Evaluation of the Applicability of Three Methods for Climatic Spatial Interpolation in the Hengduan Mountains Region

Abstract An ideal spatial interpolation approach is indispensable for obtaining high-quality gridded climatic data in mountainous regions with scarce observations, particularly the Hengduan Mountains Region (HMR) dense longitudinal ranges and gorges. However, there much controversy about applicability of thin plate smooth spline (TPSS), cokriging, inverse distance weighting (IDW) regions. Here, we use daily observations temperature precipitation at 125 stations HMR its surroundings from 1961 to 2018 adopt three methods map annual average a resolution 500 m HMR. Then, assess perspectives accuracy effects. The evaluation implies satisfactory TPSS highest correlation lowest error, whether ( R 2 = 0.92, RMSE 1.2°C) or 0.54, 165.9 mm). In addition, could better display (precipitation) gradient along elevation depict dry valleys’ high-temperature low-precipitation characteristics. Moreover, performance mainly benefits screening optimal model that varied primarily regional topography feature meteorological observation density. uncertainty climate datasets has become an urgent problem solve complex terrain. This research illustrates HMR, providing theoretical support high-precision terrain, hopefully improving weather forecasts disaster warnings.