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Northeastern United States Extreme Precipitation: Temporal and Spatial Changes

Spatial Trends in Extreme Precipitation: Text

In recent years there has been growing interest and need to understand extreme precipitation trends in the Northeast (NE). This was crystallized the 2014 National Climate Assessment showing the NE, uniquely, was experiencing a substantial increase in the most extreme rainfall

Spatial Trends in Extreme Precipitation: Research
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Spatial Trends in Extreme Precipitation: Image

We leverage several high-resolution gridded precipitation datasets from the Northeast Regional Climate Center, some stretching as far back as 1950.  We seek to use these datasets to replicate the trends in increased frequency of extreme precipitation that were found by station data in the National climate assessment as well as other recent studies

Spatial Trends in Extreme Precipitation: Research
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Spatial Trends in Extreme Precipitation: Research

In addition to affirming other recent studies showing an increase in extreme precipitation in the Northeast, we seek to understand the spatial changes that are occurring in the areal extent of extreme rainfall. To achieve this we utilize the gridded precipitation datasets to create polygons based on isohyets corresponding to areas of extreme precipitation and track those areal changes over the past several decades.

Spatial Trends in Extreme Precipitation: Research
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Spatial Trends in Extreme Precipitation: Research

While the number of individual Extreme Precipitation Polygons (EPPs) does not increase by a statistically significant margin, across the NE there is a statistically significant increase in the area of the polygons.  These results show how extreme precipitation in the Northeast is not only changing in frequency but spatially as well, potentially magnifying impacts.

Spatial Trends in Extreme Precipitation: Research

Collaborators

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Dr. Art DeGaetano

Spatial Trends in Extreme Precipitation: Team Members
Spatial Trends in Extreme Precipitation: Pro Gallery
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