Abstract
Bangladesh is under the strong influence of the South Asian monsoon. Extensive damages caused by frequent severe flood events in this country call for a study of nationwide precipitation climatology. Here, we examine spatiotemporal variations of precipitation in Bangladesh using rain gauge data at 35 stations for the period 2003–2016. The annual precipitation amount in Bangladesh is 2263 mm, and it shows large spatial variations. The annual precipitation amount is large in the southeastern coastal region of the country and the region close to the Meghalaya Plateau, and it is small in the west central region. 17% and 73% of the annual precipitation amount are observed in the pre-monsoon season (March to May) and monsoon season (June to September), respectively. The pattern of the diurnal variation of precipitation differs depending on regions of Bangladesh. In the northern region of the country, the precipitation maximum occurs in the late night to early morning in both the pre-monsoon and monsoon seasons. The late night to early morning maximum of precipitation is associated with the large horizontal convergence of low-level water vapor flux. The Himalaya Mountains and the Meghalaya Plateau together with more nighttime moisture transport due to the strengthened nighttime low-level wind seem to play roles in enhancing nighttime precipitation. In the southwestern region of the country, the precipitation maximum is observed in the early evening in the pre-monsoon season, which is associated with the large convective instability in the afternoon, and it is observed in the early afternoon in the monsoon season. In the southeastern region of the country, the diurnal variability of precipitation is smallest in the pre-monsoon season compared with other regions of the country in the pre-monsoon and monsoon seasons and the precipitation maximum occurs in the late night to early morning in the monsoon season.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ahmed, M.K., Alam, M.S., Yousuf, A.H.M., Islam, M.M.: A long-term trend in precipitation of different spatial regions of Bangladesh and its teleconnections with El Niño/southern oscillation and Indian Ocean dipole. Theor. Appl. Climatol. 129, 473–486 (2017)
Ahmed, R., Karmakar, S.: Arrival and withdrawal dates of the summer monsoon in Bangladesh. Int. J. Climatol. 13, 727–740 (1993)
Bari, S.H., Hussain, M.M., Husna, N.: Rainfall variability and seasonality in northern Bangladesh. Theor. Appl. Climatol. 129, 995–1001 (2017)
Basher, M.A., Stiller-Reeve, M.A., Islam, A.K.M.S., Bremer, S.: Assessing climatic trends of extreme rainfall indices over northeast Bangladesh. Theor. Appl. Climatol. 134, 441–452 (2018)
Dai, A., Lin, X., Hsu, K.-L.: The frequency, intensity, and diurnal cycle of precipitation in surface and satellite observations over low- and mid-latitudes. Clim. Dyn. 29, 727–744 (2007)
Endo, N., Matsumoto, J., Hayashi, T., Terao, T., Murata, F., Kiguchi, M., Yamane, Y., Alam, M.S.: Trends in precipitation characteristics in Bangladesh from 1950 to 2008. SOLA. 11, 113–117 (2015)
European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts: ERA5 reanalysis (0.25 degree latitude-longitude grid). Research Data Archive at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. https://doi.org/10.5065/BH6N-5N20. Accessed Oct 2019 (2019)
Fujinami, H., Hatsuzuka, D., Yasunari, T., Hayashi, T., Terao, T., Murata, F., Kiguchi, M., Yamane, Y., Matsumoto, J., Islam, M.N., Habib, A.: Characteristic intraseasonal oscillation of rainfall and its effect on interannual variability over Bangladesh during boreal summer. Int. J. Climatol. 31, 1192–1204 (2011)
Fujinami, H., Sato, T., Kanamori, H., Murata, F.: Contrasting features of monsoon precipitation around the Meghalaya Plateau under westerly and easterly regimes. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos. 122, 9591–9610 (2017)
Goswami, B.N., Mohan, R.S.A.: Intraseasonal oscillations and interannual variability of the Indian summer monsoon. J. Clim. 14, 1180–1198 (2001)
Houze, R.A., Jr.: Cloud dynamics, 2nd edition, p. 432. Academic Press, Oxford (2014)
Islam, M.A.: Statistical comparison of satellite-retrieved precipitation products with rain gauge observations over Bangladesh. Int. J. Remote Sens. 39, 2906–2936 (2018)
Islam, M.N., Uyeda, H.: Use of TRMM in determining the climatic characteristics of rainfall over Bangladesh. Remote Sens. Environ. 108, 264–276 (2007)
Islam, M.N., Uyeda, H.: Vertical variations of rain intensity in different rainy periods in and around Bangladesh derived from TRMM observations. Int. J. Climatol. 28, 273–279 (2008)
Islam, M.N., Terao, T., Uyeda, H., Hayashi, T., Kikuchi, K.: Spatial and temporal variations of precipitation in and around Bangladesh. J. Meteorol. Soc. Jpn. 83, 21–39 (2005)
Kataoka, A., Satomura, T.: Numerical simulation on the diurnal variation of precipitation over northeastern Bangladesh: a case study of an active period 14–21 June 1995. SOLA. 1, 205–208 (2005)
Li, C., Yanai, M.: The onset and interannual variability of the Asian summer monsoon in relation to land–sea thermal contrast. J. Clim. 9, 358–375 (1996)
Ohsawa, T., Hayashi, T., Mitsuta, Y., Matsumoto, J.: Intraseasonal variation of monsoon activities associated with the rainfall over Bangladesh during the 1995 summer monsoon season. J. Geophys. Res. 105, 29445–29459 (2000)
Ohsawa, T., Ueda, H., Hayashi, T., Watanabe, A., Matsumoto, J.: Diurnal variations of convective activity and rainfall in tropical Asia. J. Meteorol. Soc. Jpn. 79, 333–352 (2001)
Prasad, B.: Diurnal variation of rainfall in India. Indian J. Meteorol. Geophys. 25, 245–250 (1970)
Romatschke, U., Houze, R.A., Jr.: Characteristics of precipitating convective systems in the premonsoon season of South Asia. J. Hydrometeorol. 12, 157–180 (2011)
Romatschke, U., Medina, S., Houze R.A., Jr.: Regional, seasonal, and diurnal variations in extreme convection in the South Asian region. J. Clim. 23, 419–439 (2010)
Sato, T.: Mechanism of orographic precipitation around the Meghalaya Plateau associated with intraseasonal oscillation and the diurnal cycle. Mon. Weather Rev. 141, 2451–2466 (2013)
Tanoue, M., Ichiyanagi, K., Yoshimura, K., Kiguchi, M., Terao, T., Hayashi, T.: Seasonal variation in isotopic composition and the origin of precipitation over Bangladesh. Prog. Earth Planet. Sci. 5, 77 (2018)
Tarek, M.H., Hassan, A., Bhattacharjee, J., Choudhury, S.H., Badruzzaman, A.B.M.: Assessment of TRMM data for precipitation measurement in Bangladesh. Meteorol. Appl. 24, 349–359 (2017)
Terao, T., Islam, M.N., Hayashi, T., Oka, T.: Nocturnal jet and its effects on early morning rainfall peak over northeastern Bangladesh during the summer monsoon season. Geophys. Res. Lett. 33, L18806 (2006)
Wu, C.-H., Hsu, H.-H., Chou, M.-D.: Effect of the Arakan Mountains in the northwestern Indochina Peninsula on the late May Asian monsoon transition. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos. 119, 10769–10779 (2014)
Yamane, Y., Hayashi, T.: Evaluation of environmental conditions for the formation of severe local storms across the Indian subcontinent. Geophys. Res. Lett. 33, L17806 (2006)
Yang, G.Y., Slingo, J.: The diurnal cycle in the tropics. Mon. Weather Rev. 129, 784–801 (2001)
Yuan, W., Li, J., Chen, H., Yu, R.: Intercomparison of summer rainfall diurnal features between station rain gauge data and TRMM 3B42 product over central eastern China. Int. J. Climatol. 32, 1690–1696 (2012)
Zhou, T., Yu, R., Chen, H., Dai, A., Pan, Y.: Summer precipitation frequency, intensity, and diurnal cycle over China: a comparison of satellite data with rain gauge observations. J. Clim. 21, 3997–4010 (2008)
Acknowledgements
The authors thank the Bangladesh Meteorological Department for providing the rain gauge data and two anonymous reviewers for providing valuable comments on this work. This work was supported by the Research Institute of Basic Sciences funded by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2019R1A6A1A10073437). The first author was supported by the SNU President Fellowship.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Responsible Editor: Ashok Karumuri.
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ahmed, T., Jin, HG. & Baik, JJ. Spatiotemporal Variations of Precipitation in Bangladesh Revealed by Nationwide Rain Gauge Data. Asia-Pacific J Atmos Sci 56, 593–602 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13143-019-00168-z
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13143-019-00168-z