Identification of major moisture sources across the Mediterranean Basin

Batıbeniz, Fulden; Ashfaq, Moetasim; Önol, Barış; Turunçoğlu, Ufuk Utku; Mehmood, Shahid; Evans, Katherine J.

doi:10.1007/s00382-020-05224-3

Cited by 24 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…This is consistent with the findings of Batibeniz et al. (2020) who showed that the eastern Mediterranean, as being a source of moisture, plays a significant role in shaping the precipitation pattern in the surrounding regions during spring and summer. In the southern parts of the NE, the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea also show relatively large IVT (160–200 kg m −1 s −1 ) with a southwesterly flow shaped by the subtropical anticyclone over the Arabian Peninsula, at the eastern flank of the Red Sea, which is known as the the Arabian anticyclone at lower‐ and middle‐tropospheric levels (e.g., de Vries et al., 2016; Raziei et al., 2012).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 93%

Influence of African Atmospheric Rivers on Precipitation and Snowmelt in the Near East's Highlands

et al. 2021

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Atmospheric rivers (ARs) are important components of the global water cycle as they are responsible for over 90% of the poleward moisture transport at midlatitudes (Zhu & Newell, 1998). Estimations indicate that a typical AR over the North Pacific could carry much more water than some of the world's largest rivers (e.g., Ralph & Dettinger, 2011; Ralph et al., 2017). Three to five ARs are present in each hemisphere at any moment (Zhu & Newell, 1998), and they mostly prevail over the extratropical oceans, where they gain vast amounts of water vapor, and primarily make landfall on the western coasts of the midlatitude continents as a result of westerly flow (Guan & Waliser, 2015). In this respect, the mountainous western coasts of North Abstract Atmospheric rivers (ARs) traveling thousands of kilometers over arid North Africa could interact with the highlands of the Near East (NE), and thus affect the region's hydrometeorology and water resources. Here, we use a state-of-the-art AR tracking database, and reanalysis and observational datasets to investigate the climatology (1979-2017) and influences of these ARs in snowmelt season (March-April). The Red Sea and northeast Africa are found to be the major source regions of these ARs, which are typically associated with the eastern Mediterranean trough positioned over the Balkan Peninsula and a blocking anticyclone over the NE-Caspian region, triggering southwesterly air flow toward the NE's highlands. Approximately 8% of the ARs are relatively strong (integrated water vapor transport >∼275 kg m −1 s −1). AR days exhibit enhanced precipitation over the crescent-shaped orography of the NE region. Mean AR days indicate wetter (up to + 2 mm day −1) and warmer (up to + 1.5°C) conditions than all-day climatology. On AR days, while snowpack tends to decrease (up to 30%) in the Zagros Mountains, it can show decreases or increases in the Taurus Mountains depending largely on elevation. A further analysis with the observations and reanalysis indicates that extreme ARs coinciding with large scale sensible heat transport can significantly increase the daily discharges. These results suggest that ARs can have notable impacts on the hydrometeorology and water resources of the region, particularly of lowland Mesopotamia, a region that is famous with great floods in the ancient narratives. Plain Language Summary Atmospheric rivers (ARs) are important components of the global water cycle as they are responsible for over 90% of the poleward moisture transport at middle to high latitudes. ARs mostly prevail over the oceans and primarily landfall on the western coasts of the midlatitude continents as a result of westerly flow of the midlatitudes. Apart from the large ocean basins, certain ARs can develop and propagate over continents, which has received less scientific attention. In this respect, this study aims to show how overland African ARs developing in the snowmelt season can influence the Near East's highlands, which are essential for satisfying the water need of lowland areas of M...

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 93%

Influence of African Atmospheric Rivers on Precipitation and Snowmelt in the Near East's Highlands

et al. 2021

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“…The difference of E in Fig. 4 d is indicative of larger values in the MME than in REF over nearly all ocean areas with a pronounced maximum difference in the Mediterranean, which is in line with an evaluation study of Mediterranean Sea water and heat budgets 58 and the E and P relationships in the eastern Mediterranean 63 . Differences between MME and REF over land are relatively small and might be attributed to differences in the landmask (close to the coast), landuse datasets (see, e.g., Southern Spain), or the RCMs’ land surface model.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 88%

“…Figure 4 g gives insight in the spatial distribution of source and sink areas of the atmospheric water balance. Independent of lateral in- or outflow of atmospheric moisture, the Mediterranean and southern parts of the Eastern Atlantic with the Azores High are net source areas of atmospheric moisture while continental areas act as net sinks, which is well-known 53 , 58 , 63 , 65 . In case of ocean areas, the difference of the E O – P O atmospheric water balances of MME and REF (Fig.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Boundary condition and oceanic impacts on the atmospheric water balance in limited area climate model ensembles

Goergen

Kollet

2021

Sci Rep

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Regional climate models (RCMs) are indispensable in climate research, albeit often characterized by biased terrestrial precipitation and water budgets. This study identifies excess oceanic evaporation, in conjunction with the RCMs’ boundary conditions, as drivers contributing to these biases in RCMs with forced sea surface temperatures in a CORDEX RCM ensemble over Europe. The RCMs are relaxed to the prescribed lateral boundary conditions originating from a global model, effectively matching the driving model's overall atmospheric moisture flux divergence. As a consequence, excess oceanic evaporation results in positive precipitation biases over land due to forced internal recycling of moisture to maintain the overall flux divergence prescribed by the boundary conditions. This systematic behaviour is shown through an analysis of long-term atmospheric water budgets and atmospheric moisture exchange between oceanic and continental areas in a multi-model ensemble.

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“…Note that, over this period, the intertropical convergence zone gradually moves southward over southwest Africa (away from the AP) and back over Eastern Africa (Ashfaq et al, 2021). Some syncing is also noticed between moisture from the Mediterranean/Caspian Seas and the North Atlantic, which is understandable as similar dynamical characteristics in uence the movements of storm tracks and moisture from the Mediterranean and beyond (Batibeniz et al, 2020). However, it is interesting to note that moisture contribution from Europe gradually increases over the wet season and reaches its maximum at a time when moisture supply from North Atlantic, Mediterranean/Caspian Seas depletes.…”

Section: Characteristics Of Primary Moisture Sourcesmentioning

confidence: 71%

Moisture Sources for Precipitation Variability over the Arabian Peninsula

Horan

Batıbeniz

Kucharski

et al. 2022

Preprint

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We apply the Lagrangian-based moisture back trajectory method to two reanalysis datasets to determine the moisture sources for wet season precipitation over the Arabian Peninsula, defined as land on the Asian Continent to the south of the Turkish border and west of Iran. For this purpose, we make use of the evaporative source region between 65°W–120°E and 30°S–60°N, which is divided into twelve sub-regions. Our results indicate north-to-south spatiotemporal heterogeneity in the characteristics of dominant moisture sources. In the north, moisture for precipitation is mainly sourced from midlatitude land and water bodies, such as the Mediterranean and Caspian Seas. Areas further south are dependent on moisture transport from the Western Indian Ocean and parts of the African continent. The El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycle exhibits an overall positive but sub-seasonally varying influence on the precipitation variability over the region, with noticeable moisture anomalies from all major source regions. A significant drying trend exists over parts of the Peninsula, which both reanalyses partially attribute to anomalies in the moisture advection from the Congo Basin and South Atlantic Ocean. However, considerable uncertainty in evaporation trends over the terrestrial evaporative sources in observations warrants additional modeling studies to further our understanding of key processes contributing to the negative trends.

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Identification of major moisture sources across the Mediterranean Basin

Cited by 24 publications

References 59 publications

Influence of African Atmospheric Rivers on Precipitation and Snowmelt in the Near East's Highlands

Influence of African Atmospheric Rivers on Precipitation and Snowmelt in the Near East's Highlands

Boundary condition and oceanic impacts on the atmospheric water balance in limited area climate model ensembles

Moisture Sources for Precipitation Variability over the Arabian Peninsula

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