Spatial and temporal interpolation of the meteorological data: Precipitation, temperature and radiation

Abstract

Simulations of the impacts of climate change on the water resources need accurate meteorological drivers. In GLOWA-Danube, hourly fi elds of air temperature, air humidity, wind, short- and longwave radiation and precipitation were determined from weather station data for the past period from 1970 to 2006 as well as for future climates (using the statistical climate generator (Chap. 49) with a spatial resolution of 1 km. Interpolation is based on hourly regressions of elevation gradients and a DEM and inverse square distance weighting of the regression residuals. For precipitation, additional bias correction from high-spatial-resolution monthly rainfall data was applied. The maps of average precipitation, temperature and radiation in the Upper Danube watershed are displayed. They show the overall distribution of major meteorological inputs and demonstrate that small-scale effects like dry valleys in the Alps and albedo effects of cities on radiation are documented.