Alpine Precipitation Reconstruction

Jürg Schmidli, Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science ETH (IACETH), Zürich, Switzerland

Contact: Dr. Bodo Ahrens

Project Overview

This project aims to construct and evaluate a new gridded analysis of precipitation that covers the entire region of the European Alps, resolves the most prominent mesoscale variations and extends with a monthly time-resolution over most of the 20^th century (1901-1990). The analysis is based on a reconstruction using the reduced-space optimal interpolation technique. It combines data from a high-resolution network over a restricted time period (1971-1990) with homogeneous centennial records from a sparse sample of stations. The dataset is suitable for research activities on regional climate dynamics and long-term climate variations.

For further information please consult the references below.

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Conditions for access

• The monthly precipitation fields of the Alpine Precipitation Reconstruction are distributed for scientific research and educational, non-commercial activities. The access if free of charge.
• When using the Alpine Precpitation Reconstruction in publications (any media, scientific literature, the Internet or others) please make reference to the description of the data in Schmidli et al. 2001, 2002.

Get NetCDF file of the monthly precipitation fields

Relevant Publications

• Schmidli J., Schmutz C., Frei C., Wanner H., Schär C., 2002: Mesoscale precipitation variability in the region of the European Alps during the 20^th century. Int. J. Climatol., 22, 1079-1074.
• Schmidli J., Frei C., and Schär C., 2001: Reconstruction of mesoscale precipitation fields from sparse observations in complex terrain. J. Climate, 14, 3289-3306.
• Schmidli J., 2000: Reconstruction and analysis of mesoscale precipitation in the Alps for the 20th century. Dissertation ETH No. 13967.
• Schmutz C., 2000: Low frequency climate and precipitation variability in the Alpine region. Dissertation University of Berne.
• Frei C., and Schär, C., 1998: A precipitation climatology of the Alps from high-resolution rain-gauge observations. Int. J. Climatol., 18, 873-900.

Last Change: February 2006 Send Questions and Comments to Bodo Ahrens