Verification of Operational Analyses Using an Extremely High-Density Surface Station Network

Abstract

Abstract Operational analyses of 2-m temperature, 2-m humidity, and 10-m wind speed are verified independently against observations obtained from the WegenerNet, an extremely high-density, grid-type surface station network in southeastern Austria with an average distance between stations of 1.4 km. The Integrated Nowcasting through Comprehensive Analysis (INCA) system provides high-resolution analyses in space (1 km) and time (1 h) over the eastern Alpine region and has been specially designed for use in complex terrain. The quality of the system is investigated within a small domain with gentle topography ranging in elevation from 250 to 500 m. A comprehensive validation of INCA relative to WegenerNet for a 3-yr period from December 2007 to November 2010 indicates high analysis skill during all seasons. A sensitivity study reveals the importance of a sufficiently dense station network used by the system and, even more important, the relevance of adequate representativeness of the observation data.