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Data reconstruction and homogenization for reducing uncertainties in high-resolution climate analysis in Alpine regions

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Abstract

Analysis of climatic series needs pre-processing to attain spatial- and time-consistent homogeneity. The latter, in high-resolution investigations, can rely on the strong correlations among series, which in turn requires a strict fulfilment of the quality standard in terms of completeness. Fifty-nine daily precipitation and temperature series of 50 years from Trentino, northern Italy, were pre-processed for climatic analysis. This study describes: (1) the preliminary gap-filling protocol for daily series, based on geostatistical correlations on both horizontal and vertical domains; (2) an algorithm to reduce inhomogeneity owing to the systematic snowfall underestimation of rain gauges; and (3) the processing protocol to take into account any source of undocumented inhomogeneity in series. This was performed by application of the t test and F-test of R code RHtestV2. This pre-processing shows straightforward results; correction of snowfall measurements re-evaluates attribution of patterns of altitudinal trends in time trends; homogenization increases the strength of the climatic signal and reduces the scattering of time trends, assessed over a few decades, of a factor of 2.

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Acknowledgments

This study was carried out in the frame of the projects ACE-SAP and ENVIROCHANGE, funded by the Autonomous Province of Trento and of the PRIN 2008 grant “Water resources assessment and management under climate change scenarios in mountain areas”. Thanks to Fondazione E. Mach–CTT (Ufficio GIS), Meteotrentino (PAT), Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano (PAB), ARPA Lombardia, ARPA Veneto for data supply. Thanks to R. De Filippi (Fondazione B. Kessler) and to A. Di Piazza (Fondazione E. Mach) for their suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sustainable Agro-ecosystems and Bioresources Department, IASMA Research and Innovation Centre, Fondazione Edmund Mach - Via E. Mach 1, 38010, San Michele all’Adige, TN, Italy

    Emanuele Eccel & Piero Cau

  2. DICATA-Department of Civil Engineering, Architecture, Land and Environment, University of Brescia, Via Branze 43, 25123, Brescia, Italy

    Roberto Ranzi

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  1. Emanuele Eccel
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  2. Piero Cau
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  3. Roberto Ranzi
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Correspondence to Emanuele Eccel.

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Eccel, E., Cau, P. & Ranzi, R. Data reconstruction and homogenization for reducing uncertainties in high-resolution climate analysis in Alpine regions. Theor Appl Climatol 110, 345–358 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-012-0624-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-012-0624-z

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