Journal of Water and Climate Change (Jul 2023)

An integrated method for extended-range prediction of heavy Precipitation process in the flood season over Hunan Province based on S2S models

  • Chengmin Mao,
  • Jianming Zhang,
  • Yuxing Zeng,
  • Hui Zhao,
  • Jiadong Peng,
  • Yihao Tang,
  • Shaofeng Peng

DOI
https://doi.org/10.2166/wcc.2023.426
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 14, no. 7
pp. 2122 – 2132

Abstract

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Floods in the middle reaches of Yangtze River threaten millions of people and cause casualties and economic losses. Yet, the prediction of floods especially on the sub-seasonal scale in this region is still challenging. To better predict the floods during the flood season (from April to August) in Hunan Province, the models from the China Meteorological Administration (CMA), the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) that participated in the sub-seasonal to seasonal (S2S) prediction project were chosen to evaluate their extended-range (the next 11–30 days) prediction skills for heavy precipitation. The original prediction score of single model (original score), the score of single model using optimal threshold of heavy precipitation (adjusted score) and the score of multi-model integration (integrated score) were calculated by the scoring rules for heavy precipitation process. The results show that the integrated score in the extended-range is 75.1, which is 10.3 and 6.9 higher than the average scores of original models and adjusted method, respectively. The false alarm (missing) rate of the integrated method is 5.4% (33.9%), which is 8.6% (4.7%) and 2.9% (3.3%) smaller than the average rates of original models and adjusted method, respectively. HIGHLIGHTS The sub-seasonal to seasonal model data established by the World Meteorological Organization are used.; The method of multi-mode integration is used to effectively improve the prediction score of the heavy precipitation process.; On the basis of multi-mode integration, the empty rate and the missing rate of the heavy precipitation process are effectively reduced by adjusting the threshold of heavy precipitation.;

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