Journal Article

Elevation dependent change in ERA5 precipitation and its extremes

Ferguglia, Olivia, Arnone, Enrico, Palazzi, Elisa

2024

Overview

Mountain regions are recognised as hot-spots of climate change. Although the existence of an Elevation-Dependent Warming has been extensively confirmed in several mountain areas of the globe, fewer studies have analysed the elevational stratification of temporal trends of other climate variables, and particularly for precipitation. This study analyses changes in mean precipitation and its extremes in ERA5 global reanalysis data in key mountain areas of the globe, along with their elevational dependence, from 1951 to 2020. These include the Tibetan Plateau, the US Rocky Mountains, the Greater Alpine Region, and the Andes, as representative of different latitudes and climatic influences. Our analysis reveals common patterns of elevational dependent change in precipitation and its extremes in most of the mountainous areas, which emerge beyond their geographical differences. A positive elevational gradient of trends of extreme precipitation indices is found in the Tibetan Plateau, the Greater Alpine Region, and the subtropical Andes, highlighting a wetting effect (positive trends) at very high elevations. In contrast, the Rocky Mountains exhibit a negative elevational gradient, with a drying effect (negative trends) increasing with the elevation. Notably, a simple linear regression proved to be effective to describe the stratification of change in the Greater Alpine Region and the Rocky Mountains, whereas more complex vertical patterns need to be considered for the Andes and the Tibetan Plateau. Mean precipitation, heavy ( ≥ 10 mm) precipitation and the length of consecutive wet days show a consistent elevation-dependent stratification within each of the study areas, suggesting possible common driving mechanisms.

• Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg,Springer,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Alpine regions / Altitudes / Andes region / China / climate / Climate change / Climate models / Climatic analysis / Climatology / Dependent variables / Earth and Environmental Science / Earth Sciences / Elevation / Environmental aspects / Extreme weather / Geophysics/Geodesy / Mean precipitation / Measurement / Mountain regions / Mountainous areas / Mountains / Oceanography / Original Article / Plateaus / Precipitation / Precipitation (Meteorology) / regression analysis / Regressions / Stratification / Trends / Vertical distribution / Wet days