Global land monsoon regions witnessed significant increases in extreme precipitation over the past century, which was closely related to global warming, according to a study paper on the Journal of Climate.

The global land monsoon regions have abundant monsoon water vapor transmission. However, it is overwhelmed by extreme precipitation, which is more intense than that on the rest of the land, said the paper written by Chinese reaearchers.

Researchers from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences investigated the trend by analyzing the observational extreme precipitation records.

Based on the records from about 5,000 stations, they found significant increases in the annual maximum daily precipitation and associations with global warming in regional monsoon domains from 1901 to 2010.

The domains include the monsoon regions of the southern part of Africa, South Asia, North America and east of South America.

The research is limited with the spatial and temporal coverage of the observational records, said the paper. Thus the quantitive results of the response between extreme rainfall and global warming are still uncertain and need enhanced observation and data sharing.

(Cover image: The monsoon rains. /VCG Photo)

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