Precipitation observing network gaps limit climate change impact assessment

Su, JiaJia, Miao, Chiyuan, Zwiers, Francis, Beck, Hylke, Jones, Phil, Sun, Qiaohong, Slater, Louise J., Berghuijs, Wouter R., Wada, Yoshihide, Rosenfeld, Daniel, Gou, Jiaojiao, Wu, Yi, Tarolli, Paolo, Borrelli, Pasquale, Panagos, Panos, Alexander, Lisa V., Zhang, Qi, Hu, Jinlong, Min, Seung-Ki, Samaniego, Luis, Duan, Qingyun, Destouni, Georgia, Marengo, Jose A., Modarres, Reza and Sorooshian, Soroosh (2026) Precipitation observing network gaps limit climate change impact assessment. Nature. ISSN 0028-0836

Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)

Abstract

Reliable future climate projections and water deficiency assessments require precipitation observations that are both spatially comprehensive and temporally complete, yet many global regions still suffer from observation sparsity1,2. Here we evaluate the distribution of 221,483 internationally exchanged precipitation gauges worldwide, with records across 1900–2022, and further explore where new gauges are most needed under different scenarios. We find that at present only 13.4% of the global land surface meets the World Meteorological Organization requirements for annual precipitation monitoring, indicating widespread scarcity that has serious socioeconomic implications. Europe has the highest continental gauge density (2.4 gauges per 1,000 km2), with Germany leading among countries over 50,000 km2 (22.4 gauges per 1,000 km2). Globally, 25% of land surface already requires urgent expansion of gauge networks because of climate variability, including northern South America, northern North America, Central Africa and southern Asia. Considering projected precipitation changes and socioeconomic conditions under a high-emission scenario further identifies high-need regions in India, Greenland, Bolivia and China because of climate sensitivity and socioeconomic vulnerabilities, increasing this share to 32.1% of global land. Our findings highlight important gaps in global precipitation monitoring that require strategic investments in new gauges and underscore the need for open data access.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	sdg 13 - climate action ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/climate_action
Faculty \ School:	University of East Anglia Research Groups/Centres > Theme - ClimateUEA Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Climatic Research Unit Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Centre for Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences
Related URLs:	https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-0...
Depositing User:	LivePure Connector
Date Deposited:	30 Mar 2026 14:30
Last Modified:	30 Mar 2026 14:30
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/102646
DOI:	10.1038/s41586-026-10300-5

Actions (login required)

View Item