Projected changes of rainfall event characteristics for the Czech Republic

• Published in: Journal of Hydrology and Hydromechanics 2016-12, Vol.64 (4), p.415-425
• Main Authors: Svoboda, Vojtech, Hanel, Martin, Máca, Petr, Kyselý, Jan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Climate change; hourly rainfall; Precipitation; rainfall event; regional climate model; Simulation; Summer; Trends
• ISSN: 0042-790X; 1338-4333; 0042-790X
• DOI: 10.1515/johh-2016-0036

Projected changes of warm season (May-September) rainfall events in an ensemble of 30 regional climate model (RCM) simulations are assessed for the Czech Republic. Individual rainfall events are identified using the concept of minimum inter-event time and only heavy events are considered. The changes of rainfall event characteristics are evaluated between the control (1981-2000) and two scenario (2020-2049 and 2070-2099) periods. Despite a consistent decrease in the number of heavy rainfall events, there is a large uncertainty in projected changes in seasonal precipitation total due to heavy events. Most considered characteristics (rainfall event depth, mean rainfall rate, maximum 60-min rainfall intensity and indicators of rainfall event erosivity) are projected to increase and larger increases appear for more extreme values. Only rainfall event duration slightly decreases in the more distant scenario period according to the RCM simulations. As a consequence, the number of less extreme heavy rainfall events as well as the number of long events decreases in majority of the RCM simulations. Changes in most event characteristics (and especially in characteristics related to the rainfall intensity) depend on changes in radiative forcing and temperature for the future periods. Only changes in the number of events and seasonal total due to heavy events depend significantly on altitude.