Premium
Spatiotemporal characteristics of regional precipitation events in the Jing‐Jin‐Ji region during 1989–2018
Author(s) -
Zhang Qi,
Han Jiahao,
Yang Zaiqiang
Publication year - 2021
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.6786
Subject(s) - precipitation , beijing , climatology , duration (music) , environmental science , intensity (physics) , biology , meteorology , geography , geology , china , art , physics , literature , archaeology , quantum mechanics
Concurrent regional precipitation can cause water disasters and have an enormous impact on the environment and society. In the present study, regional precipitation events (RPEs) were computed using daily precipitation records from 1989 to 2018 recorded at 173 meteorological stations in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (Jing‐Jin‐Ji) region. This region is famous for its political and economic status and suffers from numerous water disasters. When more than 5% of stations record over 20 mm precipitation on a specific day, it is termed as an RPE. This study describes the duration, intensity, and coverage area of RPEs in the Jing‐Jin‐Ji region. Moreover, it analyses the region's long‐term spatiotemporal evolution of RPEs to explore more complete precipitation characteristics over the study region. The results reveal that the frequency of RPEs decreased with longer duration, and most RPEs with a rainfall intensity of approximately 10 mm⋅day −1 or covered more than 90% of the stations. The coverage area was positively correlated with duration and intensity. RPEs mainly occurred from June to August, with the average ratio of RPEs' total wet day precipitation (PRCPTOT) to regional PRCPTOT being 0.72. The contribution of RPEs to regional annual precipitation increased significantly after 1997. During the past 30 years, the number of RPEs initially decreased and then increased significantly. During strong El Niño decaying summers, the frequency of RPEs was much higher. The spatial distribution of RPEs was affected by topography, land, and sea locations, with greater frequency in the coastal plains. Approximately 28.8% of the RPEs were accompanied by housing losses, which were highly prone to catastrophe compared to extreme precipitation at individual stations. These findings have the potential to improve evaluations of the impacts of water disasters.