Does non-stationarity of extreme precipitation exist in the Poyang Lake Basin of China?

Study region: Poyang Lake Basin, China. Study focus: This study aimed to investigate whether there are non-stationary characteristics of extreme precipitation in the Poyang Lake Basin (PLB) of China, and the trends of non-stationary characteristics from 1959 to 2019. The spatio-temporal variations of extreme precipitation were analysed from three fundamental aspects: duration, frequency, and intensity, based on the prewhitening Mann-Kendall (PWMK) test. Non-stationary variations and the risk of extreme precipitation were investigated based on the generalized additive models for location, scale, and shape (GAMLSS). New hydrological insights for the region: (1) the intensity and frequency of extreme precipitation increased significantly, whereas there was a significant decrease in extreme precipitation duration in the PLB. (2) The duration of extreme precipitation showed significant non-stationary characteristics in the western PLB. At the Nanchang site, 83.3 % of the extreme precipitation intensity indices showed non-stationary characteristics. The RX1day (maximum 1-day precipitation amount) and RX5day (maximum 5-day precipitation amount) increased significantly for different return periods under non-stationary conditions in the northwestern PLB. (3) The risk of extreme precipitation can be captured using the GAMLSS. The stationary method underestimated the extreme precipitation intensity (e.g., RX1day) compared to the GAMLSS for longer return periods in the PLB. More attention should be paid to the increase and fluctuation of the return period of extreme precipitation caused by the mean non-stationarity and variance nonstationarity.