Introduction of MICE Method for Imputation Missing Meteorological Data and Comparison by Regression; Case Study: 130 Years of Monthly Temperature in Mashhad, Jask and Bushehr

Requiring accurate, complete and reliable data is the first step in climate studies. Incomplete data challenges climate analysis. Missing (incomplete) data is often found in meteorology. Therefore, completing the data (imputation) is the primary need for analysis. There are several ways to imputation missing data that vary depending on the data type and climatic characteristics of each region. Precipitation and temperature are the most important variables of meteorology and climatology. The length of the statistical period plays a pivotal role in the accurate analysis of these variables. The monthly temperature of three cities in Iran, including Mashhad, Bushehr and Jask, has been available in a book called World Weather Records since about 1890. This information contains missing data, especially during World War II (1941-1949). This missing data is more visible.  The purpose of this study is to increase the accuracy of estimating these missing data by introducing the applied MICE method and providing a complete series of monthly temperatures over 130 years. Stations from neighboring countries were selected as independent (predictor) stations in the patterns. First, the missing monthly temperature data of these three stations were estimated by fitting regression patterns (RMSE of 0.71 to 0.94 οC). The classical regression method requires the study of basic hypotheses and pattern pathology. These patterns were also estimated by the MICE method (RMSE of 0.39 to 0.82 οC). The results of the study and implementation of this package in Rstudio show the superiority of this method. This method is designed for missing data, does not have regression problems, and has many capabilities. Therefore, it is recommended to estimate missing meteorological data.