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A Nonparametric Statistical Technique for Spatial Downscaling of Precipitation over High Mountain Asia
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  • Yiwen Mei,
  • Viviana Maggioni,
  • Paul R Houser,
  • Yuan Xue,
  • Tasnuva Rouf
Yiwen Mei
University of Michigan

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Viviana Maggioni
George Mason University
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Paul R Houser
George Mason University
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Yuan Xue
George Mason University
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Tasnuva Rouf
George Mason University
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Abstract

The accurate representation of the local-scale variability of precipitation plays an important role in understanding the hydrological cycle and land-atmosphere interactions in the High Mountain Asia region. Therefore, the development of hyper-resolution precipitation data is of urgent need. In this study, we propose a statistical framework to downscale the Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications, version 2 (MERRA-2) precipitation product using the random forest classification and regression algorithm. A set of variables representing atmospheric, geographic, and vegetation cover information are selected as model predictors, based on a recursive feature elimination method. The downscaled precipitation product is validated in terms of magnitude and variability against a set of ground- and satellite-based observations. Results suggest improvements with respect to the original resolution MERRA-2 precipitation product and comparable performance with gauge-adjusted satellite precipitation products.
Nov 2020Published in Water Resources Research volume 56 issue 11. 10.1029/2020WR027472