Open AccessA 31‐year trend of the hourly precipitation over South China and the underlying mechanisms
Author(s) -
Fu Shenming,
Li Deshuai,
Sun Jianhua,
Si Dong,
Ling Jian,
Tian Fuyou
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
atmospheric science letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.951
H-Index - 45
ISSN - 1530-261X
DOI - 10.1002/asl.645
Subject(s) - precipitation , climatology , environmental science , china , subtropics , forcing (mathematics) , subtropical ridge , atmospheric sciences , meteorology , geography , geology , archaeology , fishery , biology
On the basis of a newly developed intensive hourly observational precipitation dataset, the precipitation trend of South China was investigated. Results indicate that the hourly precipitation over South China featured a significant increasing trend, particularly for the extreme precipitation category. The trend is mainly due to the increasing frequency of the precipitation events. A possible mechanism accounting for this increasing trend was proposed: the global warming may be the original forcing for the trend, through its modulation on activities of the western Pacific subtropical high, but the low‐level vorticity is the most important direct trigger.