Other Abstract | In recent years, global extreme climate events occur frequently in the world. Studies have shown that extreme climate events are closely related to the abnormal atmospheric circulation and monsoon activities. Eastern Asia (EA) is one of the most sensitive areas to global climate change. Therefore, under the global warming scenario, the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics and future changes of extreme precipitation during monsoon period (May - September) in EA and its relationship with Asian summer monsoon (ASM) activities are the basic scientific issues that deserve to be further investigated. Based on the in-situ daily precipitation observation data of the last 30 years, the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics and the inter-annual variation of four extreme precipitation indexes during the monsoon period in EA are analyzed and the relationship between them and the ASM are discussed. Combined with the reanalysis data, the simulation performances of 29 CMIP5 models on extreme precipitation indexes and the change of monsoon area in EA are comprehensively evaluated. On this basis, the averaged results of the selected models are used to project the relative change of extreme precipitation and monsoon area over EA in the 21st century. The responses of extreme precipitation during monsoon period over EA to global warming as well as its relationship with monsoon area are also analyzed. The main conclusions are as follows:(1)Extreme precipitation during monsoon period is the main component of annual total precipitation in EA. From 1986 to 2015, there are obvious regional differences in the extreme precipitation and frequency during monsoon period in EA, and the regions with evident changes are located in south China and Southeast Asia, the Yangtze River basin and northeast China. In addition, the regional extreme precipitation events during monsoon period in eastern Asia have significant inter-annual variability. There is a gradual increase trend in Southeast Asia, south China and northeast China, while the Yangtze River basin has a decreasing trend.(2) The extreme precipitation events during monsoon period in EA mainly occur during the active period of the ASM, which may be the product of the ASM. The movement of extreme precipitation events is highly consistent with the northwards advance and southwards withdrawal of ASM. The extreme precipitation mainly occurs in the vicinity of the frontier of ASM. There are spatial and temporal differences in the correlation between the intensity of ASM and extreme precipitation. When the ASM is strong, the extreme precipitation in western central China decreases in July and August over western central China, while it increases in July over southern China.(3) The ensemble mean model results can well simulate the spatial distribution characteristics of extreme precipitation index in EA during the monsoon period, however, deviations still exist among the models. The models have the best simulation effect on the total precipitation, while overestimated the extreme precipitation frequency. Compared with 1986-2005, the extreme precipitation in monsoon period over EA would increase in the next 100 years, and the increase will be more significant in the late 21st century under RCP8.5 scenario, with the increase of South China, Central China and Malaysia more than 40%.(4) With the increase of RCPs (typical emission concentration), the temperature corresponding to extreme precipitation during monsoon period over EA would increase in the 21st century. The high temperature rise corresponds to the increase of maximum extreme precipitation. Numerical simulation of a heavy rainfall case indicates that above conclusion could be well reproduced by WRF model. In other words, the rise of temperature will increase extreme precipitation and extreme precipitation process will be more concentrated. Compared with 1986-2005, when the global temperature rises at 1.5℃ and 2℃, the areas with increased extreme precipitation are mainly distributed in the North China, Northeast China, the Yangtze River Basin, and the tropical regions, with an maximum increase up to 40%. Temperature rises from 1.5℃ to 2℃ will aggravate the increase of extreme precipitation in eastern China during monsoon period, and cause the decrease of extreme precipitation frequency in the south of the Yangtze River during monsoon period.(5) The change of EA monsoon area in the future projected by ensemble model results show that, compared with 1986-2004, the monsoon area will enlarge by 2.66%, 2.58% and 3.02% under the RCP2.6, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 emissions scenarios, respectively. The northern boundary of the eastern Asian monsoon region has a weak northwest of extend trend. Under RCP8.5, the monsoon areas will increase more significantly. The expansion of monsoon area has a positive impact on the occurrence and development of extreme precipitation events. |