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Arid Land Geography ›› 2020, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (6): 1467-1476.doi: 10.12118/j.issn.1000-6060.2020.06.07

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Characteristics of hourly precipitation in Lhasa during 2005—2017

Duodianluozhu1, 2, ZHOU Shun-wu1, ZHENG Dan1, WANG Chuan-hui3, CHI Qu1, 2   

  1. 1 Nanjing University of Information Science &Technology, Nanjing 210044, Jiangsu, China; 2 Meteorological Observatory of Tibet Autonomous Region, Lhasa 850000, Tibet, China; 3 Anhui Provincial Meteorological Bureau, Hefei 230061, Anhui, China
  • Received:2019-12-11 Revised:2020-10-20 Online:2020-11-25 Published:2020-11-25

Abstract: Based on the hourly ground observation data of Lhasa station, Tibet, China during flood season (May to September) from 2005 to 2017, the variation characteristics of annual hourly precipitation (total, frequency, and intensity of precipitation) at the station are analyzed, discussing the daily cycle signal of hourly precipitation with harmonic analysis method. The frequency of hourly precipitation and its contribution to total precipitation are compared finally for different durations and grades. Results show that: (1) The diurnal variations of annual hourly precipitation in Lhasa are characterized by a“single peak”distribution, which appears at night. (2) The changes of hourly precipitation in Lhasa during the flood season is a full-day cycle, and the daily cycle signal is the strongest during midsummer (July to August). (3) According to the duration, the flood season in Lhasa can be divided into three types: short duration (1- 3 h), medium duration (4- 6 h), and long duration (>6 h), in which the short (long) duration of precipitation occurs most frequently (less), but its contribution rate is the smallest (large). Moreover, the daily peak value of short-term precipitation occurs in the afternoon to the middle of the night, while the daily peak value of mid-and long-term precipitation occurs in the second half of the night. (4) The contribution rate of light rain (1≤r<3) and moderate rain (r≥3) to the total precipitation is significantly greater than that of the light rain (0.1≤r< 1). As precipitation levels rise, the probability of night rain increases.

Key words: hourly precipitation, diurnal variation, harmonic analysis, precipitation duration, precipitation level