| Session Details | |
| Section | AS - Atmospheric Sciences |
| Session Title | Regional Precipitation Extremes: Understanding, Prediction, and Impacts |
| Main Convener | Prof. Xinzhong Liang (University of Maryland, United States) |
| Co-convener(s) | Prof. Chenghai Wang (Lanzhou University, China) Dr. Shie-Yui Liong (National University of Singapore, Singapore) Dr. Srivatsan Raghavan (National University of Singapore, Singapore) |
| Session Description | Extreme weather events impose severe threats to the built environment and cause substantial damages. Observations have shown increasing trends for these events in important regions, especially for precipitation extremes. Global warming as projected will accompany major shifts in precipitation distribution and more frequent occurrences of drought and flood events in the future. These are identified with serious consequences on regional terrestrial hydrology and water quality, and hence on the management of land and coastal resources. While critical, reliable prediction of regional precipitation extremes with effective lead times is a significant challenge. Under global warming, the effects of the projected changing frequency and magnitude of extreme events associated with changes in the climate system are not currently well characterized. This session of the symposium will focus on the recent research progress for the regional precipitation extremes. The topics include: [1] understanding the physical processes and underlying mechanisms for their key characteristics from diagnostic observational and model data analyses; [2] determining the predictive skill and predictability of the historical extreme events from sub-seasonal to interannual scales; [3] projecting the likelihood and uncertainty of future changes in the occurrence and magnitude of extreme events as well as their impacts on terrestrial hydrology, water quality, and costal environment. The primary goal of the session is to increase our knowledge and understanding of extreme precipitation events such that more reliable prediction can be made with sufficient lead times for decision makers to design effective management plans and regional adaptive strategies to reduce the risk of harmful impacts. The session will combine a few invited keynotes of the outstanding issues, oral talks of major research advances, and poster presentations. |