Statistical downscaling of precipitation using local regression and high accuracy surface modeling method

Abstract

Downscaling precipitation is required in local scale climate impact studies. In this paper, a statistical downscaling scheme was presented with a combination of geographically weighted regression (GWR) model and a recently developed method, high accuracy surface modeling method (HASM). This proposed method was compared with another downscaling method using the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) database and ground-based data from 732 stations across China for the period 1976–2005. The residual which was produced by GWR was modified by comparing different interpolators including HASM, Kriging, inverse distance weighted method (IDW), and Spline. The spatial downscaling from 1° to 1-km grids for period 1976–2005 and future scenarios was achieved by using the proposed downscaling method. The prediction accuracy was assessed at two separate validation sites throughout China and Jiangxi Province on both annual and seasonal scales, with the root mean square error (RMSE), mean relative error (MRE), and mean absolute error (MAE). The results indicate that the developed model in this study outperforms the method that builds transfer function using the gauge values. There is a large improvement in the results when using a residual correction with meteorological station observations. In comparison with other three classical interpolators, HASM shows better performance in modifying the residual produced by local regression method. The success of the developed technique lies in the effective use of the datasets and the modification process of the residual by using HASM. The results from the future climate scenarios show that precipitation exhibits overall increasing trend from T1 (2011–2040) to T2 (2041–2070) and T2 to T3 (2071–2100) in RCP2.6, RCP4.5, and RCP8.5 emission scenarios. The most significant increase occurs in RCP8.5 from T2 to T3, while the lowest increase is found in RCP2.6 from T2 to T3, increased by 47.11 and 2.12 mm, respectively.