A homogeneity test applied to precipitation data.
Abstract
In climate research it is important to have access to reliable data which are free from artificial trends or changes. One way of checking the reliability of a climate series is to compare it with surrounding stations. This is the idea behind all tests of the relative homogeneity. Here we will present a simple homogeneity test and apply it to a precipitation data set from south‐western Sweden. More precisely we will apply it to ratios between station values and some reference values. The reference value is a form of a mean value from surrounding stations. It is found valuable to include short and incomplete series in the reference value. The test can be used as an instrument for quality control as far as the mean level of, for instance, precipitation is concerned. In practice it should be used along with the available station history. Several non‐homogeneities are present in these series and probably reflect a serious source of uncertainty in studies of climatic trends and climatic change all over the world. The significant breaks varied from 5 to 25 per cent for this data set. An example illustrates the importance of using relevant climatic normals that refer to the present measurement conditions in constructing maps of anomalies.
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The standard normal homogeneity test (SNHT) has superior accuracy in identifying the position of a step change under a wide variety of step and trend inhomogeneity scenarios relative to other commonly used methods.
“While no one test clearly outperforms others under all circumstances, the standard normal homogeneity test (SNHT; Alexandersson 1986) has been shown to have superior accuracy in identifying the position of a step change under a wide variety of step and trend inho-mogeneity scenarios relative to other commonly used methods (DeGaetano 2006; R07).”
From Homogenization of Temperature Series via Pairwise Comparisons (2009) · cites this paper as Alexandersson 1986
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Zamantakonè Ki, G., Bawindsom Kébré, M., Somda, W., Gandema, S., & Dabilgou, F. (2026) · Environmental Research Communications · doi:10.1088/2515-7620/ae68f0 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
- Authors
- Alexandersson, H.
- Affiliations
- Uppsala University (SE)
- Corresponding author
- Alexandersson, Hans
- Venue
- Journal of Climatology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 1986-01
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 661-675
- ISSN
- 0196-1748 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2008720804
- Cited by
- 1,858
- References
- 18
- Citations by year
- 2026: 117 · 2025: 119 · 2024: 105 · 2023: 143 · 2022: 139 · 2021: 101 · 2020: 112 · 2019: 83 · 2018: 102 · 2017: 85 · 2016: 71 · 2015: 62 · 2014: 69 · 2013: 76 · 2012: 67
- FWCI
- 0.38
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Climatology (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Atmospheric Science › Precipitation Measurement and Analysis
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Climate variability and models
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Hydrology and Drought Analysis
- Keywords
- homogeneity testing, precipitation data, station homogeneity, reference values, quality control, climate anomalies, inhomogeneity, climate trends
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