Theoretical and Applied Climatology 

About: Theoretical and Applied Climatology is an academic journal published by Springer Science+Business Media. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Precipitation & Climate change. It has an ISSN identifier of 0177-798X. Over the lifetime, 5615 publications have been published receiving 139233 citations. The journal is also known as: Theoretical and applied climatology (Print).

GPCC's new land surface precipitation climatology based on quality-controlled in situ data and its role in quantifying the global water cycle

Abstract: In 1989, the need for reliable gridded land surface precipitation data sets, in view of the large uncertainties in the assessment of the global energy and water cycle, has led to the establishment of the Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC) at Deutscher Wetterdienst on invitation of the WMO. The GPCC has calculated a precipitation climatology for the global land areas for the target period 1951–2000 by objective analysis of climatological normals of about 67,200 rain gauge stations from its data base. GPCC's new precipitation climatology is compared to several other station-based precipitation climatologies as well as to precipitation climatologies derived from the GPCP V2.2 data set and from ECMWF's model reanalyses ERA-40 and ERA-Interim. Finally, how GPCC's best estimate for terrestrial mean precipitation derived from the precipitation climatology of 786 mm per year (equivalent to a water transport of 117,000 km3) is fitting into the global water cycle context is discussed.

Statistical bias correction for daily precipitation in regional climate models over Europe.

Abstract: We design, apply, and validate a methodology for correcting climate model output to produce internally consistent fields that have the same statistical intensity distribution as the observations. We refer to this as a statistical bias correction. Validation of the methodology is carried out using daily precipitation fields, defined over Europe, from the ENSEMBLES climate model dataset. The bias correction is calculated using data from 1961 to 1970, without distinguishing between seasons, and applied to seasonal data from 1991 to 2000. This choice of time periods is made to maximize the lag between calibration and validation within the ERA40 reanalysis period. Results show that the method performs unexpectedly well. Not only are the mean and other moments of the intensity distribution improved, as expected, but so are a drought and a heavy precipitation index, which depend on the autocorrelation spectra. Given that the corrections were derived without seasonal distinction and are based solely on intensity distributions, a statistical quantity oblivious of temporal correlations, it is encouraging to find that the improvements are present even when seasons and temporal statistics are considered. This encourages the application of this method to multi-decadal climate projections.

Thermal comfort of man in different urban environments

Abstract: On July 29, 1985, a hot summer day, biometeorological measurements were performed simultaneously in three different urban structures within the city of Munich and in the trunk space of a nearby tall spruce forest. Based on the results of these experiments the following thermophysiologically relevant biometeorological indices were calculated: Predicted mean vote, skin wettedness and physiologically equivalent temperature. These three indices are derived from different models for the human energy balance. They allow the assessment of the thermal components of the microclimates at the selected sites with regard to application in urban planning. The results quantitatively show the great heat stress in the urban structure “street canyon, exposed to south”, whereas in the “trunk space of the tall spruce forest” there is nearly an optimal climate even on hot summer days. Between these extremes the results for “street canyon, exposed to north” show a little higher heat load than for “backyard with trees”.

Amazonian forest dieback under climate-carbon cycle projections for the 21st century

Abstract: The first GCM climate change projections to include dynamic vegetation and an interactive carbon cycle produced a very significant amplification of global warming over the 21st century. Under the IS92a “business as usual” emissions scenario CO2 concentrations reached about 980 ppmv by 2100, which is about 280 ppmv higher than when these feedbacks were ignored. The major contribution to the increased CO2 arose from reductions in soil carbon because global warming is assumed to accelerate respiration. However, there was also a lesser contribution from an alarming loss of the Amazonian rainforest. This paper describes the phenomenon of Amazonian forest dieback under elevated CO2 in the Hadley Centre climate-carbon cycle model.

All-India monthly and seasonal rainfall series: 1871–1993

Abstract: The Indian rainfall has often been used as a proxy data for the Asian monsoon as a whole for understanding the energy budget of the major circulation features and also used as an input parameter in estimating the other regional parameters. In view of this, a long homogeneous rainfall series of All-India (India taken as one unit) has been prepared based on a fixed and well distributed network of 306 raingauge stations over India by giving proper area-weightage. This paper contains a listing of All-India monthly, seasonal and annual homogeneous data series for the period 1871–1993. Some statistical details and long-term changes of the All-India monsoon rainfall have been discussed.