Technical Note: Space-time statistical quality control of extreme precipitation observations

Information about precipitation extremes is of vital importance for many hydrological planning and design purposes. However, due to various sources of error, some of the observed extremes may be inaccurate or false. The purpose of this investigation is to present quality control of observed extremes using space-time statistical methods. To cope with the highly skewed rainfall distribution, a Box-Cox transformation with a suitable parameter was used. The value at the location of a potential outlier is estimated using the surrounding stations and the calculated spatial variogram and compared to the suspicious observation. If the difference exceeds the threshold of the test, the value is flagged as a possible outlier. The same procedure is repeated for different temporal aggregations in order to avoid singularities caused by convection. Detected outliers are subsequently compared to the corresponding radar and discharge observations, and finally, implausible extremes are removed. The procedure is demonstrated using observations of sub-daily and daily temporal resolution in Germany.

Automated summary

Information about precipitation extremes is crucial for hydrological planning and design, but observed extremes may be inaccurate or false due to errors. This investigation presents a quality control method for observed extremes using space-time statistical methods, including a Box-Cox transformation and spatial variogram. Detected outliers are compared with radar and discharge observations to remove implausible extremes.