Belgium

Analysts have long noted that extreme precipitation appears to intensify with temperature at a rate of around 7%/°C, which is governed by the Clausius-Clapeyron (CC) equation. This study aims to investigate the relationship between the spatio-temporal properties of hourly precipitation and daily dew point temperature. Specifically, the global gridded products of bias-corrected Climate Prediction Center morphing technique (CMORPH-CRT) and ERA5 reanalysis were applied for nine locations in the world. The results show that significant spatial heterogeneity in extreme precipitation scaling is present at the selected locations, which might be attributed to local conditions, such as regional climate and the proximity to humidity sources. Despite the potential limitations, this study provides insight into the application of high-resolution open-access global gridded products in analysing precipitation scaling.

The challenge

Water is one of the most important substances on Earth and covers 70% of the planet. However, freshwater makes up a very small fraction with 97% being saline and ocean-based. While the amount of freshwater on the planet has remained fairly constant over time, the world’s population has exploded, meaning that freshwater is threatened by significant forces, like overdevelopment, polluted runoff, and global warming.