ADGEO Advances in Geosciences ADGEO 1680-7359 Copernicus GmbH Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/adgeo-16-49-2008 Iberian autumnal precipitation characterization through observed, simulated and reanalysed data Morata A. 1 Luna M. Y. 1 Martín M. L. 2 Sotillo M. G. 3 Valero F. 4 Instituto Nacional de Meteorología, Leonardo Prieto Castro, 8, 28040 Madrid, Spain Dpto. Matemática Aplicada, Escuela Universitaria de Informática, Campus de Segovia. Universidad de Valladolid, Pza. Sta. Eulalia, 9–11, 40005 Segovia, Spain Área de Medio Físico, Organismo P\'{u}blico Puertos del Estado (PdE), Av. Partenón, 10, 28042 Madrid, Spain Dpto. Astrofísica y CC, de la Atmósfera, Facultad de CC Físicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain 09 04 2008 16 16 49 54 This is an open-access article ditributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. This article is available from http://www.adv-geosci.net/16/49/2008/adgeo-16-49-2008.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from http://www.adv-geosci.net/16/49/2008/adgeo-16-49-2008.pdf

A 44-year (1958–2001) homogeneous Mediterranean high-resolution atmospheric database was generated through dynamical downscaling within the HIPOCAS Project framework. The present work attempts to provide a validation of the monthly 41-autumnal (1961–2001) HIPOCAS precipitation over the Iberian Peninsula, being also provided an evaluation of its improvement versus current global reanalysis data sets. A statistical comparative analysis between observed, HIPOCAS and global reanalyses precipitation data sets was carried out, highlighting the noticeable agreement existing between the observed and the HIPOCAS precipitation data sets in terms of not only time and spatial distribution, but also in terms of total amount of precipitation. A principal component analysis is carried out showing that the patterns derived from the HIPOCAS data largely capture the main characteristics of the studied field. Moreover, it is worth to note that the HIPOCAS patterns reproduce accurately the observed regional characteristics linked to the main orographic features of the study domain.

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