Recent changes in daily extremes of temperature and precipitation over the western Tibetan Plateau, 1973–2011

Abstract

Climate extremes in the Tibetan Plateau may cause serious regional and global consequences, but observation-based research over the western Tibetan Plateau is scarce. In this paper, recent changes in extremes of temperature and precipitation over the western Tibetan Plateau from 1973 to 2011 are investigated. A total of 24 indices that represent extreme climate events are selected and calculated by using daily maximum and minimum temperature and precipitation data. Results demonstrate that most cold-related indices of temperature extremes (frost and ice days, cool nights and cool days, and cold spell duration indicators) show a significant decrease, and that both the coldest night and coldest day have increased during the study period. Warm-related indices of temperature extremes such as summer days, the warmest night and the warmest day, warm nights and warm days, and warm spell duration indicators all have increased. The diurnal temperature ranges show a decreasing trend with statistical significance, whereas growing season lengths have increased significantly. The change trends of precipitation extremes are nonsignificant. Nonsignificant increasing trends are detected for most indices including annual total wet-day precipitation, maximum 1-day and 5-day precipitation, very wet and extremely wet day precipitation, and consecutive wet days. However, nonsignificant decreasing trends are found for the number of heavy precipitation days, consecutive dry days and simple daily intensity index.