Spatial patterns of precipitation and topography in the Himalaya
Spatial variability in precipitation has received little attention in the study of connections between climate, erosion, and tectonics. However, long-term precipitation patterns show large variations over spatial scales of ∼10 km and are strongly controlled by topography. We use precipitation rate estimates from Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite radar data to approximate annual precipitation over the Himalaya at a spatial resolution of 10 km. The resulting precipitation pattern shows gradients across the range, from east to west along the range, and fivefold differences between major valleys and their adjacent ridges. Basin-wide average precipitation estimates correlate well with available measured...