Intensification of mesoscale convective systems in the East Asian rainband over the past two decades

Recently, MCSs over several hotpots, including the Sahel and US Great Plains, have been found to intensify under global warming. However, relevant studies on the East Asian rainband, another MCS hotpot, are scarce.

Here, by using a novel rain-cell tracking algorithm on a high spatiotemporal resolution satellite precipitation product, we show that both the frequency and intensity of MCSs over the East Asian rainband have increased by 21.8% and 9.8% respectively over the past two decades (2000-2021). The more frequent and intense MCSs contribute nearly three quarters to the total precipitation increase. The changes in MCSs are caused by more frequent favorable large-scale water vapor-rich environments that are likely to increase under global warming.