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A quantitative assessment of the relationship between precipitation deficits and air temperature variations
Author(s) -
He B.,
Wang H. L.,
Wang Q. F.,
Di Z. H.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: atmospheres
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-8996
pISSN - 2169-897X
DOI - 10.1002/2015jd023463
Subject(s) - precipitation , surface air temperature , environmental science , air temperature , climatology , atmospheric sciences , meteorology , geography , geology
Previous studies have reported precipitation deficits related to temperature extremes. However, how and to what extent precipitation deficits affect surface air temperatures is still poorly understood. In this study, the relationship between precipitation deficits and surface temperatures was examined in China from 1960 to 2012 based on monthly temperature and precipitation records from 565 stations. Significant negative correlations were identified in each season, with the strongest relationships in the summer, indicating that higher temperatures usually accompanied water‐deficient conditions and lower temperatures usually accompanied wet conditions. The examination of the correlations based on 30 year moving windows suggested that the interaction between the two variables has declined over the past three decades. Further investigation indicated a higher impact of extreme dry conditions on temperature than that of extreme wet conditions. In addition, a new simple index (Dry Temperature Index, DTI) was developed and used to quantitatively describe the relationship between water deficits and air temperature variations. We tested and compared the DTI in the coldest month (January) and the hottest month (July) of the year, station by station. In both months, the number of stations with a DT high I ≥ 50% was greater than those with a DT high I < 50%, indicating that a greater proportion of higher temperatures occurred during dry conditions. Based on the results, we conclude that water deficits in China are usually correlated to high temperatures but not to low temperatures.