Trends in Seasonal Precipitation over China during 1961-2007

Abstract

Trends in six indices of precipitation in China for seasons during 1961-2007 were analyzed based on daily observations at 587 stations. The trends were estimated by using Sen‧s method with Mann-Kendall‧s test for quantifying the significance. The geographical patterns of trends in the seasonal indices of extremes were similar to those of total precipitation. For winter, both total and extreme precipitation increased over nearly all of China, except for a small part of northern China. Increasing trends in extreme precipitation also occurred at many stations in southwestern China for spring and the midlower reaches of the Yangtze River and southern China for summer. For autumn, precipitation decreased in eastern China, with an increasing length of maximum dry spell, implying a drying tendency for the post-rainy season. Wetting trends have prevailed in most of western China for all seasons. The well-known ‘flood in the south and drought in the north’ trend exists in eastern China for summer, while a nearly opposite trend pattern exist for spring.

Key Words:

• climate trend
• climate extremes indices
• precipitation
• dry spell
• China