Decreasing Trend in Summer Precipitation over the Western Sichuan Basin since the 1950s

Abstract

Changing precipitation in the densely populated Sichuan basin may have a great impact on human life. This study analyzes the change in summer precipitation since 1951 over the western Sichuan basin, one of the regions of the heaviest rainfall in China, by using two datasets provided by the Chinese Meteorological Data Center. The results indicate that summer (from June to September) precipitation over the western Sichuan basin shows a significantly decreasing trend. The summer precipitation over this region has decreased by about 20% since the 1950s, with a rate of decrease of about 40 mm per decade.