Fidelity of the APHRODITE Dataset in Representing Extreme Precipitation over Central Asia

Using rain-gauge-observation daily precipitation data from the Global Historical Climatology Network (V3.25) and the Chinese Surface Daily Climate Dataset (V3.0), this study investigates the fidelity of the AHPRODITE dataset in representing extreme precipitation, in terms of the extreme precipitation threshold value, occurrence number, probability of detection, and extremal dependence index during the cool (October to April) and warm (May to September) seasons in Central Asia during 1961–90. The distribution of extreme precipitation is characterized by large extreme precipitation threshold values and high occurrence numbers over the mountainous areas. The APHRODITE dataset is highly correlated with the gauge-observation precipitation data and can reproduce the spatial distributions of the extreme precipitation threshold value and total occurrence number. However, APHRODITE generally underestimates the extreme precipitation threshold values, while it overestimates the total numbers of extreme precipitation events, particularly over the mountainous areas. These biases can be attributed to the overestimation of light rainfall and the underestimation of heavy rainfall induced by the rainfall distribution–based interpolation. Such deficits are more evident for the warm season than the cool season, and thus the biases are more pronounced in the warm season than in the cool season. The probability of detection and extremal dependence index reveal that APHRODITE has a good capability of detecting extreme precipitation, particularly in the cool season.