E-Mail
IMAGE: (upper) Changes in rainfall levels between the 2000 s and the 2010 s. (lower) Frequency of precipitation (0.5mm/hr) and heavy precipitation (10.0mm/hr) during the Meiyu-Baiu season over the years.. view more
Credit: Tokyo Metropolitan University
Tokyo, Japan - Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have analyzed long-term precipitation radar data from satellites and found significantly enhanced rainfall over the most recent decade during the annual Meiyu-Baiu rainy season in East Asia. The data spans 23 years and gives unprecedented insight into how rainfall patterns have changed. They showed that the increased rainfall was driven by the decadal increased transport of moisture from the tropics and frequent occurrence of the upper tropospheric trough over the front.
Tokyo Metropolitan University
Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have analyzed long-term precipitation radar data from satellites and found significantly enhanced rainfall over the most recent decade during the annual Meiyu-Baiu rainy season in East Asia. The data spans 23 years and gives unprecedented insight into how rainfall patterns have changed. They showed that the increased rainfall was driven by the decadal increased transport of moisture from the tropics and frequent occurrence of the upper tropospheric trough over the front.
From the second half of June to the first half of July every year, East Asia is subject to a particularly rainy spell known as the Meiyu (in China) or Baiu (in Japan) season or “plum rains,” from the ripening of plums along the Yangtze River. They are triggered by the so-called Meiyu-Baiu front, where the flow of moist air around the Asian monsoon region meets anti-cyclonic flows around the rim of the western North Pacific subtropical