Title: Precipitation Response to Global Warming
Lecturer: Prof. Aiguo Dai (University at Albany, State University of New York, USA)
Inviter: Prof. Danqing Huang, Prof. Yaocun Zhang
Time: Friday April 25, 2025 at 10:00 AM
Venue: Lecture Hall D103, School of Atmospheric Sciences
Abstract: Precipitation is arguably the most important weather and climate variable. How precipitation may change under anthropogenic global warming is of great concern. In this lecture, I will first discuss the key precipitation characteristics, model biases in simulating these characteristics, thermodynamic and energetic constraints on global-mean precipitation, and the effect of internal variability on precipitation trends. I will then examine how precipitation has changed in recent decades, followed by model-projected changes in precipitation amount, frequency, and intensity. Finally, I will discuss the key mechanisms underlying the model-projected precipitation changes, especially on the causes of decreasing light-moderate precipitation under global warming.
Brief introduction to the speaker: Dr. Dai is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Atmospheric & Environmental Sciences at the University at Albany, State University of New York, USA. He is an internationally renowned climate scientist with a focus on climate variability and change. With more than 200 peer-reviewed publications, he has received 68,000-plus citations with an H-index of 94. He is an AMS and AGU Fellow.