Comparison and Evaluation of Statistical Rainfall Disaggregation and High-Resolution Dynamical Downscaling over Complex Terrain

Representative methods of statistical disaggregation and dynamical downscaling are compared in terms of their ability to disaggregate precipitation data into hourly resolution in an urban area with complex terrain. The nonparametric statistical Method of Fragments (MoF) uses hourly data from rain gauges to split the daily data at the location of interest into hourly fragments. The high-resolution, convection-permitting Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) regional climate model is driven by reanalysis data. The MoF can reconstruct the variance, dry proportion, wet hours per month, number and length of wet spells per rainy day, timing of the maximum rainfall burst, and intensities of extreme precipitation with errors of less than 10%. However, the MoF cannot capture the spatial coherence and temporal interday connectivity of precipitation events due to the random elements involved in the algorithm. Otherwise, the statistical method is well suited for filling gaps in subdaily historical records. The WRF Model is able to reproduce dry proportion, lag-1 autocorrelation, wet hours per month, number and length of wet spells per rainy day, spatial correlation, and 6- and 12-h intensities of extreme precipitation with errors of 10% or less. The WRF approach tends to underestimate peak rainfall of 1- and 3-h aggregates but can be used where no observations are available or when areal precipitation data are needed.