Climate of the Past Discussions www.clim-past-discuss.net 1814-9340 1814-9359 4 2 2008 10.5194/cpd-4-289-2008 http://www.clim-past-discuss.net/4/289/2008/ http://www.clim-past-discuss.net/4/289/2008/cpd-4-289-2008.html http://www.clim-past-discuss.net/4/289/2008/cpd-4-289-2008.pdf 289 308 2008-03-13 Recent climate change affecting rainstorm occurrences? A case study in East China M. Domroes domroes@uni-mainz.de D. Schaefer Department of Geography, Mainz University, Germany The paper aims to investigate the occurrences of rainstorms and their relationship with the climate change scenario. The study period under investigation refers to the period of greatest recent warming between 1976–2000 whereas the study area covers China east of 105 E longitude. This region is commonly considered to be controlled by the monsoon type of climate over East Asia. Positive (increasing) trends of rainstorm occurrences, both in annual and summer respects, have been shown for subtropical China whereas a non-uniform picture is associated with temperate China. The increase of rainstorms in subtropical China corresponds with an increasing trend of precipitation. At the same time, subtropical China experiences a mostly decreasing recent temperature change. No clear evidence could, however, be proved for a direct linkage between increasing temperatures and greater rainstorm occurrences. Within the climate change scenario a great risk of rainstorm occurrences must be regarded as part of the increasing risk of extreme weather events. Rainstorm occurrences are of a great practical importance as they increase the risk for environmental hazards such as landslides, landslips and floods. Landuse planners must therefore pay a great attention to an increasing number of rainstorms and their adverse risk impact on the environment. Such practical aspects need particular attention in subtropical China as the region of largest increase of rainstorm occurrences and where, at the same time, the mountains and hilly landscapes are particularly hazard-prone to landslides and floods. Chen, K.-Y., Domroes, M., Hsu, S.-I., Schaefer, D., Yau, Y.-M., and Hu, C.-Y.: A study of the secular temperature increase in Taiwan compared with global warming, Geographical Research (Taiwan), 31, 1–13, 1999. Domroes, M.: Observations on Recent Air Temperature Change in Taklimakan Desert, in: The Past, Present and Future of Desert, Proc. Int. Scientific Conference on the Taklimakan Desert, Urumqi, China, 1993, Arid Zone Research, Supplement, 224–236, 1995. Domroes, M. and Peng, G.: The Climate of China, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1988. Domroes, M. and Schaefer, D.: Variability of climatic change over time and space in China, in: Nkemdirim, L.C. (Ed.): Climates in Transition, Washington D.C. (International Geographical Union, Commission on Climatology), 55–66, 2003. Schaefer, D.: Recent Temperature Trends and Rainfall Variabilities in Taiwan, in: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Climate Change and Variability and their Impacts, Commission on Climatology, 29th International Geographical Congress, Seoul 2000, 165–169, 2000. Schaefer, D.: Rezente Klimaänderungen in China? Ein Vergleich mit globalen Trends, in: Geographische Rundschau, 10, 42–46, 2001. Schaefer, D.: Recent Climate Change in China and possible impacts on Agriculture, in: Deutscher Tropentag 2001, Conference on International Agricultural Research for Development, Conference CD, 2001. Schaefer, D.: Visualization of Climatic Change over Time and Space in China applying a WebGIS, in: Herath, S., Pathirana, A., and Weerakoon, S. B. (Eds.): Proceedings of the International Conference on Sustainable Water Resources Management in Changing Environment of the Monsoon Region, Vol. II, 477–486, 2004. Schaefer, D. and Domroes, M.: Recent temperature trends in Taiwan and their spatial and temporal variabilities, in: Mikami, T. (Ed.): Proceedings of the International Conference on Climate Change and Climate Variability – Past, Present and Future, 177–184, 2000. Tao, S.: Severe rainstorms in China, Beijing, Science Press, 1980 in Chinese.