Main progress in research on reduced light rain in China during recent decades

As the reduction in light rain amount and events is the key feature of climate change and drought in China, it is important to understandthe change of light rain for the studies of precipitation variations. Analysis of observational data indicated that the amount and frequencyof light rain have decreased through out China except for the northwest region. The reduction has occurred notably in eastern Chinawhere light rain frequency showed more clear decrease than its amount. By reviewing the main progress in the research on light rain reductionand its possible causes, the limitations of the previous studies are discussed and the following roadmap for future studies is outlined. That is,more attention should be paid to understand the relative contributions from processes related to warming, water vapor and aerosols to light rainreduction using both diagnostic analyses and numerical simulations.