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Title: Global Precipitation Trends across Spatial Scales Using Satellite Observations

Abstract

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.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Univ. of California, Irvine, CA (United States); Nong Lam Univ., Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam)
  2. Univ. of California, Irvine, CA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Univ. of California, Oakland, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of International Affairs (IA)
OSTI Identifier:
1541806
Grant/Contract Number:  
IA0000018
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 99; Journal Issue: 4; Journal ID: ISSN 0003-0007
Publisher:
American Meteorological Society
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences

Citation Formats

Nguyen, Phu, Thorstensen, Andrea, Sorooshian, Soroosh, Hsu, Kuolin, Aghakouchak, Amir, Ashouri, Hamed, Tran, Hoang, and Braithwaite, Dan. Global Precipitation Trends across Spatial Scales Using Satellite Observations. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1175/bams-d-17-0065.1.
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Nguyen, Phu, Thorstensen, Andrea, Sorooshian, Soroosh, Hsu, Kuolin, Aghakouchak, Amir, Ashouri, Hamed, Tran, Hoang, & Braithwaite, Dan. Global Precipitation Trends across Spatial Scales Using Satellite Observations. United States. https://doi.org/10.1175/bams-d-17-0065.1
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Nguyen, Phu, Thorstensen, Andrea, Sorooshian, Soroosh, Hsu, Kuolin, Aghakouchak, Amir, Ashouri, Hamed, Tran, Hoang, and Braithwaite, Dan. Thu . "Global Precipitation Trends across Spatial Scales Using Satellite Observations". United States. https://doi.org/10.1175/bams-d-17-0065.1. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1541806.
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@article{osti_1541806,
title = {Global Precipitation Trends across Spatial Scales Using Satellite Observations},
author = {Nguyen, Phu and Thorstensen, Andrea and Sorooshian, Soroosh and Hsu, Kuolin and Aghakouchak, Amir and Ashouri, Hamed and Tran, Hoang and Braithwaite, Dan},
abstractNote = {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.},
doi = {10.1175/bams-d-17-0065.1},
journal = {Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society},
number = 4,
volume = 99,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu May 10 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Thu May 10 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}
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Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1175/bams-d-17-0065.1
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Cited by: 32 works
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Works referenced in this record:

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journal, July 2016

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journal, December 2012

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    Works referencing / citing this record:

    The CHRS Data Portal, an easily accessible public repository for PERSIANN global satellite precipitation data
    journal, January 2019

    Preliminary Evaluation of GPM‐IMERG Rainfall Estimates Over Three Distinct Climate Zones With APHRODITE
    journal, August 2019

    • Sunilkumar, K.; Yatagai, Akiyo; Masuda, Minami
    • Earth and Space Science, Vol. 6, Issue 8
    • DOI: 10.1029/2018ea000503

    Spatiotemporal Analysis of Precipitation in the Sparsely Gauged Zambezi River Basin Using Remote Sensing and Google Earth Engine
    journal, December 2019

    • Zeng, Hongwei; Wu, Bingfang; Zhang, Ning
    • Remote Sensing, Vol. 11, Issue 24
    • DOI: 10.3390/rs11242977
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