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Evaluation of nine precipitation products with ground-based measurements during 2001 to 2013 in alpine Upper Reach of Shule River Basin, northeastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau

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Abstract

The distribution of precipitation in alpine regions with cold climates, such as Upper Reach of Shule River Basin (URSRB), northeastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau, is notoriously difficult to estimate from conventional measurements. Nine precipitation products, including CMFD, CMORPH, ERA-Interim, GPCC, GPCP V2.3, JRA-55, TRMM 3B43, HAR, and CAPD, were evaluated by six alpine ground-based measurement stations from 2001 to 2013 on yearly, seasonal, and monthly scales, respectively. The precipitation gradients of the nine precipitation products in rainy period were calculated by linear regression and then compared with recently observations during 2013–2016 from numerous total precipitation gauges. CMFD has the best overall performance in both yearly, seasonal, and monthly precipitation because it is primarily based on the merged precipitation product from surface measurements and satellite remote sensing data, followed by GPCC and TRMM 3B43. It is also found that CMORPH shows the worst overall performance due to only derived from remote sensing data. Nine precipitation products all showed obvious precipitation gradients. The absolute precipitation gradient of GPCC exhibited the greatest similarity to observations, followed by JRA-55 and CAPD. Although HAR obviously overestimated precipitation, it had an accurate pattern of monthly distribution and relative precipitation gradients in alpine areas, indicating that it has some advantages for applying on Tibetan Plateau. The evaluation suggested that the uncertainty in estimated alpine precipitation has largely decreased in some precipitation products, which will help to comprehensive understanding the climate change and its impact on hydrology of northeastern basins of the Tibetan Plateau.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the anonymous reviewers whose invaluable suggestions helped improve the quality of this paper.

Funding

This study was supported by the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA19070503), National Nature Science Foundation of China (41671056, 41730751)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Earth Surface System and Environmental Carrying Capacity, Northwest University, Xi’an, 710127, China

    Qianxin Wu, Siyu Ma, Zhihua Zhang, Gefei Wang & Shiqiang Zhang

  2. College of Urban and Environmental Science, Northwest University, Xi’an, 710127, China

    Qianxin Wu, Siyu Ma, Zhihua Zhang, Gefei Wang & Shiqiang Zhang

Authors
  1. Qianxin Wu
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  2. Siyu Ma
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  3. Zhihua Zhang
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  4. Gefei Wang
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Contributions

Conceptualization: Qianxin Wu, Shiqiang Zhang; methodology: Qianxin Wu, Siyu Ma, Zhihua Zhang, Gefei Wange; formal analysis and investigation: Qianxin Wu, Zhihua Zhang, Geifei Wang; writing - original draft preparation: Qianxin Wu, Siyu Ma, Zhihua Zhang; writing - review and editing: Geifei Wang, Shiqiang Zhang; funding acquisition: Shiqiang Zhang; resources: Shiqiang Zhang; supervision: Shiqiang Zhang.

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Correspondence to Shiqiang Zhang.

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Wu, Q., Ma, S., Zhang, Z. et al. Evaluation of nine precipitation products with ground-based measurements during 2001 to 2013 in alpine Upper Reach of Shule River Basin, northeastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau. Theor Appl Climatol 144, 1101–1117 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-021-03585-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-021-03585-1

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