Climate change is expected to generate higher short-term precipitation intensities, which may have negative consequences in terms of, for example, increased risk of flooding and sewer overflow. In this study, extreme precipitation for durations between 30 min and 1 day in simulations with the RCA3 regional climate model (RCM) for Sweden are analysed. As compared with daily observations in the period 1961–2010, the simulated extremes are found to be overall realistic with respect to magnitude, spatial homogeneity and temporal variability. In the ensemble of future projections, from 1981 to 2010 the 10-year 30-min precipitation will increase by 6% until 2011–2040, 15% until 2041–2070 and 23% until 2071–2100. The increase decreases with increasing duration and at the daily scale the percentage values are approximately halved. The values are largely consistent with earlier estimates. Assessment of the impacts on the results of the spatial resolution and the specific RCM used indicated possibilities of both smaller and larger future increases.
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Research Article|
October 08 2013
Short-term precipitation extremes in regional climate simulations for Sweden
Jonas Olsson;
1Research and Development (Hydrology), Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, 601 76 Norrköping, Sweden
E-mail: [email protected]
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Kean Foster
Kean Foster
1Research and Development (Hydrology), Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute, 601 76 Norrköping, Sweden
2Department of Water Resources Engineering, Lund University, Box 118, 221 00 Lund, Sweden
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Hydrology Research (2014) 45 (3): 479–489.
Article history
Received:
November 28 2012
Accepted:
September 05 2013
Citation
Jonas Olsson, Kean Foster; Short-term precipitation extremes in regional climate simulations for Sweden. Hydrology Research 1 June 2014; 45 (3): 479–489. doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/nh.2013.206
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