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Statistical downscaling and teleconnections : ENSO and PDO teleconnections as a source of within-type precipitation variability in British Columbia

University of British Columbia

The Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) strongly influence atmospheric circulation over Western North America and therefore play a major role in modulating surface climate. This study represents an extension of Stahl et al. (2006a) in which a PCA - based approach was used to develop a synoptic climatology of mean sea level pressure patterns for the period 1948-2003 and in which relations between winter climate and major climate indices (PDO and ENSO) were explored. For both ENSO and PDO teleconnections, the synoptic analysis demonstrated that surface regional climate anomalies were linked to changes in both (a) the frequency of surface circulation types and (b) within-type variations. As the influence of major climate indices on the magnitude of within-type variability is not well understood, and is crucially important to the success of downscaling efforts, this study explores the nature of such variability in major winter precipitation producing types. Descriptive precipitation statistics are calculated for each synoptic type and compared between teleconnection phases for 56 years of data and for several key stations across British Columbia. Preliminary results suggest that teleconnections are responsible for a significant component of within-type precipitation variability and that this arises as a result of systematic differences in meteorology within types as expressed by such variables as vorticity, vertical velocity, precipitable water and geopotential heights. Based on these findings, creating of synoptic sub-types based upon teleconnection indices is proposed as a method for improving downscaling from GCMs by accounting for within-type variability associated with teleconnections. The downscaling methodology presented in this study assumes that GCM output, consisting of daily weather patterns and long-range teleconnection indices, can be used to classify the daily patterns into synoptic sub-types based upon the teleconnection indices, given mean precipitation amounts established for each type based on the historic record, downscaling scenarios can be calculated for any station in BC. In order to validate this approach, the statistical model was tested on the historic record using a bootstrapping approach. When repeated many times, this provides a statistically robust means of model assessment. The performance of a "basic" model, which employs the thirteen synoptic types of Stahl et al. (2006a), is assessed. The modelling methodology performs generally well for most of BC, but varies by region. The best model performance is found along the coast where precipitation amounts are the greatest, reflecting the consistent precipitation climatology of the region. The performance of three additional models, which utilise PDO, ENSO and PDO / ENSO subtypes, is contrasted with the basic model. It is discovered that the model using PDO / ENSO sub-types affords the greatest improvement over the basic model, with improvements varying in different regions of British Columbia. This study suggests that accounting for teleconnection indices can improve downscaling efforts; however, further research and development is recommended before an operational tool can be produced.

Text

2011-02-23

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/31656

Geography

University of British Columbia

Graduate