Spatiotemporal Variability of Precipitation in Beijing, China during the Wet Seasons

Meifang Ren,Bo Pang,Jiangtao Liu,Longgang Du,Zongxue Xu

doi:10.3390/w12030716

Meifang Ren, Bo Pang + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/w12030716

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Journal: Water	Publication Date: Mar 6, 2020
Citations: 9	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Beijing Normal University, OriginWater (China)

Abstract

To comprehensively evaluate the changes in precipitation patterns in the context of global climate change and urbanization, the spatiotemporal variability of precipitation during the wet seasons of 1981–2017 in Beijing was analyzed in this study using up-to-date daily and hourly precipitation data from observation stations. It was concluded that the average annual precipitation in wet seasons showed a downward trend, while the simple daily intensity index (SDII) showed an upward trend. Precipitation in the central urban area of Beijing showed obvious changes from 1981 to 2017; the average annual precipitation in the central urban area was almost as great as that in Miyun country after 2010, which was the storm center for the past three decades. The average annual maximum 3-h and 6-h precipitation in the 2010s was higher than the past three decades, especially in urban and suburban areas. In addition, the atmospheric circulation index, urbanization impact, and topography were all found to be important factors that affect the pattern of precipitation in Beijing.

Highlights

Global and regional precipitation patterns have changed in the context of global climate change and urbanization
The objective of this study is to provide a better understanding of the characteristics of precipitation patterns and variations of extreme precipitation in Beijing, and examine the influence of the atmospheric circulation index and local factors
It can be seen that the changes in the trend of average annual precipitation in the entire year were consistent with those in wet seasons during the study periods; that is, both showed downward trends during

Summary

Introduction

Global and regional precipitation patterns have changed in the context of global climate change and urbanization. The frequency of extreme hydrological events, such as flood events and storms, has increased in the past decades [1,2,3]. Annual global economic losses caused by flood events reached approximately 300 billion dollars in the past decades, and some of the heaviest losses were related to extreme precipitation events in Asia [4,5,6]. The Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change identified that global climate change affects global extreme events (e.g., extreme temperature and extreme precipitation), and it predicted that such extreme climate events would continue to occur until the end of the 21st century [7]. Many studies have been undertaken to quantify the trends and changes of precipitation at the global, regional, and watershed scales.

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