Rising trends of global precipitable water vapor and its correlation with flood frequency

Using 4 global reanalysis data sets, significant upward trends of precipitable water vapor (PWV) were found in the 3 time periods of 1958–2020, 1979–2020, and 2000–2020. During 1958–2020, the global PWV trends obtained using the ERA5 and JRA55 data sets are 0.19 ± 0.01 mm per decade (1.15 ± 0.31%) and 0.23 ± 0.01 mm per decade (1.45 ± 0.32%), respectively. The PWV trends obtained using the ERA5, JRA55, NCEP-NCAR, and NCEP-DOE data sets are 0.22 ± 0.01 mm per decade (1.18 ± 0.54%), 0.21 ± 0.00 mm per decade (1.76 ± 0.56%), 0.27 ± 0.01 mm per decade (2.20 ± 0.70%) and 0.28 ± 0.01 mm per decade (2.19 ± 0.70%) for the period 1979–2020. During 2000–2020, the PWV trends obtained using ERA5, JRA55, NCEP-DOE, and NCEP-NCAR data sets are 0.40 ± 0.25 mm per decade (2.66 ± 1.51%), 0.37 ± 0.24 mm per decade (2.19 ± 1.54%), 0.40 ± 0.26 mm per decade (1.96 ± 1.53%) and 0.36 ± 0.25 mm per decade (2.47 ± 1.72%), respectively. Rising PWV has a positive impact on changes in precipitation, increasing the probability of extreme precipitation and then changing the frequency of flood disasters. Therefore, exploring the relationship between PWV (derived from ERA5 and JRA55) change and flood disaster frequency from 1958 to 2020 revealed a significant positive correlation between them, with correlation coefficients of 0.68 and 0.79, respectively, which explains the effect of climate change on the increase in flood disaster frequency to a certain extent. The study can provide a reference for assessing the evolution of flood disasters and predicting their frequency trends.