Projected changes in precipitation extremes linked to temperature over Japan

Abstract:

Recent studies have argued that the extreme precipitation intensities are increasing in many regions across the globe due to atmospheric warming. This argument is based on the principle of Clausius-Clapeyron relationship which states that the atmosphere can hold more moisture in warmer air temperature (~7%/°C). In our study, we have investigated the precipitation extremes linked to temperature in current climate (1981-2000) and their projected changes in late 21^st century (2081-2100, RCP4.5) over Japan from multi-model ensemble downscaling experiments by three RCMs (NHRCM, NRAMS, WRF) forced by JRA25 as well as three GCMs (CCSM4, MIROC5, MRI-GCM3). To do this, the precipitation intensities of wet days (defined as ≥ 0.05 mm/d) are stratified to different bins with 1°C temperature interval. We have also identified the occurrences of precipitation extremes in different spell durations and associated peak intensities exceeding various thresholds in two climate periods. We found that extreme precipitation intensities are increased by 5 mm/d in future climate for temperatures above 21°C (Fig. 1). Precipitation extremes of higher percentiles are projected to have larger increase rates in future climate scenarios (3-5%/°C in the current climate and 4-6%/°C in the future climate scenarios). The joint probability distribution of wet hours (≥1mm/h) with various peak intensities under future climate scenarios (RCP4.5) of the late 21^st century suggests an increase of long-lived (>10hr) and short-lived (1-2hr) events. On the other hand, a relatively decrease of medium-lived events (3-10hr) are noticed in future climate scenario. The increase of extreme precipitation intensities in future climate is due to the increase in temperature under RCP4.5 (~2°C). Increase in temperature causes more evapotranspiration and subsequently increases the water vapor in the atmosphere.