Response of extreme precipitation to climatic warming in the Weihe river basin, China and its mechanism

As global warming continues, extreme precipitation events occur frequently in inland areas, seriously affecting human security and the ecological environment. Spatiotemporal evolution of extreme precipitation as well as response of extreme precipitation to climatic warming and its mechanism were investigated by considering the Weihe river basin in a monsoon transition zone of China as a research object. The results indicate that while the annual average temperature of the Weihe river basin increased with fluctuations from 1966 to 2017, except for the consecutive dry days (CDD) and simple daily intensity index that increased slightly, the other extreme precipitation indices (consecutive wet days, R25, and Rx5day) tended to decrease. Moreover, except for the CDD, the other four indices gradually increased from the northwest to the southeast, showing a similar trend to the temperature. The relationship between the 95th percentile threshold and temperature (hereinafter referred to as the P (95d)-T relationship) in the Weihe river basin demonstrates the hook structure and its strength in terms of response is mainly dominated by the super-Clausius-Clapeyron (C-C) and C-C scaling. Furthermore, the peak temperature rises gradually from the northwest to the southeast. The results can provide important reference for the prediction of climate change and future studies of disaster risk in the Weihe river basin.

Automated 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.