Downscaling experiment for the Venice lagoon. I. Validation of the present-day precipitation climatology

We analyze the performance of a high-resolution regional climate model (RCM) in simulating the present-day (1961-1990) precipitation regime of the drainage basin of the Venice lagoon as an important component of a downscaling experiment aimed at evaluating the impact Of future climate change scenarios on the main biogeochemical properties of the lagoon. Comparison of simulated data with local climatological observations shows good agreement in terms of both monthly area averages and seasonal spatial distribution of precipitation. Monthly and annual mean frequencies of rainy events are also satisfactorily reproduced by the model. The analysis demonstrates the relevance of high-resolution RCMs to catchment-scale impact applications and the feasibility of using output data of near-surface temperature and precipitation from the RCM model for impact assessment studies in the Venice lagoon.