End of century projections from Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) models show a decrease in precipitation over subtropical oceans that often extends into surrounding land areas, but with...

Heavy precipitation events (HPEs) can lead to deadly and costly natural disasters and are critical to the hydrological budget in regions where rainfall variability is high and water resources depend on individual storms. Thus, reliable projections of such events in the future are needed. To provide high-resolution projections under the RCP8.5 scenario for HPEs at the end of the 21 st century, and to understand the changes in sub-hourly to daily rainfall patterns, weather research and forecasting (WRF) model simulations of 41 historic HPEs in the eastern Mediterranean are compared with "pseudo global warming" simulations of the same events. This paper presents the changes in rainfall patterns in future storms, decomposed into storms' mean conditional rain rate, duration, and area. A major decrease in rainfall accumulation (-30% averaged across events) is found throughout future HPEs. This decrease results from a substantial reduction of the rain area of storms (-40%) and occurs despite an increase in the mean conditional rain intensity (+15%). The duration of the HPEs decreases (-9%) in future simulations. Regionally maximal 10-min rain rates increase (+22%), whereas over most of the region, long-duration rain rates decrease. The consistency of results across events, driven by varying synoptic conditions, suggests that these changes have low sensitivity to the specific synoptic evolution during the events. Future HPEs in the eastern Mediterranean will therefore likely be drier and more spatiotemporally concentrated, with substantial implications on hydrological outcomes of storms. Plain Language Summary Heavy precipitation events are large storms that can recharge freshwater reservoirs, but can also lead to hazardous outcomes such as flash floods. Therefore, understanding the impacts of climate change on such storms is critical. Here, a weather model similar to those used in weather forecasts is used to simulate heavy precipitation events in the eastern Mediterranean. A large collection of storms is simulated in pairs: (1) historic storms, selected for their high impact, and (2) the same storms placed in a global warming scenario projected for the end of the 21 st century. Using these simulations we ask how present-day storms would look like were they to occur at the warmer end of the 21 st century. The future storms are found to produce much less rainfall compared to their historic counterparts. This decrease in rainfall is attributed mainly to the reduction in the area covered by storms' rainfall, and happens despite increasing rainfall intensities. These results suggest that the region will be drier in the future with larger dry areas during storms; however, over short durations, it would rain more intensely over contracted areas-increasing local hazards associated with heavy precipitation events.

Insect physiology is highly dependent on the environmental temperature, and the relationship can be mathematically defined. Thus, many models that aim to predict insect-pest population dynamics, use meteorological data as input to descriptive functions that predict the development rate, survival and reproduction of pest populations. In most cases, however, these functions/models are laboratory-driven and are based on data from constant-temperature experiments. Therefore, they lack an important optimization and validation steps that test their accuracy under field conditions. Here, we developed a realistic and robust regional framework for modeling the field population dynamics of the global insect pest Bemisia tabaci. First, two non-linear functions, development rate (DR) and female reproduction (EN) were fitted to data collected in constant temperature experiments. Next, nine one-generation field experiments were conducted in order to establish a field-derived database of insect performance, representing a variety of growing conditions (different seasons, regions and host plants). Then, sensitivity analyses were performed for identifying the optimal time-scale for which the running-averaged temperatures should be fed to the model. Setting the time to 6 h (i.e., each of the 24-time steps per day represents the last 6 h average) produced the best fit (RMSD score of 1.59 days, 5.7% of the mean) between the field observations and the model simulations. We hypothesize that the 6 h ‘relevant biological time-scale' captures the insect's physiological memory of daily cycling temperature events. Lastly, we evaluated the potential of the developed modeling framework to serve as a decision support tool in pest-management programs by correlating the model predictions with field-observations of three pest control inspectors during 2019. The model successfully predicted the first notable appearance of the insect in the field (completion of the third generation in May). Also, the model correctly identified the sharp rise in abundance (outbreak point) in mid-July (completion of the fifth generation), and the persistent rise in abundance through August and September. Comparing the simulations of the 2018 and 2019 seasons indicated that the model can also serve as a tool for retrospective systematic assessment of major decisions. Taken together, these data demonstrate the model robustness and its potential to provide an excellent decision-making support platform in regional control of pest species.

Soil erosion affects agricultural landscapes worldwide, threatening food security and ecosystem viability. In arable environments, soil loss is primarily caused by short, intense rainstorms, typically characterized by high spatiotemporal variability. The complexity of erosive events challenges modeling efforts and explicit inclusion of extreme events in long-term risk assessment is missing. This study is intended to bridge this gap by quantifying the discrete and cumulative impacts of rainstorms on plot-scale soil erosion and providing storm-scale erosion risk analyses for a cropland region in northern Israel. Central to our analyses is the coupling of (1) a stochastic rainfall generator able to reproduce extremes down to 5-minute temporal resolutions; (2) a processes-based event-scale cropland erosion model (Dynamic WEPP, DWEPP); and, (3) a state-of-the-art frequency analysis method that explicitly accounts for rainstorms occurrence and properties. To our knowledge, this is the first study in which DWEPP runoff and soil loss are calibrated at the plot-scale on cropland (NSE is 0.82 and 0.79 for event runoff and sediment, respectively). We generated 300-year stochastic simulations of event runoff and sediment yield based on synthetic precipitation time series. Based on this data, the mean annual soil erosion in the study site is 0.1 kg m−2 [1.1 t ha−1]. Results of the risk analysis indicate that individual extreme rainstorms (>50 return period), characterized by high rainfall intensities (30-minute maximal intensity > $\sim$60 mm h−1) and high rainfall depth (>$\sim$200 mm), can trigger soil losses even one order of magnitude higher than the annual mean. The erosion efficiency of these rainstorms is mainly controlled by the short-duration (≤30 min) maximal intensities. The results demonstrate the importance of incorporating the impact of extreme events into soil conservation and management tools. We expect our methodology to be valuable for investigating future changes in soil erosion with changing climate.

Meandering channels and valleys are dominant landscape features on Earth. Their morphology and remnants potentially indicate past base-level fluctuations and changing regional slopes. The prevailing presence of meandering segments in low-slope areas somewhat confuses the physically based relationships between slope and channel meandering. This relationship underlies a fundamental debate: do incised sinuous channels actively develop during steepening of a regional slope, or do they inherit the planform of a preexisting sinuous channel through vertical incision? This question was previously explored through reconstructed evolution of meandering rivers, numerical simulations, and controlled, scaled-down laboratory experiments. Here, we study a rare, field-scale set of a dozen adjacent perennial channels, evolving in recent decades in a homogeneous erodible substrate in response to the Dead Sea level fall (> 30 m over 40 years). These channels are fed by perennial springs and have no drainage basin or previous fluvial history; they initiated straight and transformed into incising meandering channels following the emergence of the preexisting lake bathymetry, which resulted in increased channel lengths and regional slopes at different rates for each channel. This field setting allows testing the impact of changing regional slope on the sinuosity of a stream in the following cases: (a) relatively long and low-gradient shelf-like margins, (b) a sharp increase in the basinward gradient at the shelf-slope transition, and (c) gradually steepening slopes. Under a stable and low valley slope, the channels mainly incise vertically, inheriting a preexisting sinuous pattern. When the regional slope steepens, the channels start to meander, accompanying the vertical incision. The highest sinuosity evolved in the steepest channel, which also developed the deepest and widest valley. These results emphasize the amplifying impact of steepening regional slope on sinuosity. This holds when the flow is confined and chute cutoffs are scarce.

Abstract Orographic impact on extreme subdaily precipitation is critical for risk management but remains insufficiently understood due to complicated atmosphere-orography interactions and large uncertainties. We investigate the problem adopting a framework able to reduce uncertainties and isolate the systematic interaction of Mediterranean cyclones with a regular orographic barrier. The average decrease with elevation reported for hourly extremes is found enhanced at subhourly durations. Tail heaviness of 10-min intensities is negligibly affected by orography, suggesting self-similarity of the distributions at the convective scale. Orography decreases the tail heaviness at longer durations, with a maximum impact around hourly scales. These observations are explained by an orographically induced redistribution of precipitation toward stratiform-like processes, and by the succession of convective cores in multihour extremes. Our results imply a breaking of scale-invariance at subhourly durations, with important implications for natural hazards management in mountainous areas.

Abstract Projections of extreme precipitation based on modern climate models suffer from large uncertainties. Specifically, unresolved physics and natural variability limit the ability of climate models to provide actionable information on impacts and risks at the regional, watershed and city scales relevant for practical applications. Here, we show that the interaction of precipitating systems with local features can constrain the statistical description of extreme precipitation. These observational constraints can be used to project local extremes of low yearly exceedance probability (e.g., 100-year events) using synoptic-scale information from climate models, which is generally represented more accurately than the local scales, and without requiring climate models to explicitly resolve extremes. The novel approach, demonstrated here over the south-eastern Mediterranean, offers a path for improving the predictability of local statistics of extremes in a changing climate, independent of pending improvements in climate models at regional and local scales.

Precipitation extremes and associated hydrological hazards pose a significant global risk to society and economy. To be effective, mitigation strategies require the best possible estimation of the intensity and frequency of precipitation extremes. Traditional approaches to precipitation frequency analysis rely on long-term records from in-situ observations, which are limited in terms of global coverage. Satellite-based precipitation products provide global coverage, but errors in these estimates may lead to large biases in the quantification of extremes. Previous studies have demonstrated the ability of the novel Metastatistical Extreme Value Distribution (MEVD) framework to provide robust estimates of high quantiles in the presence of short-term data records and the uncertainties typical of remote sensing precipitation products. Here, we evaluate MEVD-based precipitation frequency analyses for four widely used quasi-global precipitation products (IMERG-v6, GSMaP-v6, CMORPH-v1.0, and MSWEP-v2) over high-density gauge networks in five hydroclimatic regions (Austria, Italy, Florida, Texas, and Arizona). We show dependence of MEVD-based estimation error on the characteristics of each dataset and the hydroclimatic region. Additionally, we evaluate the sub-grid variability of extreme precipitation and demonstrate the impact of spatial scale mismatch (that is, single in-situ gauge versus satellite pixel) on the frequency analysis of extremes. This work provides an assessment of the use of MEVD for estimating precipitation extremes from globally available datasets and an understanding of the variability of sub-daily precipitation extremes in different hydroclimatic regions of the world.

At site flood frequency analysis (FFA) in arid/semi-arid watersheds poses unique challenges to researchers and practitioners due to the generally limited data records. This study presents a comprehensive evaluation of FFA in arid/semi-arid watersheds in relation to the unique characteristics of these regions, such as the limited number of floods occurring each year and the large variability of the flood peak discharges. Study cases in Israel and the US are examined and compared with non-arid watersheds, characterized by Mediterranean climate, and with synthetic flood records. Results show that the tail of extreme value distributions describing arid/semi-arid watersheds is found to be heavier than the one describing Mediterranean watersheds. The number of yearly floods and the variability of flood peak discharge are shown to have a crucial impact on the accuracy of the quantile estimates with smaller number of events per year and larger coefficient of variation of flood peak discharge being related to larger errors in the estimated quantiles. Partial duration series approach provides a slightly reduced bias in the estimates, but should not be blindly preferred over annual maxima series as it presents comparable estimation uncertainty. In general, the generalized extreme value and the generalized Pareto distribution are found to be non-optimal choices for the examined arid/semi-arid watersheds.

The metastatistical extreme value approach proved promising in the frequency analysis of daily precipitation from ordinary events, outperforming traditional methods based on sampled extremes. However, subdaily applications are currently restrained by two knowledge gaps: It is not known if ordinary events can be consistently examined over durations, and it is not clear to what extent their entire distributions represent extremes. We propose here a unified definition of ordinary events across durations and suggest the simplified metastatistical extreme value formulation for dealing with extremes emerging from the tail, rather than the entire distributions, of ordinary events. This unified framework provides robust estimates of extreme quantiles (\textless10% error on the 100 yr from a 26 yr long record) and allows representations in which ordinary and extreme events share the scaling exponent. Future applications could improve our knowledge of subdaily extreme precipitation and help investigate the impact of local factors and climatic forcing on their frequency.

Abstract Water volume estimates of shallow desert lakes are the basis for water balance calculations, important both for water resource management and paleohydrology/climatology. Water volumes are typically inferred from bathymetry mapping; however, being shallow, ephemeral and remote, bathymetric surveys are scarce in such lakes. We propose a new, remote-sensing based, method to derive the bathymetry of such lakes using the relation between water occurrence, during \textgreater30-yr of optical satellite data, and accurate elevation measurements from the new Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2). We demonstrate our method at three locations where we map bathymetries with \~0.3 m error. This method complements other remotely sensed, bathymetry-mapping methods as it can be applied to: (a) complex lake systems with sub-basins, (b) remote lakes with no in-situ records, and (c) flooded lakes. The proposed method can be easily implemented in other shallow lakes as it builds on publically accessible global data sets.

Flood-fed aquifers along the sandy lower reach of the Kuiseb River sustain a 130-km-long green belt of lush oases across the hyperarid Namib desert. This oasis is a year-round source for water creating dense-tall woodland along the narrow corridor of the ephemeral river valley, which, in turn, supports human activity and fauna including during the long dry austral winters and multi-year droughts. Occasional floods, originating at the river's wetter headwaters, travel ∼280 km downstream, before recharging these aquifers. We analyzed the flood-aquifer-vegetation dynamics at-a-site and along the river, determining the relative impact of floods with diverse magnitude and frequency on downstream reaches. We find that flood discharge that feeds the alluvial aquifers also affects vegetation dynamics along the river. The downstream aquifers are fed only by the largest floods that allow the infrequent germination of plants; mean annual recharge volume is too low to support the aquifers level. These short-term vegetation cycles of green-up and then fast senescence in-between floods are easily detected by satellite-derived vegetation index. This index identifies historical floods and their magnitudes in arid and hyperarid regions; specifically, it determines occurrences of large floods in headwater-fed, ephemeral Namib streams as well as in other hyperarid regions. Our study reveals the importance of flood properties on the oasis life cycle, emphasizing the impact of drought and wet years on the Namib's riparian vegetation.

The performances of hydrological models in arid areas are significantly lower than other climates. The reasons are numerous, from the scales involved, to specific processes and the lack of adequate measurements. Effective parameters have been often observed to change between runoff events, limiting the predictive capacity of the models. We look at the problems that can be found in an operational setting and present an analysis to improve the understanding of the errors. Our method characterizes the conditions where the model fails systematically, and the conditions where the parameterization holds between floods. We applied KINEROS2 to 24 years of radar rainfall and streamflow data in 6 arid catchments. A GLUE probabilistic framework is used to characterize model performance, and a method is developed to identify floods with similar calibration. The analysis shows that uninformative conditions are difficult to generalize. A basin-specific analysis can help to identify conditions where the model fails and exclude them from calibration. Despite the large uncertainties, similar catchments display groups of floods with similar parameterization. In some basin we find that it is important to quantify antecedent moisture conditions. Hydrological models show some consistency within limited conditions. These conditions, however, depend on the errors involved, and are site-specific. There is some potential for parameter transfer, but proximity alone might not be enough, and other factors such as mean annual rainfall or storm type, should be taken into account.

Abstract Documenting hillslope response to hydroclimatic forcing is crucial to our understanding of landscape evolution. The evolution of talus-pediment sequences (talus flatirons) in arid areas was often linked to climatic cycles, although the physical processes that may account for such a link remain obscure. Our approach is to integrate field measurements, remote sensing of rainfall and modeling to link between storm frequency, runoff, erosion and sediment transport. We present a quantitative hydrometeorological analysis of rainstorms, their geomorphic impact and their potential role in the evolution of hyperarid talus-pediment slopes in the Negev desert, Israel. Rainstorm properties were defined based on intensity–duration–frequency curves and using a rainfall simulator, artificial rainstorms were executed in the field. Then, the obtained measured experimental results were up-scaled to the entire slope length using a fully distributed hydrological model. In addition, natural storms and their hydro-geomorphic impacts were monitored using X-band radar and time-lapse cameras. These integrated analyses constrain the rainfall threshold for local runoff generation at rain intensity of 14 to 22 mm h-1 for a duration of five minutes and provide a high-resolution characterization of small-scale runoff-generating rain cells. The current frequency of such runoff-producing rainstorms is \~1–3 per year. However, extending this local value into the full extent of hillslope runoff indicates that it occurs only under rainstorms with ≥ 100-years return interval, or 1% annual exceedance probability. Sheetwash efficiency rises with downslope distance; beyond a threshold distance of \~100 m, runoff during rainstorms with such annual exceedance probability are capable of transporting surface clasts. The erosion efficiency of these discrete rare events highlights their potential importance in shaping the landscape of arid regions. Our results support the hypothesis that a shift in the properties and frequency of extreme events can trigger significant geomorphic transitions in areas that remained hyperarid during the entire Quaternary. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Heavy precipitation events (HPEs) can lead to natural hazards (e.g. floods and debris flows) and contribute to water resources. Spatiotemporal rainfall patterns govern the hydrological, geomorphological, and societal effects of HPEs. Thus, a correct characterisation and prediction of rainfall patterns is crucial for coping with these events. Information from rain gauges is generally limited due to the sparseness of the networks, especially in the presence of sharp climatic gradients. Forecasting HPEs depends on the ability of weather models to generate credible rainfall patterns. This paper characterises rainfall patterns during HPEs based on high-resolution weather radar data and evaluates the performance of a high-resolution, convection-permitting Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model in simulating these patterns. We identified 41 HPEs in the eastern Mediterranean from a 24-year radar record using local thresholds based on quantiles for different durations, classified these events into two synoptic systems, and ran model simulations for them. For most durations, HPEs near the coastline were characterised by the highest rain intensities; however, for short durations, the highest rain intensities were found for the inland desert. During the rainy season, the rain field's centre of mass progresses from the sea inland. Rainfall during HPEs is highly localised in both space (less than a 10 km decorrelation distance) and time (less than 5 min). WRF model simulations were accurate in generating the structure and location of the rain fields in 39 out of 41 HPEs. However, they showed a positive bias relative to the radar estimates and exhibited errors in the spatial location of the heaviest precipitation. Our results indicate that convection-permitting model outputs can provide reliable climatological analyses of heavy precipitation patterns; conversely, flood forecasting requires the use of ensemble simulations to overcome the spatial location errors.

AbstractWhile CMIP5 models robustly project drying of the subtropics and more precipitation in the tropics and subpolar latitudes by the end of the century, the magnitude of these changes in precipitation varies widely across models: for example, some models simulate no drying in the eastern Mediterranean while others simulate more than a 50% reduction in precipitation relative to the model-simulated present-day value. Furthermore, the factors leading to changes in local subtropical precipitation remain unclear. The importance of zonal-mean changes in atmospheric structure for local precipitation changes is explored in 42 CMIP5 models. It is found that up to half of the local intermodel spread over the Mediterranean, northern Mexico, East Asia, southern Africa, southern Australia, and southern South America is related to the intermodel spread in large-scale processes such as the magnitude of globally averaged surface temperature increases, Hadley cell widening, polar amplification, stabilization of the tropical upper troposphere, or changes in the polar stratosphere. Globally averaged surface temperature increases account for intermodel spread in land subtropical drying in the Southern Hemisphere but are not important for land drying adjacent to the Mediterranean. The factors associated with drying over the eastern Mediterranean and western Mediterranean differ, with stabilization of the tropical upper troposphere being a crucial factor for the former only. Differences in precipitation between the western and eastern Mediterranean are also evident on interannual time scales. In contrast, the global factors examined here are unimportant over most of the United States, and more generally over the interior of continents. Much of the rest of the spread can be explained by variations in local relative humidity, a proxy also for zonally asymmetric circulation and thermodynamic changes.