| Abstract: | ABSTRACT: Long term trends in Japan's annual and monthly precipitation are investigated in this study. The statistical significance of a trend at a study site is assessed by the Mann‐Kendall (MK) test, and field significance of trends in climatic Regions II, III, and IV is evaluated using the bootstrap test preserving cross correlation. The practical significance of a trend is judged by a percentage change of the sample mean over an observation period. The field significance assessment demonstrates that annual precipitation in Region II did not show any significant change, but regional precipitation shifts occurred in different months. Precipitation significantly increased by 12.2 percent in May, while it significantly decreased by 12.0, 10.5, 15.6, and 19.7 percent, respectively, in April, September, October, and December. In Region III, annual precipitation declined by 11.8 percent, and monthly precipitation significantly decreased from September through January and in April, with the greatest decrease (38.2 percent) in December. In Region IV, significant reductions occurred in both annual precipitation (by 15.6 percent) and monthly precipitation from September through February and in June and July, with the worst reduction (44.7 percent) in December. |
