On the use of indices to study extreme precipitation on sub-daily and daily timescales

While there are obstacles to the exchange of long-term high temporal resolution precipitation data, there have been fewer barriers to the exchange of so-called 'indices'. These are derived from daily and sub-daily data and measure aspects of precipitation frequency, duration and intensity...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental research letters 2019-12, Vol.14 (12), p.125008
Main Authors: Alexander, Lisa V, Fowler, Hayley J, Bador, Margot, Behrangi, Ali, Donat, Markus G, Dunn, Robert, Funk, Chris, Goldie, James, Lewis, Elizabeth, Rogé, Marine, Seneviratne, Sonia I, Venugopal, V
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
climate indices
Hydrologic data
observations
Precipitation
precipitation extremes
Temporal resolution
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Summary:While there are obstacles to the exchange of long-term high temporal resolution precipitation data, there have been fewer barriers to the exchange of so-called 'indices'. These are derived from daily and sub-daily data and measure aspects of precipitation frequency, duration and intensity that could be used for the study of extremes. This paper outlines the history of the rationale and use of these indices, the types of indices that are frequently used and the advantages and pitfalls in analysing them. Moving forward, satellite precipitation products are now showing the potential to provide global climate indices to supplement existing products using longer-term in situ gauge records but we suggest that to advance this area differences between data products, limitations in satellite-based estimation processes, and the inherent challenges of scale need to be better understood.
ISSN:1748-9326
1748-9326
DOI:10.1088/1748-9326/ab51b6