Hourly Rainfall Changes in Response to Surface Air Temperature over Eastern Contiguous China

AbstractIn this study, late-summer rainfall over eastern contiguous China is classified according to hourly intensity and the changes of moderate, intense, and extreme precipitation in response to variation of surface air temperature are analyzed. The e-folding decay intensity (Imi) derived from the exponential distribution of rainfall amount is defined as the threshold that partitions rainfall into moderate and intense rainfall, and the double e-folding decay intensity (Ie) is used as the threshold to pick out extreme cases. The mean values of Imi and Ie are about 12 and 24 mm h−1, respectively. Between the two periods, 1966–85 and 1986–2005, the ratio between moderate and intense rainfall has experienced significant changes. And the spatial pattern of changes in the percentage of moderate rainfall presents a direct relation with that of the surface air temperature. Based on temperature changes, three regimes, regime N (north China), regime C (central eastern China), and regime S (southeastern coastal ar...

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