Declining Summertime Local‐Scale Precipitation Frequency Over China and the United States, 1981–2012: The Disparate Roles of Aerosols

Jianping Guo; Tianning Su; Dandan Chen; Jun Wang; Zhanqing Li; Yanmin Lv; Xiaoran Guo; Huan Liu; Maureen Cribb; Panmao Zhai

doi:10.1029/2019GL085442

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Declining Summertime Local‐Scale Precipitation Frequency Over China and the United States, 1981–2012: The Disparate Roles of Aerosols

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Declining Summertime Local‐Scale Precipitation Frequency Over China and the United States, 1981–2012: The Disparate Roles of Aerosols

Jianping Guo, Tianning Su, Dandan Chen, Jun Wang, Zhanqing Li, Yanmin Lv, Xiaoran Guo, Huan Liu, Maureen Cribb and Panmao Zhai

Geophysical research letters, Vol.46(22), pp.13281-13289

11/28/2019

DOI: 10.1029/2019GL085442

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Abstract

The local-scale precipitation (LSP) is mainly driven by thermal convection. Here we reveal a decreasing trend in the summertime LSP frequency over both China and the United States by utilizing the hourly rain gauge data from 1981 to 2012. The contrasting aerosol trend likely contributes to this same declining trend of LSP in both countries. As aerosol optical depth (AOD) goes beyond the turning zone of 0.25–0.30, the impact of aerosol on precipitation changes from invigoration to suppression. The mean AOD is generally less and larger than this range and of opposite trends in China and United States, respectively, which likely accounts for the same declining trend of LSP hours in the two countries. The observed boomerang shape points to the importance of aerosol loading, which matters as much as, if not more than the AOD trend, thereby potentially serving as a constraint for climate model evaluation.

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Title: Subtitle: Declining Summertime Local‐Scale Precipitation Frequency Over China and the United States, 1981–2012: The Disparate Roles of Aerosols
Creators: Jianping Guo - State Key Laboratory of Severe WeatherChinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences Beijing China
Tianning Su - Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences & ESSICUniversity of Maryland College Park MD USA
Dandan Chen - State Key Laboratory of Severe WeatherChinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences Beijing China
Jun Wang - Center for Computer‐Aided DesignThe University of Iowa Iowa City IA USA
Zhanqing Li - Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences & ESSICUniversity of Maryland College Park MD USA
Yanmin Lv - State Key Laboratory of Severe WeatherChinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences Beijing China
Xiaoran Guo - State Key Laboratory of Severe WeatherChinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences Beijing China
Huan Liu - State Key Laboratory of Severe WeatherChinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences Beijing China
Maureen Cribb - Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences & ESSICUniversity of Maryland College Park MD USA
Panmao Zhai - State Key Laboratory of Severe WeatherChinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences Beijing China
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Geophysical research letters, Vol.46(22), pp.13281-13289
DOI: 10.1029/2019GL085442
ISSN: 0094-8276
eISSN: 1944-8007
Grant note: DOI: 10.13039/501100002855, name: Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China, award: 2017YFC1501401; DOI: 10.13039/501100001809, name: National Natural Science Foundation of China, award: 41771399
Language: English
Date published: 11/28/2019
Academic Unit: Civil and Environmental Engineering; Physics and Astronomy; Chemical and Biochemical Engineering
Record Identifier: 9984104811602771

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