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Global Precipitation Trends across Spatial Scales Using Satellite Observations

Journal Article · · Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2]
  1. Univ. of California, Irvine, CA (United States); Nong Lam Univ., Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam); DOE/OSTI
  2. Univ. of California, Irvine, CA (United States)
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Little dispute surrounds the observed global temperature changes over the past decades. As a result, there is widespread agreement that a corresponding response in the global hydrologic cycle must exist. However, exactly how such a response manifests remains unsettled. Here we use a unique recently developed long-term satellite-based record to assess changes in precipitation across spatial scales. We show that warm climate regions exhibit decreasing precipitation trends, while arid and polar climate regions show increasing trends. At the country scale, precipitation seems to have increased in 96 countries, and decreased in 104. We also explore precipitation changes over 237 global major basins. Our results show opposing trends at different scales, highlighting the importance of spatial scale in trend analysis. Furthermore, while the increasing global temperature trend is apparent in observations, the same cannot be said for the global precipitation trend according to the high-resolution dataset, PERSIANN-CDR, used in this study.
Research Organization:
Univ. of California, Oakland, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of International Affairs (IA)
Grant/Contract Number:
IA0000018
OSTI ID:
1541806
Journal Information:
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, Journal Name: Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 99; ISSN 0003-0007
Publisher:
American Meteorological SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (3)

Preliminary Evaluation of GPM‐IMERG Rainfall Estimates Over Three Distinct Climate Zones With APHRODITE journal August 2019
The CHRS Data Portal, an easily accessible public repository for PERSIANN global satellite precipitation data journal January 2019
Spatiotemporal Analysis of Precipitation in the Sparsely Gauged Zambezi River Basin Using Remote Sensing and Google Earth Engine journal December 2019

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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
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