The Sensitivity of Meteorological Dynamics to the Variability in Catchment Characteristics

Abstract

Evaluating meteorological dynamics is a challenging task due to the variability in hydro-climatic settings. This study is designed to assess the sensitivity of precipitation and temperature dynamics to catchment variability. The effects of catchment size, land use/cover change, and elevation differences on precipitation and temperature variability were considered to achieve the study objective. The variability in meteorological parameters to the catchment characteristics was determined using the coefficient of variation on the climate data tool (CDT). A land use/cover change and terrain analysis was performed on Google Earth Engine (GEE) and ArcGIS. In addition, a correlation analysis was performed to identify the relative influence of each catchment characteristic on the meteorological dynamics. The results of this study showed that the precipitation dynamics were found to be dominantly influenced by the land use/cover change with a correlation of 0.65, followed by the elevation difference with a correlation of −0.47. The maximum and minimum temperature variations, on the other hand, were found to be most affected by the elevation difference, with Pearson correlation coefficients of −0.53 and −0.57, respectively. However, no significant relationship between catchment size and precipitation variability was observed. In general, it is of great importance to understand the relative and combined effects of catchment characteristics on local meteorological dynamics for sustainable water resource management.