Asymmetrical Precipitation Sensitivity to Temperature Across Global Dry and Wet Regions.

Global warming is expected to increase precipitation extremes. However, the response of extreme precipitation to global warming in various climates remains unclear. Here, we analyzed changes in the sensitivities of extreme and mean precipitation to temperature across the dry and wet regions of the world during 1960–1999 and 2060–2099 using global climate models. Both extreme and mean precipitation exhibited similar spatial patterns; however, the magnitude of sensitivity for extreme precipitation was approximately three times higher (19%/K) than for mean precipitation (6%/K). A higher precipitation sensitivity to temperature was observed in the dry regions than in the wet regions. Dry regions exhibited a four‐ to five‐fold higher temperature sensitivity for mean precipitation, and marginally higher temperature sensitivity for extreme precipitation than wet regions. These findings highlight the importance of implementing adaptive strategies to alleviate the effects of global warming on dryland ecosystems. Plain Language Summary: Global warming alters the precipitation regimes and poses significant risks to ecosystems and humans. In this study, we investigated how mean and extreme precipitation responds to projected warming across global dry and wet regions. We found that the sensitivity of extreme precipitation was three times greater than that of global mean precipitation over land (which implies that global warming is expected to alter extreme precipitation more than mean precipitation). Our results also suggest greater sensitivity in dry regions than in wet regions, indicating that warming is expected to cause higher rainfall variability in dry regions than in wet regions. Key Points: The sensitivity of precipitation to temperature is latitude dependent, increasing over high latitudes and decreasing in mid‐latitude regionsThe response of extreme precipitation to global warming is approximately three times larger (19%/K) than that for mean precipitation (6%/K)Both extreme precipitation and mean precipitation show a greater sensitivity to temperature across global dry regions relative to wet regions [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]