Meta-analysis of urbanization impact on rainfall modification

Even though it is known that urbanization affects rainfall, studies vary regarding the magnitude and location of rainfall change. To develop a comprehensive understanding of rainfall modification due to urbanization, a systematic meta-analysis is undertaken. The initial search identified over 2000 p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Scientific reports 2019-05, Vol.9 (1), p.7301, Article 7301
Main Authors:	Liu, Jie, Niyogi, Dev
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Cities - statistics & numerical data Climate Change - statistics & numerical data Ecological Parameter Monitoring - statistics & numerical data Flooding Floods - prevention & control Meta-analysis Meteorological satellites Meteorology - methods Meteorology - standards Meteorology - statistics & numerical data Models, Theoretical Observational Studies as Topic Photoperiod Rain Rainfall Research Design - standards Urbanization
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Summary:	Even though it is known that urbanization affects rainfall, studies vary regarding the magnitude and location of rainfall change. To develop a comprehensive understanding of rainfall modification due to urbanization, a systematic meta-analysis is undertaken. The initial search identified over 2000 papers of which 489 were carefully analyzed. From these papers, 85 studies from 48 papers could be used in a quantitative meta-analysis assessment. Results were analyzed for case studies versus climatological assessments, observational versus modeling studies and for day versus night. Results highlight that urbanization modifies rainfall, such that mean precipitation is enhanced by 18% downwind of the city, 16% over the city, 2% on the left and 4% on the right with respect to the storm direction. The rainfall enhancement occurred approximately 20-50 km from the city center. Study results help develop a more complete picture of the role of urban processes in rainfall modification and highlight that rainfall increases not only downwind of the city but also over the city. These findings have implications for urban flooding as well as hydroclimatological studies. This meta-analysis highlights the need for standardizing how the results are presented in future studies to aid the generalization of findings.
ISSN:	2045-2322 2045-2322