@article{TraxlBoersRheinwaltetal.2016,
  author    = {Traxl, Dominik and Boers, Niklas and Rheinwalt, Aljoscha and Goswami, Bedartha and Kurths, J{\"u}rgen},
  title     = {The size distribution of spatiotemporal extreme rainfall clusters around the globe},
  series = {Geophysical research letters},
  volume    = {43},
  journal   = {Geophysical research letters},
  publisher = {American Geophysical Union},
  address   = {Washington},
  issn      = {0094-8276},
  doi       = {10.1002/2016GL070692},
  pages     = {9939 -- 9947},
  year      = {2016},
  abstract  = {The scaling behavior of rainfall has been extensively studied both in terms of event magnitudes and in terms of spatial extents of the events. Different heavy-tailed distributions have been proposed as candidates for both instances, but statistically rigorous treatments are rare. Here we combine the domains of event magnitudes and event area sizes by a spatiotemporal integration of 3-hourly rain rates corresponding to extreme events derived from the quasi-global high-resolution rainfall product Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission 3B42. A maximum likelihood evaluation reveals that the distribution of spatiotemporally integrated extreme rainfall cluster sizes over the oceans is best described by a truncated power law, calling into question previous statements about scale-free distributions. The observed subpower law behavior of the distribution's tail is evaluated with a simple generative model, which indicates that the exponential truncation of an otherwise scale-free spatiotemporal cluster size distribution over the oceans could be explained by the existence of land masses on the globe.},
  language  = {en}
}