Author(s): Dorte Jakob
Linked Author(s):
Keywords: Climate variability; Rainfall extremes; Empirical mode decomposition
Abstract: Variability in Australian rainfall is dominated by a number of drivers acting on different spatial and temporal scales. Our current understanding indicates that climate change is likely to lead to an increase in rainfall in already wet regions and a drying trend in dry regions. According to the IPCC, rainfall extremes are likely to increase even in regions with a small decrease in average precipitation. However, the relationship between changes in average and extreme precipitation is not well understood. Rainfall extremes are generally studied on the basis of extreme series, such as annual maxima or partial duration series. By reducing the data in this way, potentially valuable information is discarded. This paper will discuss the use of the Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) to identify noise, multidecadal variability and long-term trends in time series of rainfall data with the aim of understanding the effects of climate variations on rainfall extremes.
Year: 2011