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- Title
A method to estimate freezing rain climatology from ERA-Interim reanalysis over Europe.
- Authors
Kämäräinen, Matti; Hyvärinen, Otto; Jylhä, Kirsti; Vajda, Andrea; Neiglick, Simo; Nuottokari, Jaakko; Gregow, Hilppa
- Abstract
A method for estimating the occurrence of freezing rain (FZRA) in gridded atmospheric datasets was evaluated, calibrated against SYNOP weather station observations, and applied to the ERA-Interim reanalysis for climatological studies of the phenomenon. The algorithm, originally developed for detecting the precipitation type in numerical weather prediction at the Finnish Meteorological Institute, uses vertical profiles of relative humidity and temperature as input. Reanalysis data in 6-hourly time resolution was analyzed over Europe for the period 1979-2014. Mean annual and monthly numbers of FZRA events, as well as probabilities of duration and spatial extent of events, were then derived. The algorithm was able to reproduce accurately the observed, spatially averaged interannual variability of FZRA (correlation = 0.93) during the 36-year period, but at station level rather low validation and cross-validation statistics were achieved (mean correlation = 0.44). Coarse grid resolution of the reanalysis, and misclassifications to other freezing phenomena in SYNOP observations, such as ice pellets and freezing drizzle, contribute to the low validation results at station scale. Although the derived gridded climatology is preliminary, it may be useful, for example, in safety assessments of critical infrastructure.
- Subjects
EUROPE; FREEZING rain; METEOROLOGICAL observations; METEOROLOGY
- Publication
Natural Hazards & Earth System Sciences Discussions, 2016, p1
- ISSN
2195-9269
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.5194/nhess-2016-225