Precipitation has been considered to be a critical water source for both human livelihoods and ecosystems in Central Asia. Using observational data and gridded datasets, we studied the regional and seasonal differences of precipitation climate characteristics and variations in precipitation over Central Asia. Using observational data obtained from the China Meteorological Administration, Global Historical Climatology Network (V3.02), we divided Central Asia into four subregions (North, Center, Southwest, and Southeast) based on the differences in seasonal cycles of precipitation. 'Single peaks' were detected as types of seasonal cycles over the North and the Southeast, while 'two peaks' was the type that occurred in the Southwest. For the Center, the zone of transition between the North and the Southwest, each monthly precipitation value was higher than the Southwest's and less than the North's. GPCC (R 2 of 0.89, RMSE of 64.5 mm/year) was proven to be the most suitable dataset of the four datasets (CRU, GPCC, MERRA, and TRMM) to describe precipitation in Central Asia, based on validation against observational data, and used to detect the spatial and temporal trend of precipitation in Central Asia and four subregions during . No significant trends were observed for annual precipitation in Central Asia, while precipitation in winter displayed a significant increase (0.11 mm/year). Additionally, significantly increasing trends (0.16, 0.27, 0.13, and 0.13 mm/year) were detected in spring, summer, autumn, and winter over the Southeast during 1960Southeast during -2013
Based on daily precipitation measurements from 271 meteorological stations in northern China during 1960–2011, we found that precipitation amount did not show significant trend (p = 0.25). To obtain a better understanding of regional precipitation differences, we divided northern China into two regions and five sub‐regions. A wetting tendency was identified for the northwestern of China (NW), while a drying tendency was determined for the northeastern of China (NE). Precipitation tendencies also displayed regional differences. We determined that changes in precipitation frequency dominated changes in precipitation amount for low altitude areas, while changes in precipitation intensity were the main cause of changes in precipitation amount in high altitude areas. Both precipitation frequency and intensity had an equivalent impact on changes within middle altitude regions of the NW. In contrast, changes in precipitation amount within the NE were mainly caused by precipitation frequency. The effect of precipitation intensity on precipitation amount was not significant. For all of the sub‐regions investigated, heavy precipitation contributed the most to changes in total precipitation amount. The results obtained from this study will be of value to those studying the response of northern Chinese ecosystems to climate change.
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