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Title: Synthetic weather generator SYNTOR: Implementing improvements in precipitation generation

Author
item Garbrecht, Jurgen
item Zhang, Xunchang

Submitted to: Environmental and Water Resources Institute World Congress Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/8/2011
Publication Date: 5/27/2011
Citation: Garbrecht, J.D., Zhang, X.J. 2011. Synthetic weather generator SYNTOR: Implementing improvements in precipitation generation [abstract]. In: Proceedings of World Environmental and Water Resources Congress, Bearing Knowledge for Sustainabiity (Eds. R.E. Beighley and M.W. Killgore). May 22-26, 2011, Palm Springs, Califorina. 2011 CD-ROM.

Interpretive Summary: Abstract only.

Technical Abstract: Infrequent high precipitation events produce a disproportionally large amount of the annual surface runoff, soil erosion, nutrient movement, and watershed sediment yield. Numerical simulation of these watershed processes often lack sufficiently long weather data records to adequately capture the stochastic nature of high precipitation events needed to conduct long-term environmental impact assessment studies. In such cases, a suitable weather generator can produce the required precipitation data. However, two troublesome issues regarding the precipitation model affect the quality of generated synthetic precipitation: the possibility of non-uniform distribution of random number (RN) for some climate types, and a discontinuous pattern in the daily average of generated precipitation. Improvements with regard to both issues were developed and implemented in synthetic weather generator SYNTOR. Impacts of these improvements on generated precipitation were assessed using precipitation records at two National Weather Service stations. The results showed that the improvements produced synthetic daily precipitation that more accurately represented historical precipitation characteristics.