Spatial and temporal analysis of dry spells in Greece

Summary ?A spatio-temporal analysis of the dry spells that occur in the Greek area is carried out for an extended period of 40 years (1958–1997). The dry spells can be defined as a number of consecutive days with no rain. The number of days defines the length of the dry spells. The longest spells are identified in central (Cyclades) and the south-east Aegean Sea whereas dry spells with the minimum length are shown over the north-west of the Greek area that reflects the significance of the latitude and the topography. Negative Binomial Distribution and Markov Chains of second order have been used to fit the duration of the dry spells of different lengths. The study of the seasonal and annual distribution of the frequency of occurrence of dry spells revealed that the dry spells in Greece depict a seasonal character, while medium and long sequences are associated with the duration and hazards of drought. Received February 20, 2002; revised September 5, 2002; accepted October 6, 2002     

Spatial and temporal characteristics of wet spells in Greece

Summary This study examines the characteristics of wet spells in Greece, using daily rainfall gauge data, over a 40-year period (1958–1997). The longest wet spells, computed for two different thresholds (0.1mm and 1mm), were observed in Western Greece and Crete, whereas the shortest ones were found in the central and south Aegean. A detailed analysis of the wet spells, dividing them into three classes, shows that on an annual basis their highest frequencies were observed in Western and Northwestern Greece. The seasonal results are also quite similar. The trends and the variability of the mean length of the wet spells were also analyzed. Negative trends were found in the case of the year-to-year analysis and during winter. Finally, this study presents an evaluation of two theoretical distribution models; the second order Markov Chains (MC2) and the Negative Binomial Distribution (NBD), by their adjustment to the empirical data. Both models can be used in the future for an estimation of the wet spells in the area under study.     

Spatial trends of dry spells over Peninsular Malaysia during monsoon seasons

This study aims to trace changes in the dry spells over Peninsular Malaysia based on the daily rainfall data from 36 selected rainfall stations which include four subregions, namely northwest, west, southwest, and east for the periods of 1975 to 2004. Six dry spell indices comprising of the main characteristics of dry spells, the persistency of dry events, and the frequency of the short and long duration of dry spells will be used to identify whether or not these indices have increased or decreased over Peninsular Malaysia during the monsoon seasons. The findings of this study indicate that the northwestern areas of the Peninsular could be considered as the driest area since almost all the indices of dry spells over these areas are higher than in the other regions during the northeast (NE) monsoon. Based on the individual and the field significant trends, the results of the Mann–Kendall test indicate that as the total number of dry days, the maximum duration, the mean, and the persistency of dry days are decreased, the trend of the frequency of long dry spells of at least 4 days is also found to decrease in almost all the stations over the Peninsula; however, an increasing trend is observed in the frequency of short spells in these stations during the NE monsoon season. On the other hand, during the southwest monsoon, a positive trend is observed in the characteristics of dry spells including the persistency of two dry days in many stations over the Peninsula. The frequency of longer dry periods exhibits a decreasing trend in most stations over the western areas during both monsoon seasons for the periods of 1975 to 2004.     

Spatial and temporal characteristics of wet spells in the Yangtze River Basin from 1961 to 2003

Daily precipitation records of 147 meteorological stations over the Yangtze River Basin have permitted a detailed analysis of the spatio-temporal distribution of wet spells during the period 1961–2003 by distinguishing average daily amount thresholds of 90th and 95th percentiles. The analysis are based on several time series, namely the number of the days in wet spells, the longest wet spell and the precipitation amount in wet spells. Time series trends analyses are compiled for each station by means of the Mann-Kendall test, for four sub-regions. The results show that the annual precipitation in wet spells is higher in the southeast area and the eastern Tibetan Plateau than in the other parts. The longest wet spells are found in the eastern Tibetan Plateau for both the thresholds. The indices in wet spells for most stations have no significant trends. In contrast, only some stations in eastern Tibetan Plateau and the lower Yangtze River Basin increase significantly, while some in the middle reaches show significant decreasing trends. The regional trends analysis presents a noticeable downward trend in the middle Yangtze River Basin and upward trends in the eastern Tibetan Plateau for both 90th and 95th percentiles, however, the upward trend in the lower Yangtze River Basin and downward trends in the upper Jinshajiang River Basin are not significant.     

Spatial and temporal variability of consecutive dry and wet days in Greece

The objective of this study is to find out the spatial and temporal variability of the dry and wet spells in Greece, during the period 1958–2007. The meteorological data with respect to daily precipitation totals were acquired from 27 meteorological stations of the Hellenic National Meteorological Service, which are uniformly distributed over the country. The dry spells concern consecutive dry days (CDD); the largest number of consecutive days with daily precipitation amount less than 1 mm, within a year. The wet spells concern consecutive wet days (CWD); the largest number of consecutive days with daily precipitation amount more than or equal to 1 mm, within a year, as defined by the Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices (ETCCDI), jointly sponsored by the Commission for Climatology (CCl) of the World Meteorological Organization's (WMO) World Climate Data and Monitoring Programme (WCDMP), the Climate Variability and Predictability (CLIVAR) Programme of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP) and the Joint WMO-IOC Technical Commission for Oceanography and Marine Meteorology (JCOMM).As results from the analysis, the spatial distributions of the mean annual CDD and the mean annual CWD along with their trends, within the examined period, are presented. The findings indicate that CDD obtain maxima in the Cyclades Islands and the southeastern Aegean Sea, while minima are found in the northwestern Greece. On the contrary, the longest CWD are observed in western Greece and western part of Crete Island and the shortest in the eastern continental Greece and in the majority of the Aegean Sea. On an annual basis, the temporal variability of CWD shows statistically significant (confidence level of 95%) negative trends, mainly in the western region of Greece, while insignificant positive trends for CDD appear almost all over the country with emphasis in the southeastern region. Finally, in order to interpret the drier and wetter periods within the examined period, the 850 hPa and the 500 hPa geopotential height (m) composites of the anomalies from 1958–1996 climatological normal (clino), are analysed using the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis data.     

近50 a华南干湿状态的时空特征

利用华南地区63个气象站1961-2007年的降水和气温资料,采用月干湿气候指数计算华南各月的干湿状态,其结果可以明显区分华南地区的干湿季.通过趋势分析、EOF(the empirical or-thogonal function,自然正交函数分解)分析、合成分析等方法分析了近50 a华南地区干湿状态时空特征.趋势分析结果表明:华南地区2－3月、5月和7－8月明显变湿,而4月、9－12月显著变干,1月和6月变化趋势不明显,即华南地区的秋季旱情在过去50 a有加重的趋势,而春季旱情有所缓解,夏季洪涝则加重.EOF分析表明,华南地区东、西部干湿状态的时间演变位相相反.背景特征分析表明,华南地区干湿状态主要影响因子可能为海气相互作用过程和陆气相互作用过程.     

Trends of summer dry spells in China during the late twentieth century

Summary In the present study the trends in frequency and duration of dry spells in six sub-regions of China were analyzed for the summer-half-year season (April–September) in period 1956–2000. A dry spell was defined as a number of consecutive days without measurable precipitation. For the frequency of short dry spells (length <10 days), significant changes are observed in the North, Northeast and Southwest China. For the frequency of long dry spells (length 10 days) there are significant trends in North and Northeast China; while no remarkable trends in frequency are found in other regions. There are also significant lengthening trends in dry spell duration in North and Northeast China, resulting mainly from the long-term changes in short dry spells. No significant change is observed for the maximum length in all regions. It is found that the temporal distribution of precipitation within the rainy season would notably impact the features of dry spells. An increase in the precipitation amount does not necessarily mean a synchronous reduction in dry spell frequency and/or duration. Seasonal mean anomalies of 500hPa heights in association with the long dry spells show similar spatial patterns over the middle to high latitudes for five of the six sub-regions (with exception of the case of Southwest China), resembling a west–east direction dipole in latitudes about 30°N northwards. For the case of Southwest China the dominant feature in 500hPa heights is the negative anomalies over most middle to high latitude Asia. Among these cases there are recognizable differences, particularly, in the tropical regions in western Pacific. That would provide useful information of circulation background for understanding the climate extremes.     

Spatial and temporal analysis of urban flood risk assessment

广东暴雨强度大、范围广、季节长,造成的灾害重、影响大。为合理、定量地评估广东暴雨洪涝过程强度及其损失,基于1994-2018年广东致灾暴雨过程和相应灾情资料,构建了广东暴雨过程综合强度评估模型和灾情指数模型,并采用百分位数法进行暴雨强度和灾情等级划分,以第60、第80、第90和第95百分位数为临界阈值,分别将致灾暴雨过程强度和灾情划分为弱（1级）、较弱（2级）、中等（3级）、较强（4级）、强（5级）和微灾、小灾、中灾、大灾、巨灾5个等级,进而分析了不同强度等级暴雨过程可能造成的人口、农作物、房屋和经济等承灾体损失。结果表明：（1）1994-2018年间,广东各等级致灾暴雨过程主要出现在4-9月的汛期,5-7月尤其多,要特别注意防御;（2）致灾暴雨过程强度等级与各类承灾体灾情指数存在显著正相关关系：随暴雨强度的增强,倒塌房屋数呈指数增长,受灾人口、死亡人数、农作物受灾面积和直接经济损失呈线性增长;（3）平均而言,当暴雨强度达到强（5级）等级时,受灾人口、死亡人数、农作物受灾面积、倒塌房屋数和直接经济损失标准分别约为187.19万人、22人、10.52×10⁴ hm²、1.12万间和13.07亿元。

     

Spatial and temporal analysis of Middle Eastern temperature changes

The intense interest in the greenhouse effect has stimulated detailed studies of temperature records in North America, Europe, and Australia. In this investigation, the temperature records from the Middle East region (defined here as the land area extending from Morocco to Afghanistan) are investigated over the period 1950–1990. Results reveal a linear, statistically significant, temperature increase of 0.07°C per decade over the study area that may or may not be associated with the concurrent rise in equivalent carbon dioxide from approximately 350 ppm to 430 ppm. Seasonal analyses reveal that most of this increase has occurred in the spring season, moderate amounts of warming occurred in the summer and fall seasons, and virtually no warming has occurred in the winter months. An analysis of spatial controls on these temperature changes reveals a general cooling effect associated with the atmospheric sulfate levels and a warming effect associated with the degree of human-induced desertification. The results of this study may prove useful to policymakers in the Middle East who are confronted with many difficult decisions regarding highly interrelated global warming and energy issues.     

基于遥感与GIS的浙江省洪涝灾害综合风险评估研究

暴雨洪涝是最为频发、多发的自然灾害之一,已成为我国实现可持续发展的严重障碍。开展暴雨洪涝灾害风险评估技术与应用研究,是当今防灾减灾中的一项迫切要求。本文基于应用场景时间顺序从灾前预评估、灾中跟踪评估、灾后评估三个方面系统回顾了前人的研究历史和当前研究所取得的成果,并在对研究现状进一步认识的基础上,提出了当今暴雨洪涝灾害风险评估研究中存在的主要问题,指出了有待进一步研究和发展的新方向。

     

Fitting the distribution of dry and wet spells with alternative probability models

The development of the rainfall occurrence model is greatly important not only for data-generation purposes, but also in providing informative resources for future advancements in water-related sectors, such as water resource management and the hydrological and agricultural sectors. Various kinds of probability models had been introduced to a sequence of dry (wet) days by previous researchers in the field. Based on the probability models developed previously, the present study is aimed to propose three types of mixture distributions, namely, the mixture of two log series distributions (LSD), the mixture of the log series Poisson distribution (MLPD), and the mixture of the log series and geometric distributions (MLGD), as the alternative probability models to describe the distribution of dry (wet) spells in daily rainfall events. In order to test the performance of the proposed new models with the other nine existing probability models, 54 data sets which had been published by several authors were reanalyzed in this study. Also, the new data sets of daily observations from the six selected rainfall stations in Peninsular Malaysia for the period 1975–2004 were used. In determining the best fitting distribution to describe the observed distribution of dry (wet) spells, a Chi-square goodness-of-fit test was considered. The results revealed that the new method proposed that MLGD and MLPD showed a better fit as more than half of the data sets successfully fitted the distribution of dry and wet spells. However, the existing models, such as the truncated negative binomial and the modified LSD, were also among the successful probability models to represent the sequence of dry (wet) days in daily rainfall occurrence.     

那曲地区植被NDVI时空变化及成因分析

利用GIS和遥感技术方法分析了2000—2014年那曲地区植被归一化指数(NDVI)的时空分布特征和变化趋势,探讨了NDVI与几种气象因子的关系。结果表明:空间上,研究区植被NDVI在空间上呈自西向东、自南向北逐步增大,高海拔地区小于低海拔地区的分布特点;时间上,近15a的NDVI总体上呈不显著性下降趋势,NDVI变化可以分为3个阶段,分别为2000—2005年较好,2006—2008年略差,2009—2014年好转。植被面积变化趋势表现为西北部植被处于稳定状态的面积居多,变化较明显的区域集中在中部和东南部地区的人口密集区,改善和退化区域呈现交错出现的特点。那曲地区植被变化的主要影响因素为降水量和热量因素引起的,人类活动在较短时间尺度上对植被也有较大影响。     

Spatial and temporal variabilities of rainfall data using functional data analysis

The paper analyzes equivalent data for a low density meteorological station network (spatially discontinuous data) and poor temporal homogeneity of thunderstorm observational data. Due to that, a Regional Climate Model (RegCM) dataset was tested. The Most Unstable Convective Available Potential Energy index value (MUCAPE) above the 200 J kg^?1 threshold was selected as a predictor describing favorable conditions for the occurrence of thunderstorms. The quality of the dataset was examined through a comparison between model results and soundings from several aerological stations in Central Europe. Good, statistically significant (0.05 significance level) results were obtained through correlation analysis; the value of Pearson’s correlation coefficient was above 0.8 in every single case. Then, using methods associated with gridded climatology, data series for 44 weather stations were derived and an analysis of correlation between RegCM modeled data and in situ thunderstorm observations was conducted with coefficients in the range of 0.75–0.90. The possibility of employing the dataset in thunderstorm climatology analysis was checked via a few examples by mapping monthly, seasonal, and annual means. Moreover, long-term variability and trend analysis along with modeled MUCAPE data were tested. As a result, the RegCM modeled MUCAPE gridded dataset was proposed as an easily available, suitable, and valuable predictor for thunderstorm climatology analysis and mapping. Finally, some limitations are discussed and recommendations for further improvements are given.     

安顺市大暴雨的时空分布特征与物理量分析

利用2009-2019年安顺市6个国家站和77个区域站的逐日和逐小时降水资料、 Micaps资料,对安顺市大暴雨的时空分布特征及物理量进行分析,结果表明：安顺市年平均大暴雨日数为10.1d,年平均影响范围为54.1站次,5-9月是大暴雨出现的集中期,6月大暴雨出现频次最高,影响范围最广,大暴雨的主要发生时段和最强影响时段出现在夜间到早晨;区域性大暴雨比局地性大暴雨出现时间晚,结束时间早,6月是区域性大暴雨和局地性大暴雨出现最多的月份,5-7月局地性大暴雨出现的频率最高;安顺主要出现单日大暴雨,持续2d以上的大暴雨只出现过16次;大暴雨总日数的空间分布有两个高频区和两个低频区,总量的空间分布与总日数基本一致,强度的空间分布呈南强北弱,总站次的空间分布呈南多北少;在5月预报大暴雨天气时要更注重分析T85和T75,6-7月产生大暴雨时对能量和中低层的水汽含量的要求高于其它月份。     

Spatial and temporal patterns of dry spell lengths in the Iberian Peninsula for the second half of the twentieth century

Summary Daily pluviometric records of 43 meteorological stations across the Iberian Peninsula have permitted a detailed analysis of dry spell patterns for the period 1951–2000 by distinguishing daily amount thresholds of 0.1, 1.0, 5.0 and 10.0 mm/day. The analyses are based on three annual series, namely the number of dry spells, N, the average dry spell length, L, and the extreme dry spell length, L _max. First, the statistical significance of local trends for the annual series of N, L and L _max has been investigated by means of the Mann-Kendall test and significant field trends have been established by means of Monte Carlo simulations. Clear signs of negative field trends are detected for N (1.0 and 10.0 mm/day) and L (0.1 mm/day). Second, the Weibull model fits well the empirical distributions of dry spell lengths for all the rain gauges, whatever the daily amount threshold, with a well ranged spatial distribution of their parameters u and k. On the basis of the Weibull distribution, return period maps for 2, 5, 10, 25 and 50 years have been obtained for dry spell lengths with respect to the four daily threshold levels. While for 0.1 and 1.0 mm/day the longest dry spells are expected at the south of the Iberian Peninsula, for 5.0 and 10.0 mm/day they are mostly detected at the southeast. Finally, the elapsed time between consecutive dry spells has been analysed by considering the same rain amount thresholds and different dry spell lengths at increasing intervals of 10 days. This analysis makes evident a significant negative field trend of the elapsed time between consecutive dry spells of lengths ranging from 10 to 20 days for daily amount thresholds of 1.0, 5.0 and 10.0 mm/day. Authors’ addresses: X. Lana, C. Serra, Departament de Física i Enginyeria Nuclear, ETSEIB, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Av. Diagonal 647 planta 11, 08028 Barcelona, Spain; M. D. Marínez, Departament de Física Aplicada, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, 08028 Barcelona, Spain; A. Burgue?o, Departament de Meteorologia i Astronomia, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain; J. Martín-Vide, L. Gómez, Grup de Climatologia, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.