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Changes in the characteristics of precipitation over northern Eurasia

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Abstract

Based on observed daily precipitation data, this study investigates the changes in the characteristics of precipitation over northern Eurasia during 1951–2010. Over the majority of northern Eurasia (east of 20° E), the light precipitation days and amounts decrease, but those for the moderate, heavy, and very heavy precipitation increase. Moreover, the precipitation intensity increases, which is responsible for the decrease in light precipitation days and amount and increase in relatively more intense precipitation since there is no significant trend in total precipitation days. However, the precipitation characteristics are opposite over the Iberian Peninsula. We find that the changes in precipitation characteristics are possibly due to the changes in static stability. In the majority region (the Iberian Peninsula), the static stability weakens (strengthens) during 1951–2010. When static stability weakens (strengths), the upward motion increases (decreases) and thus the precipitation intensity increases (decreases). Accordingly, the light precipitation events decrease (increase) and heavy precipitation events increase (decrease).

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (2012CB955604 and 2011CB309704), the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA05090402), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41275083 and 91337105).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Monsoon System Research, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Guanhuan Wen, Kaiming Hu, Xia Qu, Weichen Tao & Hainan Gong

  2. Key Laboratory of Regional Climate-Environment for East Asia, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100029, Beijing, China

    Gang Huang

  3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Guanhuan Wen & Hainan Gong

  4. Chengdu University of Information Technology, Chengdu, China

    Weichen Tao

  5. Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing, China

    Gang Huang

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  1. Guanhuan Wen
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Correspondence to Gang Huang.

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Wen, G., Huang, G., Hu, K. et al. Changes in the characteristics of precipitation over northern Eurasia. Theor Appl Climatol 119, 653–665 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-014-1137-8

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