A New Approach to Identifying and Analyzing Precipitation Events and Their Typical Lifecycles Over Conterminous United States

Abstract Precipitation is a key driver of the global water cycle and energy circulation, yet its complex formation and dynamic lifecycle make both observation and simulation challenging. Tracking precipitation events and analyzing their lifecycle stages (development, maturity, and dissipation) are e...

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Main Authors: Siyu Zhu, Guoqiang Tang, Songkun Yan, Yu Du, Yue Xu, Mofan Zhang, Mengye Chen, Huan Li, Yang Hong
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2025-07-01
Series:Geophysical Research Letters
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1029/2025GL115640
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author Siyu Zhu
Guoqiang Tang
Songkun Yan
Yu Du
Yue Xu
Mofan Zhang
Mengye Chen
Huan Li
Yang Hong
author_facet Siyu Zhu
Guoqiang Tang
Songkun Yan
Yu Du
Yue Xu
Mofan Zhang
Mengye Chen
Huan Li
Yang Hong
author_sort Siyu Zhu
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Precipitation is a key driver of the global water cycle and energy circulation, yet its complex formation and dynamic lifecycle make both observation and simulation challenging. Tracking precipitation events and analyzing their lifecycle stages (development, maturity, and dissipation) are essential for understanding precipitation dynamics. This study proposes a morphological precipitation event extraction (MPEE) method and a lifecycle fitting model, applied to CONUS404, Integrated Multi‐satellitE Retrievals for GPM, and ECMWF Reanalysis 5 from 2001 to 2021. Intercomparison results confirm the method's robustness, with most correlation coefficients exceeding 0.5 and most root mean squared errors less than 0.7 mm/hr, between extracted events and simulated life cycles. K‐means clustering reveals four precipitation types: common, high‐peak, long‐duration, and slow‐developing events with delayed peaks. The method effectively captures precipitation variability across data sets and provides a scalable approach for studying long‐term precipitation trends. This work lays a foundation for analyzing climate‐scale precipitation lifecycle changes, improving our understanding of precipitation dynamics and their implications for climate variability.
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publishDate 2025-07-01
publisher Wiley
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series Geophysical Research Letters
spelling doaj-art-a325529600d94007895e0dda7bdcfc052025-08-20T03:58:44ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072025-07-015214n/an/a10.1029/2025GL115640A New Approach to Identifying and Analyzing Precipitation Events and Their Typical Lifecycles Over Conterminous United StatesSiyu Zhu0Guoqiang Tang1Songkun Yan2Yu Du3Yue Xu4Mofan Zhang5Mengye Chen6Huan Li7Yang Hong8School of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, and HyDROS Lab at National Weather Center University of Oklahoma Norman OK USAState Key Laboratory of Water Resources Engineering and Management Wuhan University Wuhan ChinaSchool of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, and HyDROS Lab at National Weather Center University of Oklahoma Norman OK USASchool of Atmospheric Sciences Sun Yat‐sen University, and Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai) Zhuhai ChinaSchool of Earth and Space Sciences Institute of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems Peking University Beijing ChinaCivil and Environmental Engineering Stanford University Stanford CA USASchool of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, and HyDROS Lab at National Weather Center University of Oklahoma Norman OK USAHUN‐REN Balaton Limnological Research Institute Tihany HungarySchool of Civil Engineering and Environmental Science, and HyDROS Lab at National Weather Center University of Oklahoma Norman OK USAAbstract Precipitation is a key driver of the global water cycle and energy circulation, yet its complex formation and dynamic lifecycle make both observation and simulation challenging. Tracking precipitation events and analyzing their lifecycle stages (development, maturity, and dissipation) are essential for understanding precipitation dynamics. This study proposes a morphological precipitation event extraction (MPEE) method and a lifecycle fitting model, applied to CONUS404, Integrated Multi‐satellitE Retrievals for GPM, and ECMWF Reanalysis 5 from 2001 to 2021. Intercomparison results confirm the method's robustness, with most correlation coefficients exceeding 0.5 and most root mean squared errors less than 0.7 mm/hr, between extracted events and simulated life cycles. K‐means clustering reveals four precipitation types: common, high‐peak, long‐duration, and slow‐developing events with delayed peaks. The method effectively captures precipitation variability across data sets and provides a scalable approach for studying long‐term precipitation trends. This work lays a foundation for analyzing climate‐scale precipitation lifecycle changes, improving our understanding of precipitation dynamics and their implications for climate variability.https://doi.org/10.1029/2025GL115640precipitationevent extractionlife cycleCONUS404IMERGERA5
spellingShingle Siyu Zhu
Guoqiang Tang
Songkun Yan
Yu Du
Yue Xu
Mofan Zhang
Mengye Chen
Huan Li
Yang Hong
A New Approach to Identifying and Analyzing Precipitation Events and Their Typical Lifecycles Over Conterminous United States
Geophysical Research Letters
precipitation
event extraction
life cycle
CONUS404
IMERG
ERA5
title A New Approach to Identifying and Analyzing Precipitation Events and Their Typical Lifecycles Over Conterminous United States
title_full A New Approach to Identifying and Analyzing Precipitation Events and Their Typical Lifecycles Over Conterminous United States
title_fullStr A New Approach to Identifying and Analyzing Precipitation Events and Their Typical Lifecycles Over Conterminous United States
title_full_unstemmed A New Approach to Identifying and Analyzing Precipitation Events and Their Typical Lifecycles Over Conterminous United States
title_short A New Approach to Identifying and Analyzing Precipitation Events and Their Typical Lifecycles Over Conterminous United States
title_sort new approach to identifying and analyzing precipitation events and their typical lifecycles over conterminous united states
topic precipitation
event extraction
life cycle
CONUS404
IMERG
ERA5
url https://doi.org/10.1029/2025GL115640
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