This site requires Cookies enabled in your browser for login.
Updating ...
WaterNet Home
WaterNet
for
pour le
Canada
Menu
WaterNet
Home
GWFO
Home
Catalogue
Master Index
Data
Centre
X
Find Data By Variable Find Data By Site, Facility, or Deployable Show Near-realtime Telemetry (7 day)
Collections
X
Defaults
Select All
Websites
X
Global Water Futures Observatories (GWFO) Global Water Futures (GWF) Global Institute for Water Security (GIWS) International Network of Alpine Research Catchment Hydrology
Legacy Research Programs
X
Changing Cold Regions Network (CCRN) Drought Research Initiative (DRI) International Network of Alpine Research Catchment Hydrology (Legacy Site) Improving Processes & Parameterization for Prediction in Cold Regions Hydrology (IP3) The Mackenzie Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment (GEWEX) Study (MAGS)
Legacy sites
Map
Utilities
X
Account Settings Create a New Record Record List Alias List Editor
Edit Data Centre
Data Types
. . .
X
Clear
Select All
Advanced Search
Go to Top⇡
Related items loading ...
Fetching Chart ...
Publication Additional Information Download
Publication Type
Journal Article
Authorship
Sun, Q., Zhang, X., Zwiers, F., Westra, S., & Alexander, L. V.
Title
A global, continental, and regional analysis of changes in extreme precipitation
Year
2021
Publication Outlet
Journal of Climate, 34(1), 243-258.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0892.1
Citation
Sun, Q., Zhang, X., Zwiers, F., Westra, S., & Alexander, L. V. (2021). A global, continental, and regional analysis of changes in extreme precipitation. Journal of Climate, 34(1), 243-258. https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0892.1
Abstract
This paper provides an updated analysis of observed changes in extreme precipitation using high-quality station data up to 2018. We examine changes in extreme precipitation represented by annual maxima of 1-day (Rx1day) and 5-day (Rx5day) precipitation accumulations at different spatial scales and attempt to address whether the signal in extreme precipitation has strengthened with several years of additional observations. Extreme precipitation has increased at about two-thirds of stations and the percentage of stations with significantly increasing trends is significantly larger than that can be expected by chance for the globe, continents including Asia, Europe, and North America, and regions including central North America, eastern North America, northern Central America, northern Europe, the Russian Far East, eastern central Asia, and East Asia. The percentage of stations with significantly decreasing trends is not different from that expected by chance. Fitting extreme precipitation to generalized extreme value distributions with global mean surface temperature (GMST) as a covariate reaffirms the statistically significant connections between extreme precipitation and temperature. The global median sensitivity, percentage change in extreme precipitation per 1 K increase in GMST is 6.6% (5.1% to 8.2%; 5%–95% confidence interval) for Rx1day and is slightly smaller at 5.7% (5.0% to 8.0%) for Rx5day. The comparison of results based on observations ending in 2018 with those from data ending in 2000–09 shows a consistent median rate of increase, but a larger percentage of stations with statistically significant increasing trends, indicating an increase in the detectability of extreme precipitation intensification, likely due to the use of longer records.
Program Affiliations
GWF: Global Water Futures
Project Affiliations
GWF-SDEPFC: Short-Duration Extreme Precipitation in Future Climate
Publication Stage
Published
Additional Information
Short duration precip
Download Links
https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-19-0892.1
© 2026 - WaterNet Version 2026-08-10
Global Water Futures Observatories
Powered by
G W F Net
T-2021-11-14-Q1DvQ3kSKTc0yPp7JLWNGQ3DA Publication 1.0