Clustering of winter precipitations in Valais

This master thesis provides an extended study of winter precipitations in Valais (Switzerland). It was rst tried to relate local conditions in Valais, as measured at gauges, to the Hess-Brezowski classication for Europe. It was not possible to clearly relate this classication to local precipitation events in Winter in this region. Self-organizing maps were used to try to distinguish between sub-regions only based on the precipitation regime in Valais. The obtained results present coherence with the existing literature. ERA-Interim (global atmospheric reanalysis) data were then used to develop a new classication to link European meteorological conditions to local events. Three unsupervised clustering techniques were used for this purpose: k-means, k-medoids, hierachical clustering. The optimal number of cluster was determined using a com- bination four commonly used internal clusters indices (Dunn index, Davies-Bouldin index, silhouette index and Calinski-Harabasz index). Two clusters appeared to be optimal compared to the various parameters of the problem. The outputs of the three classication techniques were compared in term of robustness and results. A physical interpretation was then made. It was found that the two classes were associated respectively with small or large precipitation events. The associated synoptic conditions at the European scale reveal that the small precipitation class is associated with a North-East ux over Switzerland whereas the large precipitation class is linked to a South-West ux linked to a stationary front over Switzerland.