Correcting Thornthwaite potential evapotranspiration using a global grid of local coefficients to support temperature-based estimations of reference evapotranspiration and aridity indices

Thornthwaite’s formula is globally an optimum candidate for large scale applications of potential evapotranspiration and aridity assessment at different climates and landscapes since it has the lower data requirements compared to other methods and especially from the ASCE-standardized reference evapotranspiration (former FAO-56), which is the most data demanding method and is commonly used as benchmark method. The aim of the study is to develop a global database of local coefficients for correcting the formula of monthly Thornthwaite potential evapotranspiration (Ep) using as benchmark the ASCE-standardized reference evapotranspiration method (Er). The validity of the database will be verified by testing the hypothesis that a local correction coefficient, which integrates the local mean effect of wind speed, humidity and solar radiation, can improve the performance of the original Thornthwaite formula. The database of local correction coefficients was developed using global gridded temperature and Er data of the period 1950–2000 at 30 arc-sec resolution (~1 km at equator) from freely available climate geodatabases. The correction coefficients were produced as partial weighted averages of monthly Er / Ep ratios by setting the ratios’ weight according to the monthly Er magnitude and by excluding colder months with monthly values of Er or Ep < 45 mm month−1 because their ratio becomes highly unstable for low temperatures. The validation of the correction coefficients was made using raw data from 525 stations of Europe, California-USA and Australia including data up to 2020. The validation procedure showed that the corrected Thornthwaite formula Eps using local coefficients led to a reduction of RMSE from 37.2 to 30.0 mm m−1 for monthly and from 388.8 to 174.8 mm y−1 for annual step estimations compared to Ep using as benchmark the values of Er method. The corrected Eps and the original Ep Thornthwaite formulas were also evaluated by their use in Thornthwaite and UNEP (United Nations Environment Program) aridity indices using as benchmark the respective indices estimated by Er. The analysis was made using the validation data of the stations and the results showed that the correction of Thornthwaite formula using local coefficients increased the accuracy of detecting identical aridity classes with Er from 63 % to 76 % for the case of Thornthwaite classification, and from 76 % to 93 % for the case of UNEP classification. The performance of both aridity indices using the corrected formula was extremely improved in the case of non-humid classes. The global database of local correction factors can support applications of reference evapotranspiration and aridity indices assessment with the minimum data requirements (i.e. temperature) for locations where climatic data are limited. The global grids of local correction coefficients for Thornthwaite formula produced in this study are archived in PANGAEA database andcan be assessed using the following link: https://doi.pangaea.de/10.1594/PANGAEA.932638 (Aschonitis et al., 2021).

INFLUENCE OF THE SURFACE ATMOSPHERIC LAYER POLLUTION ON THE CADASTRAL COST OF LAND PLOTS FOR PRIVATE HOUSING CONSTRUCTION WITHIN THE BOUNDARIES OF THE FEDERAL ROAD "TAVRIDA" TERRITORIES

Environmental problems of transport impact on the natural environment in Russia do not lose their relevance. Automobile transport is the leading source of environmental pollution, and the amount of emissions can reach 90 %. These processes are actively manifested within the boundaries of the influence of high-traffic roads. Thus, the tasks of taking into account the pollution level of the surface atmospheric layer in order to clarify the cadastral value of lands located within the boundaries of road-side territories acquire particular relevance. The work used mathematical models to calculate the emission power and surface concentrations of the pollutant (Gaussian atmospheric diffusion model). The interpolation method was used to determine the correction factors for different zones of pollution with carbon monoxide. The authors considered the carbon monoxide pollution density of the roadside territories and stated that the part of federal road "Tavrida" (settlement Zuia) has 121 land plots on the higher-polluted territory, which have the permitted use of "private housing construction" (PHC), there-fore it is considered necessary to correct their cadastral cost taking into account air pollution. The obtained results allows to clarify the local correction coefficients used in the cadastral assessment of roadside territories.

A new ΔR value for the southern North Sea and its application in coastal research

Accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon (14C) dating of Cerastoderma edule (Linnaeus 1767) and Mytilus edulis (Linnaeus 1758) shells sampled in AD 1889 near the island of Wangerooge gave a new local correction factor ΔR of −85 ± 17 14C years for the Wadden Sea area. The value is considerably higher than the available scattered data from the North Sea, which were obtained from pre-bomb growth rings of living Arctica islandica (Linnaeus 1767). This can be explained by the incorporation of 14C-depleted terrestrial carbon into the shell material which compensates the intensified exchange of CO2 between atmosphere and shallow coastal water, e.g. by tidal currents. Additionally, two examples of application of the new ΔR value in coastal research give deeper insights into the dynamics of bivalve shell preservation in the Wadden Sea and the need for further research to clarify the Holocene reintroduction of Mya arenaria (Linnaeus 1758) into European waters.

New Higher-Order Correction of GNSS RO Bending Angles Accounting for Ionospheric Asymmetry: Evaluation of Performance and Added Value

The residual ionospheric error (RIE) from higher-order terms in the refractive index is not negligible when using global navigation satellite system (GNSS) radio occultation (RO) data for climate and meteorology applications in the stratosphere. In this study, a new higher-order bending angle RIE correction named “Bi-local correction approach” has been implemented and evaluated, which accounts for the ray path splitting of the dual-frequency GNSS signals, the altitude of the low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite, the ionospheric inbound (GNSS to tangent point) vs. outbound (tangent point to LEO) asymmetry, and the geomagnetic field. Statistical results based on test-day ensembles of RO events show that, over the upper stratosphere and mesosphere, the order of magnitude of the mean total RIE in the bi-local correction approach is 0.01 μrad. Related to this, the so-called electron-density-squared (Ne2) and geomagnetic (BNe) terms appear to be dominant and comparable in magnitude. The BNe term takes negative or positive values, depending on the angle between the geomagnetic field vector and the direction of RO ray paths, while the Ne2 term is generally negative. We evaluated the new approach against the existing “Kappa approach” and the standard linear dual-frequency correction of bending angles and found it to perform well and in many average conditions similar to the simpler Kappa approach. On top of this, the bi-local approach can provide added value for RO missions with low LEO altitudes and for regional-scale applications, where its capacity to account for the ionospheric inbound-outbound asymmetry as well as for the geomagnetic term plays out.

A Tri-Approach for Diagnosing Gridded Precipitation Datasets for Watershed Glacio-Hydrological Simulation in Mountain Regions

In mountain regions, validation and local correction of gridded precipitation datasets (GPDs) are pre-requisites for glacio-hydrological simulations. However, insufficient observed data and glacial involvement make it a complicated task in glacierized watersheds. To diagnose the potential problems in GPDs from multiple perspectives and provide directions for their correction, a Tri-approach framework, consisting of statistical analysis, physical diagnosis, and practical simulation, is proposed. Truc-Budyko theory is introduced into this framework, which can identify the actual under- or over-estimation of GPDs based on watershed water-energy balance, diagnose their possible causes, and provide directions for local correction. This framework was applied to the glacierized Upper Indus Basin (UIB) for evaluating GPDs, including APHRODITE, CFSR, PGMFD, TRMM, and HAR, against adjusted observed precipitation (OBS), specific runoff, and glacier mass balance over varying periods during 1951–2017. The Spatial Processes in HYdrology (SPHY) model was used to simulate the hydrology and glacier changes (2001–2007). The results suggest that (a) patterns of inter- and intra-annual variations of OBS precipitation were better captured by APHRODITE (CC > 0.6), but it was underestimated (−40 %), (b) UIB was characterized as Leaky catchment based on overestimated CFSR (106 %) and HAR (77 %), indicating positive glacier storage changes (0.37 and 0.21 m w.e. yr−1, respectively). In contrast, UIB was characterized as Gaining watershed for remaining underestimated datasets, indicating negative storage changes (−0.42 to −0.34 m w.e. yr−1). (c) For constant mass balance, the simulated runoff was overestimated in SPHY_CFSR (66 %) and SPHY_HAR (53 %), whereas it was underestimated for SPHY_APHRODITE (−41 %), SPHY_PGMFD (−26 %), and SPHY_TRMM (−33 %). It highlights that evaluated GPDs could not generally meet the requirements of the rational output of glacier mass balance and streamflow concurrently. The physical diagnosis directs local correction based on under- and over-estimation. The practical simulation explores the extent of expected uncertainties in intra/inter-annual characteristics of glacio-hydrology.

Bias Adjustment of Satellite Precipitation Estimation Using Ground-Based Observation: Mei-Yu Front Case Studies in Taiwan

The Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation (GSMaP) was used to estimate the accumulated rainfall in May from the Mei-Yu front in Taiwan. Rainfall estimation from GSMaP during 2002–2017 were evaluated using more than 400 local gauge observations, collected from the Taiwan Central Weather Bureau (CWB). Studies have demonstrated that the GSMaP rainfall estimation estimates can be biased, depending on the target region, elevation, and season. In this experiment, we have evaluated GSMaP over three elevation ranges. The GSMaP systemic errors for each elevation range were identified and corrected using regression analysis. The results indicated that GSMaP estimation can be improved significantly through adjustment over three elevation ranges (elevation less than 50 m, elevation of 50–100 m, and elevation higher than 100 m). For these three elevation ranges, the correlation coefficient between the GSMaP estimations and CWB rainfall data was 0.76, 0.78, and 0.59, respectively. This indicated that the GSMaP estimation was more accurate for low-elevation regions than high-elevation regions. After the proposed approaches were employed to correct the errors, the bias errors were respectively improved by 5.64(13.7%), 7.33(38.4%) and 10.52(31.2%) mm for low-, mid- and high-elevation regions. This study demonstrated that the local correction approaches can be used to improve GSMaP estimation of Mei-Yu rainfall in Taiwan.