asia; Maps of Mean Temperature and Precipitation. Vol. I.
World Climate Disc, Global Climatic Change Data. Chadwyck-Healey Ltd., Cambridge/UK (1992).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1994 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Hauschild, H., Reiss, M., Rudolf, B. (1994). Global and Terrestrial Precipitation Climatologies: An Overview and Some Intercomparisons. In: Desbois, M., Désalmand, F. (eds) Global Precipitations and Climate Change. NATO ASI Series, vol 26. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-79268-7_27
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-79268-7_27
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-79270-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-79268-7
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive