Variability in the scale properties of high‐resolution precipitation data in the Alpine climate of Switzerland

Abstract

We explore the variability of scale‐related point precipitation properties on a large data set of high‐resolution 10‐min data from 62 stations across Switzerland. The focus is on the seasonal and spatial variability in basic scaling, correlation, and breakdown distribution parameters in the subdaily scaling range and their interdependency. Seasonal variability is found to be dominant. The summer season shows more structure in precipitation; a shorter autocorrelation range due to convective activity, high intermittency, and variance; and a multiscaling behavior in statistical moments. Winter events are longer, with smoother, less variable and strongly autocorrelated precipitation, and with a simple scaling behavior caused by larger‐scale frontal events. Some coherent regional differences are also apparent. The high Alpine region shows less variability and a stronger autocorrelation than other regions and a tendency toward simple scaling. The results also show that some scale‐related precipitation parameters are correlated and that snowfall has a discernible impact on high‐resolution properties such as smoothness and correlation. The results have an important practical significance for the extrapolation of parameters of scaling‐based precipitation models to ungauged sites.