Trends in precipitation extremes over Southeast Asia

Abstract

The authors investigate trends in precipitation extremes using daily precipitation data from Southeast Asian countries during 1950s to 2000s. Number of wet days, defined by a day with at least 1 mm of precipitation, tends to decrease over these countries, while average precipitation intensity of wet days shows an increasing trend. Heavy precipitation indices, which are defined by precipitation amount and percentile, demonstrate that the number of stations with significant upward trend is larger than that with significant downward trend. Heavy precipitation increases in southern Vietnam, northern part of Myanmar, and the Visayas and Luzon Islands in the Philippines, while heavy precipitation decreases in northern Vietnam. Annual maximum number of consecutive dry days decreases in the region where winter monsoon precipitation dominates. Decrease of precipitation event in the dry season is suggested in Myanmar.