Due to the rapid urbanization development, the precipitation variability in the Taihu Lake basin (TLB) in East China has become highly complex over the last decades. However, there is limited understanding of the spatiotemporal variability of precipitation complexity and its relationship with the urbanization development in the region. In this article, by considering the whole urbanization process, we use the SampEn index to investigate the precipitation complexity and its spatial differences in different urbanization areas (old urban area, new urban area and suburbs) in TLB. Results indicate that the precipitation complexity and its changes accord well with the urbanization development process in TLB. Higher urbanization degrees correspond to greater complexity degrees of precipitation. Precipitation in old urban areas shows the greatest complexity compared with that in new urban areas and suburbs, not only for the entire precipitation process but also the precipitation extremes. There is a significant negative correlation between the annual precipitation and its SampEn value, and the same change of precipitation can cause a greater complexity change in old urbanization areas compared with the new urban areas and suburbs. It is noted that the enhanced precipitation complexity in a new urban area during recent decades cannot be ignored facing the expanding urbanization.
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