Abstract

Urbanization has become a prominent anthropogenic activity globally, resulting in the substantial modification of temperature and rainfall in and around urban areas. Studies also indicate that rainfall exhibits an asymmetrical shift from light to extreme rainfall, causing both floods and droughts over different parts of the globe. However, to what extent urbanization influences the asymmetrical changes in rainfall and urban drought remains understudied. Accordingly, we provided an investigation of the urbanization effects on both rainfall and drought events from both statistical and model-Based perspectives. Results showed that urbanization generally increased heavy rainfall and decreased light rainfall in the rainy season over five urban agglomerations (i.e., Yangtze River Delta [YRD], Middle Region of Yangtze River [MRYR], Chengdu-Chongqing, Guizhou, and Yunnan) in the Yangtze River Basin during 1981–2020. Specifically, urbanization contributed 42.7% and 30.8% of the increases of heavy rainfall in MRYR and YRD while 30.6% contribution to the decrease of light rainfall. Interestingly, results suggested that the urban regions were more prone to drought due to urbanization. Nevertheless, we also found that the urbanization effects showed some variabilities across different areas due to the interactions with complex terrains and climate patterns. Further model-Based simulations using the Weather Research and Forecasting model confirmed our findings and helped understand the potential underlying mechanism. the current research is expected to provide scientific knowledge for better urban planning and preparedness for urbanization-induced hazards.

Department(s)

Biological Sciences

Publication Status

Open Access

Comments

University of Texas at Austin, Grant 220100059

Keywords and Phrases

urban droughts; urban extremes; urbanization

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

2328-4277

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Final Version

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2025 Wiley; American Geophysical Union, All rights reserved.

Creative Commons Licensing

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Publication Date

01 Feb 2023

Included in

Biology Commons

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