OPTIMIZATION OF THE PLUVIOMETRIC NETWORK OF CATALONIA (NORTHEAST SPAIN) FOR CLIMATOLOGICAL STUDIES

The thermo-pluviometric network covering Catalonia (north-east Spain) is formed by a few synoptic stations and a larger number of thermometr ic and pluviometric gauges. In spite of this relatively high number of gauges, some parts of the country are not well covered by the network and even a very simple criterion for establishing new sites, such as that of considering a homogeneous distribution of the network, becomes useless owing to the complex topography of the country. Consequently, the main goal of our present study is to apply a method that could le ad to the optimization, from a climatological viewpoint, of the pluvio metric network by means of more sophisticated criteria. Given that we wish to keep the present network, the strategy is to detect new optima l sites for a future enlargement of the pluviometric network Our data base includes monthly amounts derived from each pluviometric gauge. Th e method is based on the establishment of empirical laws relating mont hly amounts to topo-geographical parameters, their residuals and the w eight of each parameter on these laws. All these factors model a compl ex process that will lead us to define a relative location probability index (RLP) and its modified version (MRLP) for possible points of th e domain without a pluviometric gauge. Finally, we suggest a procedure for adding new gauges and simultaneously removing gauges with redunda nt information. (C) 1998 Royal Meteorological Society.