GLOBAL AND TERRESTRIAL PRECIPITATION - A COMPARATIVE-ASSESSMENT OF EXISTING CLIMATOLOGIES - A REPLY

In his comment on my paper, Whetton argues that precipitation estimate s for the Southern Ocean (high latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere) i n the Legates and Willmott climatology are implausible owing to its la rge seasonality. Justification for this assertion includes comparisons with island observations and methodological limitations he feels exis t in the Legates and Willmott climatology. In this reply, the methodol ogy used by Legates and Willmott is examined carefully and Whetton's c oncerns about it are shown to be his misinterpretation of the intent o f the air temperature correction. Our (Whetton's and my) arguments ser ve to illustrate that observational evidence of precipitation over the ocean expanse of the Southern Hemisphere is a major limiting factor o f all observation-based climatologies. (C) 1997 by the Royal Meteorolo gical Society.