Towards validation of the Canadian precipitation analysis (CaPA) for hydrologic modeling applications in the Canadian Prairies

摘要

Highlights?Change point analysis shows that CaPA corresponds with actual observations (CDCD).?CaPA has same spatial pattern, dependency and autocorrelation properties as CDCD.?Hydrologic forcing in model shows that CaPA is reliable for hydrologic modeling.AbstractThis study presents a three–step validation technique to compare the performance of the Canadian Precipitation Analysis (CaPA) product relative to actual observation as a hydrologic forcing in regional watershed simulation. CaPA is an interpolated (6h or 24h accumulation) reanalysis precipitation product in near real time covering all of North America. The analysis procedure involves point-to-point (P2P) and map-to-map (M2M) comparisons, followed by proxy validation using an operational version of the WATFLOOD? hydrologic model from 2002 to 2005 in the Lake Winnipeg Basin (LWB), Canada. The P2P technique using a Bayesian change point analysis shows that CaPA corresponds with actual observations (Canadian daily climate data, CDCD), on both an annual and s