Abstract
Precipitation during the main rain season is important for natural ecosystems and human activities. In this study, according to daily precipitation data from 515 weather stations in China, we analyzed the spatiotemporal variation of rain-season (May–September) precipitation in China from 1960 to 2018. The results showed that rain-season precipitation decreased over China from 1960 to 2018. Rain-season heavy (25 ≤ p < 50 mm/day) and very heavy (p ≥ 50 mm/day) precipitation showed increasing trends, while rain-season moderate (10 ≤ p < 25 mm/day) and light (0.1 ≤ p < 10 mm/day) precipitation showed decreasing trends from 1960 to 2018. The temporal changes of precipitation indicated that rain-season light and moderate precipitation displayed downward trends in China from 1980 to 2010 and rain-season heavy and very heavy precipitation showed fluctuant variation from 1960 to 2018. Changes of rain-season precipitation showed clear regional differences. Northwest China and the Tibetan Plateau showed the largest positive trends of precipitation amount and days. In contrast, negative trends were found for almost all precipitation grades in North China Plain, Northeast China, and North Central China. Changes toward drier conditions in these regions probably had a severe impact on agricultural production. In East China, Southeast China and Southwest China, heavy and very heavy precipitation had increased while light and moderate precipitation had decreased. This result implied an increasing risk of flood and mudslides in these regions. The advance in understanding of precipitation change in China will contribute to exactly predict the regional climate change under the background of global climate change.
Highlights
IntroductionPrecipitation is a main part in the Earth’s hydrological cycle and atmospheric circulation [1,2,3,4]
The spatial distribution of long-term mean precipitation amount for different precipitation grades during the rainy season is shown in. It indicted that moderate precipitation was a main contributor to the total precipitation
The precipitation amounts were quite unevenly distributed across China
Summary
Precipitation is a main part in the Earth’s hydrological cycle and atmospheric circulation [1,2,3,4]. Changes of precipitation have important impacts on water safety, social economy, ecosystem, and environment [5,6,7,8,9]. Increases in precipitation probably cause more floods, while decreases in precipitation could enhance risks of drought. In recent years, understanding and predicting precipitation change have become an important concern of the government and scientific community in the world [10,11,12]. Bartels et al [13] showed that precipitation days showed increasing trends in the Midwestern and Northeast United States from 1951 to
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