Limiting global warming to a lower level, such as the 1.5°C Paris Agreement target, would substantially relieve populations from precipitation extremes in China, according to a study recently published in Science Bulletin.
The research, which is an extension of climate projections, sheds light on how extreme precipitation changes would translate into social impacts. Taking population into account, even a half-degree global warming increment could result in a robust increase in extreme rainfall-related impacts, particularly in the densely populated southeastern China.
"China has long been overwhelmed by precipitation extremes such as floods and droughts, as a result of the influences of monsoon, complex topography, and the large population. The accompanying social and economic losses are huge. In addition to traditional climate projections, decision-making also requires impact projections," said Prof. ZHOU Tianjun, the corresponding author on the paper.
ZHOU is a senior scientist at the State Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics and CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences in the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is also a professor at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences.
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