Seasonality of Precipitation over China

The seasonality of precipitation in China during 1961-2013 was analyzed in this study. The high-resolution precipitation data used here are produced based on observations at 2416 stations in China. Results indicate that the seasonal proportion of precipitation in summer over entire China was the highest (56.5%), followed by that in spring (19.3%) and autumn (18.9%), and it was the lowest in winter (5.3%). Large differences also existed among various areas. For example, spring precipitation is the largest in South China, whereas it is smaller than autumn precipitation over a wide region from Northeast China to the Tibet Plateau. The seasonal proportion of precipitation in summer and spring showed a slight descending trend in high proportion areas, while an opposite trend appeared in low proportion areas. The seasonal proportion of precipitation also demonstrated an insignificant descending trend in autumn and a significant increasing trend in winter. The variability of seasonal proportion of precipitation overall was high in summer and low in winter, and a negative correlation existed between the variability and topography height in western China. The location of larger variability varies with season in eastern China. The variability showed a significant increasing trend in both autumn and winter. There existed significant differences in the trend of variability of seasonal precipitation proportion in different seasons or regions.