Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Spatial distribution of Diurnal rainfall variation in summer over China

Zhu, Liming ; Liu, Junzhi ; Zhu, A. Xing ; Sheng, Meiling and Duan, Zheng LU (2018) In Journal of Hydrometeorology 19(4). p.667-678
Abstract

Diurnal rainfall variation plays an important role in the characterization of regional climate. Most existing research used predefined region boundaries to study the spatial differences of diurnal rainfall variation, which depends on experiential knowledge and is somewhat subjective. In this study, the k-means clustering algorithm was used to mine the spatial distribution of diurnal rainfall variation from gridded precipitation data over China. First, clustering was conducted according to the hourly rainfall frequency at each grid cell. A cluster number large enough to find the main types of diurnal rainfall variation was used. Then similar clusters were merged according to the peak time and amplitude of the diurnal rainfall variation.... (More)

Diurnal rainfall variation plays an important role in the characterization of regional climate. Most existing research used predefined region boundaries to study the spatial differences of diurnal rainfall variation, which depends on experiential knowledge and is somewhat subjective. In this study, the k-means clustering algorithm was used to mine the spatial distribution of diurnal rainfall variation from gridded precipitation data over China. First, clustering was conducted according to the hourly rainfall frequency at each grid cell. A cluster number large enough to find the main types of diurnal rainfall variation was used. Then similar clusters were merged according to the peak time and amplitude of the diurnal rainfall variation. Each merged cluster corresponds to one type of diurnal variation, and the locations of grid cells in each merged cluster form the spatial distribution. Thus, the classification maps of diurnal rainfall variation can be obtained. From the spatial distribution maps, the conclusions of existing research (e.g., the distribution of well-known nocturnal rainfall in southwestern China, the prevailing afternoon rainfall regions) were confirmed. Some new findings were found, such as the spatial patterns of nocturnal rainfall regions along slopes of the macroterrain and the different types of diurnal rainfall variation in the North China Plain. The diurnal rainfall variation in some regions also shows a close relationship with land cover. The results of this study can provide valuable information for further mechanism studies, and the proposed approach can serve as a useful tool for studies on diurnal rainfall variation in other regions.

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; and
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Classification, Data mining, Diurnal effects, Hydrometeorology, Precipitation, Regional effects
in
Journal of Hydrometeorology
volume
19
issue
4
pages
12 pages
publisher
American Meteorological Society
external identifiers
  • scopus:85047070519
ISSN
1525-755X
DOI
10.1175/JHM-D-17-0176.1
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
6adb7b38-7151-402a-8ed8-b18c6d97f0bc
date added to LUP
2019-12-22 20:19:23
date last changed
2022-04-18 19:49:16
@article{6adb7b38-7151-402a-8ed8-b18c6d97f0bc,
  abstract     = {{<p>Diurnal rainfall variation plays an important role in the characterization of regional climate. Most existing research used predefined region boundaries to study the spatial differences of diurnal rainfall variation, which depends on experiential knowledge and is somewhat subjective. In this study, the k-means clustering algorithm was used to mine the spatial distribution of diurnal rainfall variation from gridded precipitation data over China. First, clustering was conducted according to the hourly rainfall frequency at each grid cell. A cluster number large enough to find the main types of diurnal rainfall variation was used. Then similar clusters were merged according to the peak time and amplitude of the diurnal rainfall variation. Each merged cluster corresponds to one type of diurnal variation, and the locations of grid cells in each merged cluster form the spatial distribution. Thus, the classification maps of diurnal rainfall variation can be obtained. From the spatial distribution maps, the conclusions of existing research (e.g., the distribution of well-known nocturnal rainfall in southwestern China, the prevailing afternoon rainfall regions) were confirmed. Some new findings were found, such as the spatial patterns of nocturnal rainfall regions along slopes of the macroterrain and the different types of diurnal rainfall variation in the North China Plain. The diurnal rainfall variation in some regions also shows a close relationship with land cover. The results of this study can provide valuable information for further mechanism studies, and the proposed approach can serve as a useful tool for studies on diurnal rainfall variation in other regions.</p>}},
  author       = {{Zhu, Liming and Liu, Junzhi and Zhu, A. Xing and Sheng, Meiling and Duan, Zheng}},
  issn         = {{1525-755X}},
  keywords     = {{Classification; Data mining; Diurnal effects; Hydrometeorology; Precipitation; Regional effects}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{04}},
  number       = {{4}},
  pages        = {{667--678}},
  publisher    = {{American Meteorological Society}},
  series       = {{Journal of Hydrometeorology}},
  title        = {{Spatial distribution of Diurnal rainfall variation in summer over China}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JHM-D-17-0176.1}},
  doi          = {{10.1175/JHM-D-17-0176.1}},
  volume       = {{19}},
  year         = {{2018}},
}