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Preprints
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-3124
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-3124
04 Jan 2024
 | 04 Jan 2024

Spatial variability of seasonal precipitation lapse rates in complex topographical regions – application in France

Valentin Dura, Guillaume Evin, Anne-Catherine Favre, and David Penot

Abstract. Seasonal precipitation estimation in ungauged mountainous areas is essential for understanding and modeling a physical variable of interest in many environmental applications (hydrology, ecology, cryospheric studies). Precipitation Lapse Rates (PLRs), defined as the increasing or decreasing rate of precipitation amounts with the elevation, play a decisive role in high-altitude precipitation estimation. However, the documentation of PLR in mountainous regions remains weak even though their utilization in environmental applications is frequent. This article intends to assess the spatial variability and the spatial-scale dependence of seasonal PLRs in a varied and complex topography region. At the regional scale (10,000 km2), seven different precipitation products are compared in their ability to reproduce the altitude dependence of the annual/seasonal precipitations of 1,836 stations located in France. The Convection-Permitting Regional Climate Model (CP-RCM) AROME is the best in this regard, despite severe precipitation overestimation in high altitudes. The fine resolution of AROME allows for a precise assessment of the influence of altitude on winter and summer precipitations on 23 massifs at the sub-regional scale (∼ 1,000 km2) and 2,748 small catchments (∼ 100 km2) through linear regressions. With AROME, PLRs are mostly higher in winter at the catchment scale. The variability of PLR is higher in high-altitude regions such as the French Alps, with higher PLRs at the border than inside the massifs. This study emphasizes the interest of conducting PLR investigation at a fine scale to reduce spatial heterogeneity in the seasonal precipitations–altitude relationships.

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Journal article(s) based on this preprint

18 Jun 2024
Spatial variability in the seasonal precipitation lapse rates in complex topographical regions – application in France
Valentin Dura, Guillaume Evin, Anne-Catherine Favre, and David Penot
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 2579–2601, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-2579-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-2579-2024, 2024
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The requested preprint has a corresponding peer-reviewed final revised paper. You are encouraged to refer to the final revised version.

Short summary
Precipitation Lapse Rates (PLRs), defined as the increasing or decreasing rate of precipitation...
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