Inferences of Predictability Associated with Warm Season Precipitation Episodes

Carbone, Richard E.; Tuttle, John D.; Ahijevych, David; Trier, Stanley B.

doi:10.1175/1520-0469(2002)059<2033:iopaww>2.0.co;2

Cited by 430 publications

(566 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…Similar to the results of previous studies (e.g. Carbone et al, 2002;Liang et al, 2004;Jiang et al, 2006), summer convective systems generated over the Rockies propagate eastward to the Central Plains (Figure 3(a)). The short-duration rainfall events show no propagating feature west of 105°W (Figure 3(b)).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 89%

“…Many studies have examined the diurnal variability of precipitation over the continental United States (e.g., Wallace, 1975;Riley et al, 1987;Carbone et al, 2002;Liang et al, 2004;Tian et al, 2005). These studies have shown a distinctive geographical pattern of precipitation diurnal variations during summer which is characterized by a strong midnight to early morning maximum over the regions east of the Rockies and the Great Plains (GP), and a strong late afternoon maximum over the western and southeastern United States.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because of their relatively longer lifetime, the rainfall peaks of the MCSs usually occur in the late evening through midnight over the GP region, while non-MCS rainfall peaks in the late afternoon (McAnelly and Cotton, 1989;Nesbitt and Zipser, 2003). Carbone et al (2002) suggested that gravity waves may contribute to the propagation speed 1516 H. CHEN ET AL. of major convective episodes over the GP region.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Summer rain fall duration and its diurnal cycle over the US Great Plains

Chen¹,

Zhou²,

Yu³

et al. 2008

Intl Journal of Climatology

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By diagnosing the hourly station rain gauge data set for the 1981-1999 periods, it is found that the rainfall diurnal cycle is closely related to its duration during summer (June-August) over the Great Plains [(GP), 100-90°W, 35-45°N]. Short-duration rainfall events (an event of 1 h in duration) occur more frequently in summer, and they tend to have two diurnal maxima over the GP, with one in the early morning [0400-0600 local solar time, (LST)] and the other in the afternoon (1500-1700 LST). Long-duration rainfall events (an event that lasts longer than 3 h) contribute more to the precipitation amount, and they tend to peak from the midnight to early morning (000-0600 LST). This contrast in the diurnal cycle of different classifications of precipitation events over the GP reflects the differences in the convective processes at night and during late afternoon.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Summer rain fall duration and its diurnal cycle over the US Great Plains

Chen¹,

Zhou²,

Yu³

et al. 2008

Intl Journal of Climatology

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“…Although in general MCSs consist of regions with convective and stratiform precipitation and nonprecipitating regions with anvil cloud, they have a large variety of precipitation and cloud structures [e.g., McAnelly and Cotton, 1989;Johnson et al, 2005]. Different organizations of MCSs can occur under different environments [e.g., Hodges and Thorncroft, 1997;Lemone et al, 1998;Carbone et al, 2002;Johnson et al, 2004]. As a result, they may appear with different morphologies, sometimes as a near-circular shaped, long lasting mesoscale convective complex [e.g., Maddox, 1980], or as a convective line, often with a typical leading line of convection and a trailing area with stratiform precipitation [e.g., Houze, 1977;Zipser, 1977].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regional variation of morphology of organized convection in the tropics and subtropics

Liu

Zipser

2013

JGR Atmospheres

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[1] Properties of organized convection with large horizontal area (> 1000 km 2 ) and with different horizontal structures in the tropics and subtropics are investigated by using 14 years of Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission observations. First, the convective features (CFs) are defined as contiguous areas of convective precipitation detected by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission precipitation radar. Using the minor and major axes of fitted ellipses, the morphology of the CFs are described as closer to a circular or a line shape. Regional variations and the properties of organized convection are examined with CFs with area > 1000 km 2 after categorizing them by their shapes. Organized convection tends to have larger extent and a higher fraction of near-circular shapes over land than over ocean. Shallow organized convection with maximum radar echo top height below 4.5 km is found mainly over ocean and some coastal regions. Of all tropical oceans, most shallow organized convection is found over the east Pacific. The fraction of line shaped organized convection is higher over the ocean than over land, and is higher in the subtropics than in the tropics. More convective lines are found in winter than in summer over oceans, but more in summer over land. Organized convective lines are slightly less convectively intense indicated by lower 30 dBZ echo top heights and warmer 37 GHz brightness temperatures than those with near-circular shapes. Orientations of organized convective lines are often aligned with fronts, dry lines, warm ocean currents, coastlines, and mountain slopes. Over the subtropics, organized convective lines are tilted more east-west over land, and more north-south over oceans. The largest and the most intense convective lines are found over central Africa, Argentina, and southeast U.S. over land, and over several warm currents in subtropical oceans.

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“…Previous observation studies suggest that several mechanisms could explain the nocturnal precipitation maximum over the US Great Plains. One distinctive feature is the systematic delay in timing of the diurnal precipitation maximum eastward from the Rockies to the adjacent Plains (Riley et al 1987;Carbone et al 2002;Nesbitt and Zipser 2003;Carbone and Tuttle 2008;etc.). Carbone et al (2002) suggested that nocturnal precipitation over the Plains is mainly associated with eastward propagating convective episodes, where the propagation speed is close to that of gravity waves.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mechanisms of diurnal precipitation over the US Great Plains: a cloud resolving model perspective

et al. 2009

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The mechanisms of summertime diurnal precipitation in the US Great Plains were examined with the two-dimensional (2D) Goddard Cumulus Ensemble (GCE) cloud-resolving model (CRM). The model was constrained by the observed large-scale background state and surface flux derived from the Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Program's Intensive Observing Period (IOP) data at the Southern Great Plains (SGP). The model, when continuously-forced by realistic surface flux and large-scale advection, simulates reasonably well the temporal evolution of the observed rainfall episodes, particularly for the strongly forced precipitation events. However, the model exhibits a deficiency for the weakly forced events driven by diurnal convection. Additional tests were run with the GCE model in order to discriminate between the mechanisms that determine daytime and nighttime convection. In these tests, the model was constrained with the same repeating diurnal variation in the large-scale advection and/or surface flux. The results indicate that it is primarily the surface heat and moisture flux that is responsible for the development of deep convection in the afternoon, whereas the large-scale upward motion and associated moisture advection play an important role in preconditioning nocturnal convection. In the nighttime, high clouds are continuously built up through their interaction and feedback with long-wave radiation, eventually initiating deep convection from the boundary layer. Without these upper-level destabilization processes, the model tends to produce only daytime convection in response to boundary layer heating. This study suggests that the correct simulation of the diurnal variation in precipitation requires that the free-atmospheric destabilization mechanisms resolved in the CRM simulation must be adequately parameterized in current general circulation models (GCMs) many of which are overly sensitive to the parameterized boundary layer heating.

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Inferences of Predictability Associated with Warm Season Precipitation Episodes

Cited by 430 publications

References 50 publications

Summer rain fall duration and its diurnal cycle over the US Great Plains

Summer rain fall duration and its diurnal cycle over the US Great Plains

Regional variation of morphology of organized convection in the tropics and subtropics

Mechanisms of diurnal precipitation over the US Great Plains: a cloud resolving model perspective

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