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Recent intensification of short‐term concurrent hot and dry extremes over the Pearl River basin, China
Author(s) -
Zhang Haoyue,
Wu Chuanhao,
Hu Bill X.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
international journal of climatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.58
H-Index - 166
eISSN - 1097-0088
pISSN - 0899-8418
DOI - 10.1002/joc.6116
Subject(s) - climatology , environmental science , subtropical ridge , hydrometeorology , evapotranspiration , drainage basin , structural basin , period (music) , climate change , altitude (triangle) , subtropics , trend analysis , dryness , geopotential height , china , precipitation , geography , geology , meteorology , archaeology , physics , cartography , mathematics , ecology , oceanography , computer science , acoustics , biology , paleontology , geometry , machine learning , medicine , surgery , fishery
Ongoing climate warming is largely affecting the frequency and magnitude of short‐term climatic extremes in many regions of the world, causing significant damage to the environment and society. Here, based on the long‐term (1980–2010) meteorological observations and reanalysis products, we investigated the spatio‐temporal evolutions of short‐term concurrent hot and dry extreme (SCHDE) events over the Pearl River basin, a typical humid and subtropical basin in southern China. We also explored the physical mechanisms of SCHDE and its relationship with a series of hydrometeorological variables and large‐scale climate indices. The results indicate an intensification of SCHDE over the study basin during the study period, especially for the period 1997–2010. SCHDE occurs mostly in the northeastern and western regions and shows a statistically significant increasing trend mainly in the midwestern and southeast regions, which is mainly associated with an increased temperature ( T air ), drying trend in soil moisture (SM), and a sharp increasing trend in evapotranspiration (ET). The contribution of T air variability to the SCHDE variability is largest (57.27%), followed by SM (28.43%) and ET (14.30%). In addition to T air , SM deficit before the onset also plays an important role in the SCHDE occurrence. Furthermore, the SCHDE variability tends to be more sensitive to the SM deficits in the high‐altitude areas than in the low‐altitude areas. Besides, wavelet transform analysis results indicate that the cold phase of ENSO tends to trigger a higher risk of SCHDE events, while El Niño Modoki events have different influences on the variations of SCHDE during different warm/cold phases over the Pearl River basin.