Article
Environmental Sciences
Eleanor Denson, Conrad Wasko, Murray C. Peel
Summary: This study found that from 1955 to 2020, absolute humidity in Australia remained relatively constant, while relative humidity decreased by approximately -1% per decade on average. This could potentially lead to an overestimation of future extreme precipitation intensities when using temperature or absolute humidity to predict them.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Christopher Purr, Erwan Brisson, K. Heinke Schluenzen, Bodo Ahrens
Summary: This study investigates the relationship between atmospheric variables and properties of convective rain cells, and finds that convective precipitation exceeds the Clausius-Clapeyron rate under current climate conditions. The study also reveals that different cell properties scale with dew point temperature at varying rates, and that wind shear increases precipitation by increasing the spatial cell extent.
QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Bingru Tian, Hua Chen, Jiabo Yin, Zhen Liao, Na Li, Shaokun He
Summary: Global warming has significantly impacted precipitation extremes by altering the energy budget and water cycle of the land-atmosphere system. This study quantifies the global-scale responses of precipitation extremes to near-surface air temperature and dew point temperature using the ERA5 reanalysis dataset. The results reveal a "hook" structure between precipitation extremes and temperature, with various factors influencing this relationship.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Nasser Najibi, Scott Steinschneider
Summary: The sensitivity of AR-induced precipitation to climate change is primarily driven by increases in atmospheric water vapor with warming. This study examines the scaling rates of extreme precipitation with temperature for AR and non-AR events in California using multiple statistical models. The results show that the regional scaling rates for ARs are consistently larger than non-ARs, especially for hourly event maxima. This difference in scaling rates can be explained by the fact that ARs remain near saturated and exhibit more lift and a stronger increase in specific humidity aloft with warming compared to non-ARs.
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Xiangmin Li, Taihua Wang, Ziyi Zhou, Jiaping Su, Dawen Yang
Summary: Based on long-term observations, a peak structure exists in the relationship between precipitation and temperature in most regions of China. The scaling rate decreases spatially from southeast to northwest in the wet season, while sub-C-C scaling dominates most regions in the dry season. Mixing precipitation events from different seasons could result in miscalculations of the precipitation-temperature scaling rate. The significant increases in high percentiles of precipitation in southern regions of China during the historical period indicate that the peak structure does not imply an upper limit for precipitation extremes. Our results highlight the importance of considering seasonal characteristics when analyzing the extreme precipitation-temperature relationship in a changing climate.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Nasser Najibi, Sudarshana Mukhopadhyay, Scott Steinschneider
Summary: A novel hierarchical Bayesian quantile regression model is proposed to estimate the relationship between precipitation and temperature in different seasons, weather regimes, and precipitation percentiles. The study finds that the scaling rates of regional precipitation vary depending on the season and percentile, while the variations across different weather regimes are modest.
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Hayley J. Fowler, Haider Ali, Richard P. Allan, Nikolina Ban, Renaud Barbero, Peter Berg, Stephen Blenkinsop, Nalan Senol Cabi, Steven Chan, Murray Dale, Robert J. H. Dunn, Marie Ekstrom, Jason P. Evans, Giorgia Fosser, Brian Golding, Selma B. Guerreiro, Gabriele C. Hegerl, Abdullah Kahraman, Elizabeth J. Kendon, Geert Lenderink, Elizabeth Lewis, Xiaofeng Li, Paul A. O'Gorman, Harriet G. Orr, Katy L. Peat, Andreas F. Prein, David Pritchard, Christoph Schar, Ashish Sharma, Peter A. Stott, Roberto Villalobos-Herrera, Gabriele Villarini, Conrad Wasko, Michael F. Wehner, Seth Westra, Anna Whitford
Summary: Recent studies have focused on understanding short-duration rainfall extremes and their impacts on flash floods, landslides, and debris flows. With global warming, the intensity of long-duration heavy precipitation increases, with rare events and localized short-duration intensities potentially scaling at higher rates. Further research and international coordination are needed to better detect and understand changes in intense short-duration rainfall.
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY A-MATHEMATICAL PHYSICAL AND ENGINEERING SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Christina M. Patricola, Michael F. Wehner, Emily Bercos-Hickey, Flor Vanessa Maciel, Christine May, Michael Mak, Olivia Yip, Anna M. Roche, Susan Leal
Summary: Extreme precipitation poses a major challenge for local governments, and reliable future precipitation projections are needed. This study found that changes in storm-total precipitation depend strongly on storm type, and the most common type of storm event could lead to a 26-37% increase in storm-total precipitation in the future.
WEATHER AND CLIMATE EXTREMES
(2022)
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Daniel Cotterill, Peter Stott, Nikolaos Christidis, Elizabeth Kendon
Summary: The flooding in South Yorkshire in autumn 2019 resulted in one fatality, over 500 properties flooded, and 1,200 households evacuated. With anthropogenic climate change, extreme rainfall events are expected to become more intense, as evidenced by the increase in extreme rainfall totals and frequency in the UK. High-resolution models are crucial for accurately capturing these changes and predicting future flood risks in regions like South Yorkshire.
WEATHER AND CLIMATE EXTREMES
(2021)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Bohua Wu, Quan Quan, Xifeng Huang, Jiaxiang Deng
Summary: As global warming continues, extreme precipitation events occur frequently in inland areas, seriously affecting human security and the ecological environment. This study investigates the spatiotemporal evolution of extreme precipitation and the response to climatic warming in the Weihe river basin, China. The results show that while the annual average temperature increased with fluctuations, most extreme precipitation indices tended to decrease, except for consecutive dry days and simple daily intensity index. Moreover, the relationship between the 95th percentile threshold and temperature demonstrates a hook structure, mainly influenced by the super-Clausius-Clapeyron and C-C scaling. The results provide important references for predicting climate change and studying disaster risk in the Weihe river basin.
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Christopher Purr, Erwan Brisson, Bodo Ahrens
Summary: Extreme convective precipitation is expected to increase in the future due to global warming, leading to more intense and larger convective rain cells. The scaling of cell characteristics with temperature and moisture shows varying rates, with the most extreme percentiles experiencing the highest relative change. The scaling of dew point temperature provides a good predictor for upper limits of maximum intensity and total precipitation of convective cells.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Water Resources
Mark Maimone, Sebastian Malter, Tsega Anbessie, Julia Rockwell
Summary: This article provides three practical and easily implementable methods to estimate the percent increases in extreme rainfall due to climate change. The methods are designed to bracket the expected range of extreme rainfall intensification for different durations and return intervals, and have been validated through a case study in the Philadelphia area.
JOURNAL OF WATER AND CLIMATE CHANGE
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Benjamin Poschlod, Ralf Ludwig
Summary: This study quantified the range of sub-daily extreme precipitation due to internal variability using the Canadian regional climate model. Results show an increasing trend of extreme precipitation over time, with short-duration rainfall intensities increasing more than longer-duration rainfall. Variations in the scaling of precipitation increase with temperature were significant among the 50 model members.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Timothy E. Wright, Jacob Stuivenvolt-Allen, Grace Affram, Nahid A. Hasan, Cody Ratterman, Wei Zhang
Summary: The changes in stream discharge extremes due to temperature and seasonality are important indicators of the effects of climate change on the hydrological cycle. We evaluated the scaling rates between stream discharge and air temperature and between stream discharge and dewpoint temperature in Utah, and found a positive correlation between extreme discharge and temperature in most areas.
Article
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Maria Carmen Llasat, Anna del Moral, Maria Cortes, Tomeu Rigo
Summary: This paper analyses the spatial distribution and temporal evolution of convective precipitation in the Mediterranean region of Spain. The results show that convective precipitation can contribute up to 16% of the total annual precipitation, but it is generated by a very small percentage of convective events. Moderately convective events are the most common, with summer being the most convective season.
ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH
(2021)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Lindsay B. Hutley, Jason Beringer, Simone Fatichi, Stanislaus J. Schymanski, Matthew Northwood
Summary: This study examined interannual variability and externally forced long-term changes in carbon and water exchange at a high rainfall savanna site in northern Australia. It found significant positive trends in gross primary productivity, ecosystem respiration, net ecosystem productivity, and ecosystem water use efficiency, with radiant energy, soil water content, and precipitation being the dominant drivers of these trends. The study highlights the need to understand fluxes and their drivers from sub-diurnal to decadal scales.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Water Resources
Marius G. Floriancic, Daniel Spies, Ilja H. J. van Meerveld, Peter Molnar
Summary: This study assesses the impact of catchment characteristics on the spatial variability of low-flow metrics, finding positive correlations between specific geological and topographic features and low-flow magnitudes. The random forest model accurately predicts low-flow metrics, but local catchment characteristics may affect their variability.
HYDROLOGICAL PROCESSES
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Yiannis Moustakis, Simone Fatichi, Christian Onof, Athanasios Paschalis
Summary: Climate change-induced changes in rainfall will mainly affect ecosystem responses at dry sites, while wet sites are less sensitive to rainfall changes. Sites with intermediate wetness may face reductions in productivity. Increases in rainfall will impact ecosystems, but changes in the fine-scale temporal structure of rainfall have an insignificant effect on ecosystem productivity.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-BIOGEOSCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Agronomy
Daniela Anghileri, Veronica Bozzini, Peter Molnar, Andrew A. J. Jamali, Justin Sheffield
Summary: In this study, we assess the best proxy indicators for rainfed maize yield in Malawi using remote sensing datasets. We find that precipitation, particularly the standardized March precipitation anomaly, has the highest correlations with maize yield. Soil moisture and NDVI do not add much value to precipitation in anticipating maize yield. We also identify key considerations for determining weather index-based insurances (WIIs) indexes.
AGRICULTURAL WATER MANAGEMENT
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Naika Meili, Athanasios Paschalis, Gabriele Manoli, Simone Fatichi
Summary: Urban heat islands (UHIs) are extensively studied, but there is less research on urban-rural differences in humidity. This study quantifies the seasonal and diurnal patterns of urban dry or moisture islands (UDIs, UMIs) using global temperature and humidity measurements. The results show that absolute UDI is largest during daytime, while relative UDI is largest during night. These findings are essential for understanding the impacts of humidity on urban ecology and building energy consumption.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Jacob Hirschberg, Brian W. McArdell, Georgina L. Bennett, Peter Molnar
Summary: This study investigates the effects of climate and sediment supply on geomorphic systems, and finds that sediment yields estimated from short records are highly uncertain, especially in supply-limited systems. Therefore, determining the geomorphic system response requires sediment supply detection and uncertainty analysis.
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Water Resources
Jorge Sebastian Moraga, Nadav Peleg, Peter Molnar, Simone Fatichi, Paolo Burlando
Summary: Assessing the impacts of climate change on hydrological processes is challenging due to the uncertainty in future climate projections. This uncertainty comes from both intrinsic randomness of climate phenomena and the use of numerical models in predicting hydrological responses. Despite improvements in models, high levels of uncertainty persist, especially at small temporal and spatial scales. By quantifying uncertainty in hydrological projections, this study found that annual streamflow projections are largely influenced by natural variability of precipitation, with small signal-to-noise ratios (<1) in most sub-catchments.
HYDROLOGICAL PROCESSES
(2022)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Michael McCarthy, Fabienne Meier, Simone Fatichi, Benjamin D. Stocker, Thomas E. Shaw, Evan Miles, Ines Dussaillant, Francesca Pellicciotti
Summary: The current megadrought in Chile has caused severe water shortages in central Chile since 2010. Unsustainable melting of glaciers during this period has decreased water availability and exacerbated the water stress in the region.
Article
Environmental Sciences
Jiacheng Zhao, Naika Meili, Xiang Zhao, Simone Fatichi
Summary: The capacity of urban vegetation to mitigate excessive urban heat and its cooling potential during heatwaves are explored in this study. Data from 24 global metropolises from 2000 to 2020 show that the responses of urban vegetation to heatwaves differ significantly across cities, influenced by climate forcing and human management. These findings have implications for future urban vegetation management strategies and urban planning.
ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Jiacheng Zhao, Xiang Zhao, Donghai Wu, Naika Meili, Simone Fatichi
Summary: Tree planting is an effective strategy for mitigating urban heat. This study examines the spatial variation and temporal heterogeneity of tree cooling efficiency (TCE) in global cities, and identifies the potential drivers of TCE using remote sensing data and a machine learning model. The results show that TCE is regulated by factors such as leaf area index, climate variables, and anthropogenic factors, and there is a decreasing trend of TCE with tree cover.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Construction & Building Technology
Taihan Chen, Naika Meili, Simone Fatichi, Jian Hang, Puay Yok Tan, Chao Yuan
Summary: The study investigates the effects of leaf area index and tree crown radius on the thermal environment and provides useful information for evidence-based urban tree selection strategies. The results show that increasing leaf area index and tree crown radius can lead to stronger cooling effects, while narrower streets weaken the cooling effects of trees. This research is important for urban planning and design.
BUILDING AND ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Biodiversity Conservation
Naika Meili, Jason Beringer, Jiacheng Zhao, Simone Fatichi
Summary: Wildfires are becoming more frequent and intense worldwide due to climate change, which can significantly impact forest composition, structure, and function. The destruction and regrowth of vegetation after fires can alter evapotranspiration and downstream water availability. However, the effects of forest recovery on hydrology are not well understood, and the changes in evapotranspiration and water yield following fires are uncertain globally.
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Y. Wang, N. Meili, S. Fatichi
Summary: Investigating modifications in the hydrological cycle is crucial for understanding the impacts of climate change on ecosystems. This study focuses on changes in the velocity of the water cycle over land at a global scale and quantifies the hydrological acceleration through changes in average residence time (RT) of water in the first meter of soil. The study finds that soil water RT is sensitive to soil texture and seasonality of hydroclimatic variables, and the acceleration of the water cycle is primarily driven by changes in precipitation compared to evapotranspiration. Rising temperatures and increasing carbon dioxide have opposing effects on the speed of the terrestrial water cycle.
WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH
(2023)
Review
Environmental Sciences
Yuting Yang, Michael L. Roderick, Hui Guo, Diego G. Miralles, Lu Zhang, Simone Fatichi, Xiangzhong Luo, Yongqiang Zhang, Tim R. McVicar, Zhuoyi Tu, Trevor F. Keenan, Joshua B. Fisher, Rong Gan, Xuanze Zhang, Shilong Piao, Baoqing Zhang, Dawen Yang
Summary: Evapotranspiration (ET), which is regulated by vegetation, plays a central role in water, energy, and carbon cycles. There has been a global increase in ET since the 1980s, primarily driven by vegetation greening. The impacts of specific drivers on ET, such as CO2 fertilization and land use change, are uncertain at a global scale but have regional effects. Improving model validation, understanding key processes, and data-model fusion techniques are essential for better understanding ET characteristics.
NATURE REVIEWS EARTH & ENVIRONMENT
(2023)
Article
Water Resources
Marius G. Floriancic, Daniel Spies, Ilja H. J. van Meerveld, Peter Molnar
Summary: This study evaluated the key catchment characteristics influencing low-flow metrics at different scales and proposed a method for predicting low-flow metrics. The findings suggest that considering local catchment characteristics can improve regional low-flow predictions.
HYDROLOGICAL PROCESSES
(2022)
