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Detection of trends in precipitation extremes in Zhejiang, east China

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Abstract

Extreme weather exerts a huge impact on human beings and it is of vital importance to study the regular pattern of meteorological and hydrological factors. In this paper, a selection of seven extreme indices is used to analyze the trend of precipitation extremes of 18 meteorological stations located in Zhejiang Province, east China using the Mann–Kendall test. Then the precipitation trends in the plum season (from May to July) and typhoon season (from August to October) are studied separately. The results show that the precipitation trend varies from east to west. There is a positive trend in the east and a negative one in the west. The largest part of Zhejiang Province shows a positive trend in heavy precipitation and the most significant upward trend is detected in Dinghai with 3.4 mm/year for precipitation on very wet days. Although the upward trend of extreme precipitation is not prevailing, the range of increase in specific areas is apparent, like Dinghai with 1.3 mm/year. Precipitation intensity exhibits an upward trend in most areas and a typical upward trend can be found in Dachendao, Tianmushan, and Yuhuan with 0.04, 0.02, and 0.05 mm/year respectively. Precipitation intensity in both plum and typhoon seasons has increased too, especially for the coastal stations.

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Acknowledgments

The present study was financially supported by the Nature Science Foundation of China (Project No. 50809058), the Major Project of Zhejiang Nature Science Foundation (Project No. Z5080048), and the International Science and Technology Cooperation Program of China (Project No. 2010DFA24320). We are also very grateful to the National Climate Center of the China Meteorological Administration for providing all the data used in this study. Last but not the least, many thanks are given to two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Hydrology and Water Resources, Civil Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China

    Ye Tian, Yue-Ping Xu, Shengji Lin, Qingqing Zhang & Zhanghua Lou

  2. Water Engineering and Management, Faculty of Engineering, University of Twente, P.O. Box 217, 7500 AE, Enschede, The Netherlands

    M. J. Booij

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  1. Ye Tian
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  2. Yue-Ping Xu
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  3. M. J. Booij
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  4. Shengji Lin
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  5. Qingqing Zhang
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  6. Zhanghua Lou
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Correspondence to Yue-Ping Xu.

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Tian, Y., Xu, YP., Booij, M.J. et al. Detection of trends in precipitation extremes in Zhejiang, east China. Theor Appl Climatol 107, 201–210 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-011-0472-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-011-0472-2

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