The effect of radar-based QPE on the Fractions Skill Score used at the QPF verification

Abstract

In this paper we show the influence of gauge adjustment technique, applied to radar-based rainfalls, on the results of QPF verification. The results were obtained for four convective events which produced heavy local rainfalls and caused local flash floods at the Czech territory. Numerical weather prediction model COSMO was run to obtain rainfall forecast and Fractions Skill Score was employed in the QPF verification. Three different radar-based quantitative precipitation estimates (QPE) were used for the verification and the verification results were compared. The QPE data sets consisted of: (a) raw radar-based rainfall values, (b) gauge corrected radar-based rainfalls with a simple domain-wide correction, and (c) radar-based rainfalls with a pixel related gauge adjustment. The results indicate small difference in area-related verification results and prove that the simple domain wide correction technique is sufficient for applying radar-based rainfalls as the verification data.