Strong Intensification of Hourly Rainfall Extremes by Urbanization
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- Yafei Li
- State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Faculty of Geographical Science Beijing Normal University Beijing China
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- Hayley J. Fowler
- School of Engineering Newcastle University Newcastle UK
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- Daniel Argüeso
- Physics Department University of the Balearic Islands Palma Spain
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- Stephen Blenkinsop
- School of Engineering Newcastle University Newcastle UK
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- Jason P. Evans
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate Extremes and Climate Change Research Centre, Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences University of New South Wales Sydney NSW Australia
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- Geert Lenderink
- Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute De Bilt The Netherlands
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- Xiaodong Yan
- State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Faculty of Geographical Science Beijing Normal University Beijing China
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- Selma B. Guerreiro
- School of Engineering Newcastle University Newcastle UK
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- Elizabeth Lewis
- School of Engineering Newcastle University Newcastle UK
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- Xiao‐Feng Li
- School of Engineering Newcastle University Newcastle UK
抄録
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Although observations and modeling studies show that heavy rainfall is increasing in many regions, how changes will manifest themselves on sub‐daily timescales remains highly uncertain. Here, for the first time, we combine observational analysis and high‐resolution modeling results to examine changes to extreme rainfall intensities in urbanized Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We find that hourly intensities of extreme rainfall have increased by ~35% over the last three decades, nearly 3 times more than in surrounding rural areas, with daily intensities showing much weaker increases. Our modeling results confirm that the urban heat island effect creates a more unstable atmosphere, increased vertical uplift and moisture convergence. This, combined with weak surface winds in the Tropics, causes intensification of rainfall extremes over the city, with reduced rainfall in the surrounding region.</jats:p>
収録刊行物
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- Geophysical Research Letters
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Geophysical Research Letters 47 (14), 2020-07-21
American Geophysical Union (AGU)
