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Precipitation

About: Precipitation is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 32861 publications have been published within this topic receiving 990496 citations. The topic is also known as: rain & rainfall.


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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The contribution of human-induced climate change to global heavy precipitation and hot extreme events is quantified in this paper, where the authors show that of the moderate extremes, 18% of precipitation and 75% of high-temperature events are attributable to warming.
Abstract: The contribution of human-induced climate change to global heavy precipitation and hot extreme events is quantified. The results show that of the moderate extremes, 18% of precipitation and 75% of high-temperature events are attributable to warming.

925 citations

01 Jan 1967
TL;DR: In this article, a numerical rating system, the response factor, was developed from precipitation and streamflow records for use in classifying the hydrologic response of small watersheds in humid areas.
Abstract: Customary separation of stream hydrographs into overland flow, interflow and base flow has little meaning when applied to most small watersheds. A revised description of runoff processes in forested headwaters relates quick rises in streamflow to variable source areas and subsurface translatory flow, or the rapid displacement of stored water by new rain. Because this makes the classification of hydrograph components difficult, if not impossible, a numerical rating system, the response factor, was developed from precipitation and streamflow records for use in classifying the hydrologic response of small watersheds in humid areas. A simple uniform hydrograph separation method was necessary to make inter-watershed and inter-regional comparison of response meaningful. Long-term hydrograph records from fifteen forested watersheds in eastern United States were separated into quick and delayed flow by computer and ranked according to mean precipitation, quick flow, and the response factors quick flow/precipitation and quick flow/total water yield. Similar data from nine agricultural watersheds allowed comparison of response among twenty-four small basins, systematically revealing important relationships not usually noted. The over-riding prevalence of subsurface flow was indicated and exceptions were pinpointed. Possibilities and advantages of mapping small watersheds or stream networks by a universal response factor were discussed. STREAMFLOW is generated chiefly by processes operating beyond perennial stream channels. This truism alone is justification for detailed study of the means by which precipitation is transformed into streamflow. Classical hydrology has been much concerned with channel and related processes which produce flood volumes and peak stages at critical locations downstream. The main problem on the larger streams has been to relate flood magnitude to flood frequency rather than to source areas. This downstream focus has feft us even today with a poor understanding of source area hydrology, and has contributed to some unnecessary controversy over the source of floods and alternate methods for controlling them. For example, the statement or assumption that all floods are due to surface runoff has persisted in hydrology papers and even in some hydrology textbooks despite much evidence to the contrary in forestry and agricultural research. Virtually all techniques now in general use for estimating flood peaks and volumes, are based on the seldom challenged assumption that a quick rise in streamflow proves that rainfall is failing to infiltrate and is running over the surface of the ground to stream channels. The term interflow was proposed, and is in fairly general use, to refer to subsurface flows which contribute flood waters in some cases, but there has been no general agreement as to what interflow is or how it works. Hursh (1944) suggested long ago that quick subsurface flow was the primary source of stormflow from forest land. But only a few hydrologists have attached any real importance to interflow as a flood phenomenon and it has remained a sort of catch-all term to cover many small watershed processes we do not understand. Despite gradual recognition of the importance of subsurface processes in streamflow, the traditional concept of stormflow as a produce of overland flow has lingered on in virtually all hydrologic

914 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
01 May 1974-Nature
TL;DR: In this paper, the concentrations of ice particles in natural clouds and their ability to predict them from measurements made, for example in laboratory cloud chambers, at the same temperature were investigated, and the results showed that ice crystals play a vital part in the formation of precipitation.
Abstract: ICE crystals play a vital part in the formation of precipitation, particularly outside the tropics, so it is important to know the concentrations of ice particles in natural clouds and to attempt to predict them from measurements made, for example in laboratory cloud chambers, at the same temperature.

912 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors evaluated 20-year temperature and precipitation extremes and their projected future changes in an ensemble of climate models participating in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5), updating a similar study based on the CMIP3 ensemble.
Abstract: Twenty-year temperature and precipitation extremes and their projected future changes are evaluated in an ensemble of climate models participating in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5), updating a similar study based on the CMIP3 ensemble. The projected changes are documented for three radiative forcing scenarios. The performance of the CMIP5 models in simulating 20-year temperature and precipitation extremes is comparable to that of the CMIP3 ensemble. The models simulate late 20th century warm extremes reasonably well, compared to estimates from reanalyses. The model discrepancies in simulating cold extremes are generally larger than those for warm extremes. Simulated late 20th century precipitation extremes are plausible in the extratropics but uncertainty in extreme precipitation in the tropics and subtropics remains very large, both in the models and the observationally-constrained datasets. Consistent with CMIP3 results, CMIP5 cold extremes generally warm faster than warm extremes, mainly in regions where snow and sea-ice retreat with global warming. There are tropical and subtropical regions where warming rates of warm extremes exceed those of cold extremes. Relative changes in the intensity of precipitation extremes generally exceed relative changes in annual mean precipitation. The corresponding waiting times for late 20th century extreme precipitation events are reduced almost everywhere, except for a few subtropical regions. The CMIP5 planetary sensitivity in extreme precipitation is about 6 %/°C, with generally lower values over extratropical land.

906 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a new retrospective satellite-based precipitation dataset is constructed as a climate data record for hydrological and climate studies, which addresses the need for a consistent, long-term, high-resolution, and global precipitation dataset for studying the changes and trends in daily precipitation, especially extreme precipitation events, due to climate change and natural variability.
Abstract: A new retrospective satellite-based precipitation dataset is constructed as a climate data record for hydrological and climate studies. Precipitation Estimation from Remotely Sensed Information using Artificial Neural Networks–Climate Data Record (PERSIANN-CDR) provides daily and 0.25° rainfall estimates for the latitude band 60°S–60°N for the period of 1 January 1983 to 31 December 2012 (delayed present). PERSIANN-CDR is aimed at addressing the need for a consistent, long-term, high-resolution, and global precipitation dataset for studying the changes and trends in daily precipitation, especially extreme precipitation events, due to climate change and natural variability. PERSIANN-CDR is generated from the PERSIANN algorithm using GridSat-B1 infrared data. It is adjusted using the Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) monthly product to maintain consistency of the two datasets at 2.5° monthly scale throughout the entire record. Three case studies for testing the efficacy of the dataset ...

904 citations


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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
20237,839
202214,365
20212,302
20201,964
20191,942
20181,773