Abstract
This study evaluates the performance of two bias correction techniques—power transformation and gamma distribution adjustment—for Eta regional climate model (RCM) precipitation simulations. For the gamma distribution adjustment, the number of dry days is not taken as a fixed parameter; rather, we propose a new methodology for handling dry days. We consider two cases: the first case is defined as having a greater number of simulated dry days than the observed number, and the second case is defined as the opposite. The present climate period was divided into calibration and validation sets. We evaluate the results of the two bias correction techniques using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov nonparametric test and the sum of the differences between the cumulative distribution curves. These tests show that both correction techniques were effective in reducing errors and consequently improving the reliability of the simulations. However, the gamma distribution correction method proved to be more efficient, particularly in reducing the error in the number of dry days.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) for funding the project “Global climate changes and their impacts on the coastal zone: models, indicators, civil constructions, and mitigation/adaptation factors—Rede Litoral Norte SP (417/2010).” The authors also acknowledge the FCO GOF-Dangerous Climate Change DCC project from the UK and the UNDP Project BRA/05/G31. We would also like to thank the PhD student Vitor Baccarin Zanetti, who supported us with the ArcGIS® work.
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Tschöke, G.V., Kruk, N.S., de Queiroz, P.I.B. et al. Comparison of two bias correction methods for precipitation simulated with a regional climate model. Theor Appl Climatol 127, 841–852 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-015-1671-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-015-1671-z