Sakila Saminathan

and 1 more

The study aims to enhance the accuracy of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and Global Ensemble Forecast System (GEFS) reference evapotranspiration forecast at short to medium range (1-7 days) using the post-processing methods: Analog technique (AN) and Simple Linear Regression (LR) over the Indian subcontinent. The FAO, Penman-Monteith (PM) equation, is used for the estimation of reference evapotranspiration (ET0) reforecasts from meteorological reforecasts from ECMWF and GEFS models. The post-processing technique AN and LR was applied to the ET0 reforecasts and compared against the ET0 estimated using observed and reanalysis dataset. The deterministic evaluation metrics, such as  Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and Correlation Coefficient (R), were used for the performance assessment of raw ET0 forecast and post-processed ET0 forecasts. Results showed that short to medium range ET0 forecasts improved substantially using AN and LR post-processing methods over the Indian region. Assessment across the different climatic zones in India showed that raw and post-processed ET0 forecasts in the Tropical climate zone are more skillful than in the other climatic zones. A comparison of raw and post-processed ET0 forecasts across different seasons in India showed that model forecasts are more skillful during the winter season compared to the rest. Intercomparison of the models also show that overall the raw and post-processed ET0 forecasts from ECMWF are better than GEFS. Results emphasize the use of post-processing methods to enhance the skill of ET0 forecasts over the Indian subcontinent before their application in irrigation scheduling and water demand estimation purposes.

Sakila Saminathan

and 1 more

Reliable air temperature forecasts are necessary for mitigating the effects of droughts and Heatwaves. The numerical weather prediction(NWP) model forecasts have significant biases associated and therefore need post-processing. Post-processing of temperature forecasts using probabilistic approaches are lacking in India. In this study, we post-process the Global Ensemble Forecast System (GEFS) and EuropeanCentre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) NWP model temperature forecasts for short to medium range time scales (1-7 days)using two probabilistic techniques, namely, Bayesian model averaging(BMA) and Nonhomogeneous gaussian regression (NGR). The post-processing techniques are evaluated for temperature (maximum and minimum) predictions across the Indian region. Results show that the probabilistic approaches considerably enhance the temperature predictions across India except the Himalayan regions. These techniques also comprehensively outperform the traditional post-processing techniques such as the running mean and simple linear regression. The NGR performs better than the BMA across all regions and is able to provide highly skillful temperature forecasts at higher lead times as well. Further, the study also assesses the implication of probabilistic post-processing Tmax forecast towards forecast enhancement of heatwaves (HW) in India. Post-processed Tmax forecasts revealed that the NGR approach considerably enhanced the HW prediction skill in India, especially in the northwestern and central Indian regions, considered highly prone to HW. The findings of this study will be useful in developing enhanced HW early warning and prediction systems in India.