Intercomparison of CRA-Interim Precipitation Products with ERA5 and JRA-55

Abstract

Based on the hourly observational data during 2007-2016 from surface meteorological stations in China, this paper compares the influence of 3-hourly precipitation data, mainly from the Chinese Reanalysis-Interim (CRA-Interim), ECMWF Reanalysis 5 (ERA5) and Japanese Reanalysis-55 (JRA-55), on the simulation of the spatial and temporal distribution of regional precipitation in China and the bias distribution of the simulation. The results show that: (1) The three sets of reanalysis datasets can all reflect the basic spatial distribution characteristics of annual average precipitation in China. The simulation of topographic forced precipitation in complex terrain by using CRA-interim is more detailed, while CRA-interim has larger negative bias in central and East China, and larger positive bias in southwest China. (2) In terms of seasonal precipitation, the three sets of reanalysis datasets overestimate the precipitation in the heavy rainfall zone in spring and summer, especially in southwest China. According to CRA-interim, location of the rain belt in the First Rainy Season in South China is west by south, and the summer precipitation has positive bias in southwest and South China. (3) All of the reanalysis datasets can basically reflect the distribution difference of inter-annual variation of drought and flood, but overall the CRA-Interim generally shows negative bias, while the ERA5 and JRA-55 exhibit positive bias. (4) For the diurnal variation of precipitation in summer, all the reanalysis datasets perform better in simulating the daytime precipitation than in the night, and the bias of CRA-interim is less in the Southeast and Northeast than elsewhere. (5) The ERA5 generally performs the best on the evaluation of quantitative precipitation forecast, the JRA-55 is the next, followed by the CRA-Interim. The CRA-Interim has higher missing rate and lower threat score for heavy rains; however, at the level of downpour, the CRA-Interim performs slightly better.