1. The INTENSE project: using observations and models to understand the past, present and future of sub-daily rainfall extremes
- Author
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Blenkinsop, S., Fowler, H.J., Barbero, R., Chan, S.C., Guerreiro, S.B., Kendon, E., Lenderink, G., Lewis, E., Li, X.F., Westra, S., Alexander, L., Allan, R.P., Berg, Peer, Dunn, R.J.H., Ekström, M., Evans, J.P., Holland, G., Jones, R., Kjellström, E., Klein-Tank, A., Lettenmaier, D., Mishra, V., Prein, A.F., Sheffield, J., Tye, M.R., SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING UNIVERSITY OF NEWCASTLE NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE GBR, Partenaires IRSTEA, Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture (IRSTEA)-Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture (IRSTEA), Risques, Ecosystèmes, Vulnérabilité, Environnement, Résilience (RECOVER), Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture (IRSTEA)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU), MET OFFICE HADLEY CENTRE EXETER GBR, KNMI ROYAL NETHERLANDS METEOROLOGICAL INSTITUTE DE BILT NLD, SCHOOL OF CIVIL ENVIRONMENTAL AND MINING ENGINEERING UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE AUS, CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH CENTRE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES SYDNEY AUS, UNIVERSITY OF READING GBR, and SMHI NORRK
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[SDE]Environmental Sciences - Abstract
National audience; Historical in situ sub-daily rainfall observations are essential for the understanding of short-duration rainfall extremes but records are typically not readily accessible and data are often subject to errors and inhomogeneities. Furthermore, these events are poorly quantified in projections of future climate change making adaptation to the risk of flash flooding problematic. Consequently, knowledge of the processes contributing to intense, short-duration rainfall is less complete compared with those on daily timescales. The INTENSE project is addressing this global challenge by undertaking a data collection initiative that is coupled with advances in high-resolution climate modelling to better understand key processes and likely future change. The project has so far acquired data from over 23 000 rain gauges for its global sub-daily rainfall dataset (GSDR) and has provided evidence of an intensification of hourly extremes over the US. Studies of these observations, combined with model simulations, will continue to advance our understanding of the role of local-scale thermodynamics and large-scale atmospheric circulation in the generation of these events and how these might change in the future.
- Published
- 2018
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