Analysis of Oceanic and Terrestrial Atmospheric Moisture Sources

A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433). This special issue belongs to the section "Biosphere/Hydrosphere/Land–Atmosphere Interactions".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2019) | Viewed by 26506

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Guest Editor
Group of Nonlinear Physics, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Interests: nonlinear physics; geophysical fluid dynamics; Lagrangian transport; meteorological and oceanographical modelling

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Guest Editor
Department of Applied Physics, Environmental Physics Laboratory (EPhysLab), University of Vigo, 32004 Ourense, Spain
Interests: climate diagnosis; health; droughts; extreme precipitation
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Guest Editor
Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Urbana, IL, USA
Interests: precipitation and hydrometeorological processes; climate modeling and climate change analysis; climate processes and interactions

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Guest Editor
Group of Nonlinear Physics, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Interests: precipitation and hydrometeorological processes; climate modeling; climate processes and interactions

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Guest Editor
1. Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
2. Environmental Physics Laboratory (EPhysLab), CIM-UVIGO, Universidade de Vigo, 32004 Orense, Spain
Interests: sources and sinks of moisture; atmospheric transport; synoptic meteorology; Lagrangian and Eulerian models; atmospheric rivers

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Recent improvements in the analysis of precipitation trends and moisture advection processes have been revealing the growing importance of proper identification of the origin of the moisture associated with major hydrometeorological systems. This appropriate identification of the moisture sources involved in the primary atmospheric mechanisms resulting in precipitation events will help to better understand and conveniently predict their future evolution.

This Special Issue entitled “Analysis of Oceanic and Terrestrial Atmospheric Moisture Sources” aims to encompass novel manuscripts related to moisture sources which may be analyzed together with the associated sinks and transport processes. Works related to atmospheric rivers, low-level jets, extreme precipitation, hydrological cycle, moisture tracers, and Lagrangian or Eulerian analysis of the moisture spatial evolution are very welcome, along with any other related work that could help the current state of the art of hydroclimatology processes.

Best Regards,
Prof. Dr. Vicente Pérez-Muñuzuri
Prof. Dr. Raquel Nieto
Prof. Dr. Francina Dominguez
Prof. Dr. Gonzalo Miguez-Macho
Dr. Jorge Eiras-Barca
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • moisture sources
  • Lagrangian methods
  • Eulerian tracers
  • moisture transport
  • evaporation and precipitation

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Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

21 pages, 6294 KiB  
Article
Characterization of Moisture Sources for Austral Seas and Relationship with Sea Ice Concentration
by Michelle Simões Reboita, Raquel Nieto, Rosmeri P. da Rocha, Anita Drumond, Marta Vázquez and Luis Gimeno
Atmosphere 2019, 10(10), 627; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos10100627 - 17 Oct 2019
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3818
Abstract
In this study, the moisture sources acting over each sea (Weddell, King Haakon VII, East Antarctic, Amundsen-Bellingshausen, and Ross-Amundsen) of the Southern Ocean during 1980–2015 are identified with the FLEXPART Lagrangian model and by using two approaches: backward and forward analyses. Backward analysis [...] Read more.
In this study, the moisture sources acting over each sea (Weddell, King Haakon VII, East Antarctic, Amundsen-Bellingshausen, and Ross-Amundsen) of the Southern Ocean during 1980–2015 are identified with the FLEXPART Lagrangian model and by using two approaches: backward and forward analyses. Backward analysis provides the moisture sources (positive values of Evaporation minus Precipitation, E − P > 0), while forward analysis identifies the moisture sinks (E − P < 0). The most important moisture sources for the austral seas come from midlatitude storm tracks, reaching a maximum between austral winter and spring. The maximum in moisture sinks, in general, occurs in austral end-summer/autumn. There is a negative correlation (higher with 2-months lagged) between moisture sink and sea ice concentration (SIC), indicating that an increase in the moisture sink can be associated with the decrease in the SIC. This correlation is investigated by focusing on extremes (high and low) of the moisture sink over the Weddell Sea. Periods of high (low) moisture sinks show changes in the atmospheric circulation with a consequent positive (negative) temperature anomaly contributing to decreasing (increasing) the SIC over the Weddell Sea. This study also suggests possible relationships between the positive (negative) phase of the Southern Annular Mode with the increase (decrease) in the moisture that travels from the midlatitude sources to the Weddell Sea. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analysis of Oceanic and Terrestrial Atmospheric Moisture Sources)
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21 pages, 14282 KiB  
Article
Heavy Rainfall Events in Southern China Associated with Tropical Cyclones in the Bay of Bengal: A Case Study
by Junpeng Yuan, Jiao Lü, Dian Feng, Mengni Mao, Tao Feng, Juyue Yin and Ling Zuo
Atmosphere 2019, 10(10), 574; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos10100574 - 23 Sep 2019
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2994
Abstract
We use a case study to show that a continuous heavy rainfall process in southern China was closely related to tropical cyclone activity in the Bay of Bengal. The continuous heavy rainfall that occurred in southern China on 11–13 May 2002 can be [...] Read more.
We use a case study to show that a continuous heavy rainfall process in southern China was closely related to tropical cyclone activity in the Bay of Bengal. The continuous heavy rainfall that occurred in southern China on 11–13 May 2002 can be considered as two different processes. The first process, referred to as a predecessor rain event, occurred over southwestern China before landfall of the tropical cyclone. The second process occurred after dissipation of the tropical cyclone when its remnant caused heavy rainfall that expanded from southwestern China to the middle to lower reaches of the Yangtze–Huaihe river basin. Both of the heavy rainfall processes were closely related to the transport of warm, moist air associated with a tropical cyclone originating over the Bay of Bengal, but the mechanisms in the two processes were quite different. Low-level orographic forcing was the main contributor to the predecessor rain event, whereas baroclinic frontogenesis induced by thermal advection was the main contributor to the tropical cyclone remnant event. Both heavy rainfall events occurred beneath the equatorial entrance of the upper level East Asian subtropical jet. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analysis of Oceanic and Terrestrial Atmospheric Moisture Sources)
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14 pages, 2218 KiB  
Article
Possible Impacts of Snow Darkening Effects on the Hydrological Cycle over Western Eurasia and East Asia
by Jeong Sang, Maeng-Ki Kim, William K. M. Lau and Kyu-Myong Kim
Atmosphere 2019, 10(9), 500; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos10090500 - 27 Aug 2019
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2693
Abstract
In this paper, we investigated the possible impact of snow darkening effect (SDE) by light-absorbing aerosols on the regional changes of the hydrological cycle over Eurasia using the NASA GEOS-5 Model with aerosol tracers and a state-of-the-art snow darkening module, the Goddard SnoW [...] Read more.
In this paper, we investigated the possible impact of snow darkening effect (SDE) by light-absorbing aerosols on the regional changes of the hydrological cycle over Eurasia using the NASA GEOS-5 Model with aerosol tracers and a state-of-the-art snow darkening module, the Goddard SnoW Impurity Module (GOSWIM) for the land surface. Two sets of ten-member ensemble experiments for 10 years were carried out forced by prescribed sea surface temperature (2002–2011) with different atmospheric initial conditions, with and without SDE, respectively. Results show that SDE can exert a significant regional influence in partitioning the contributions of evaporative and advective processes on the hydrological cycle, during spring and summer season. Over western Eurasia, SDE-induced rainfall increase during early spring can be largely explained by the increased evaporation from snowmelt. Rainfall, however, decreases in early summer due to the reduced evaporation as well as moisture divergence and atmospheric subsidence associated with the development of an anomalous mid- to upper-tropospheric anticyclonic circulation. On the other hand, in the East Asian monsoon region, moisture advection from the adjacent ocean is a main contributor to rainfall increase in the melting season. A warmer land-surface caused by earlier snowmelt and subsequent drying further increases moisture transport and convergence significantly enhancing rainfall over the region. Our findings suggest that the SDE may play an important role in leading to hotter and drier summers over western Eurasia, through coupled land-atmosphere interaction, while enhancing East Asian summer monsoonal precipitation via enhanced land-ocean thermal contrast and moisture transport due to the SDE-induced warmer Eurasian continent. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analysis of Oceanic and Terrestrial Atmospheric Moisture Sources)
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21 pages, 38824 KiB  
Article
East Asian Summer Atmospheric Moisture Transport and Its Response to Interannual Variability of the West Pacific Subtropical High: An Evaluation of the Met Office Unified Model
by José M. Rodríguez and Sean F. Milton
Atmosphere 2019, 10(8), 457; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos10080457 - 10 Aug 2019
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 4464
Abstract
In this study, the atmospheric moisture transport involved in the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) water cycle is examined. Observational estimates are contrasted with the Met Office Unified Model (MetUM) climate simulations to evaluate the model’s ability to capture this transport. We explore [...] Read more.
In this study, the atmospheric moisture transport involved in the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) water cycle is examined. Observational estimates are contrasted with the Met Office Unified Model (MetUM) climate simulations to evaluate the model’s ability to capture this transport. We explore the role of large circulation in determining the regional water cycle by analyzing key systematic errors in the model. MetUM exhibits robust errors in its representation of the summer Asian-Pacific monsoon system, including dry biases in the Indian peninsula and wet biases in the tropical Indian Ocean and tropical West Pacific. Such errors are consistent with errors in the atmospheric moisture convergence in the area. Diabatic heating biases in the Maritime Continent domain are shown, via nudging sensitivity experiments, to play a crucial role in remotely forcing the model circulation and moisture transport errors in the East Asian area. We also examine changes in the regional water cycle in response to interannual variability of the West Pacific subtropical high (WPSH). It is shown by water budget analysis that, although the model in general is not able to faithfully reproduce the response on a month to month basis, it gives comparable seasonal trends in regional moisture convergence and precipitation associated with shifts of the WPSH. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analysis of Oceanic and Terrestrial Atmospheric Moisture Sources)
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19 pages, 9840 KiB  
Article
Quantification of Evaporative Sources of Precipitation and Its Changes in the Southeastern Tibetan Plateau and Middle Yangtze River Basin
by Yu Xu and Yanhong Gao
Atmosphere 2019, 10(8), 428; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos10080428 - 25 Jul 2019
Cited by 28 | Viewed by 3622
Abstract
The Southeastern Tibetan Plateau (SETP) and the Middle Yangtze River Basin (MYRB) show a large difference in their levels of precipitation, despite the fact that they are located within the same latitude band. The annual precipitation in the MYRB is much higher than [...] Read more.
The Southeastern Tibetan Plateau (SETP) and the Middle Yangtze River Basin (MYRB) show a large difference in their levels of precipitation, despite the fact that they are located within the same latitude band. The annual precipitation in the MYRB is much higher than in the SETP. Precipitation has decreased in the past three decades in both regions. To clarify the difference in precipitation and its changes between these two regions in recent decades, a quasi-isentropic backward trajectory (QIBT) model is used to track the evaporative source with the ERA-Interim reanalysis as the baseline. The wet seasons (from April to September) over the period of 1982–2011 were analyzed. Evaporative sources were divided into an oceanic portion and a terrestrial portion, in which local recycling was included. Our conclusions are as follows. A terrestrial evaporative source, including a neighboring terrestrial land source and local source, dominates both regions, although the summer monsoon regulates precipitation in the wet season. The local precipitation recycling ratio is 35% in the SETP and 29% in the MYRB. The oceanic evaporative source in the MYRB is five times larger than that in the SETP. The decrease in the oceanic evaporative source in the Indian Ocean is responsible for the decrease in precipitation in the SETP. In the MYRB, decreases in neighboring terrestrial sources dominate the precipitation decline. Regardless of the decreases in the remote oceanic or neighboring terrestrial evaporative sources, the local recycling ratio increased in both regions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analysis of Oceanic and Terrestrial Atmospheric Moisture Sources)
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16 pages, 4663 KiB  
Article
Different Roles of Water Vapor Transport and Cold Advection in the Intensive Snowfall Events over North China and the Yangtze River Valley
by Zhixing Xie and Bo Sun
Atmosphere 2019, 10(7), 368; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos10070368 - 2 Jul 2019
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3825
Abstract
Intensive snowfall events (ISEs) have a profound impact on the society and economy in China during winter. Considering that the interaction between northerly cold advection and southerly water vapor transport (WVT) is generally an essential condition for the occurrence of ISEs in eastern [...] Read more.
Intensive snowfall events (ISEs) have a profound impact on the society and economy in China during winter. Considering that the interaction between northerly cold advection and southerly water vapor transport (WVT) is generally an essential condition for the occurrence of ISEs in eastern China, this study investigates the different roles of anomalous southerly WVT and northerly cold advection during the ISEs in the North China (NC) and Yangtze River valley (YRV) regions based on a composite analysis of seventy ISE cases in NC and forty ISE cases in the YRV region from 1961 to 2014. The results indicate that the ISEs in NC are mainly associated with a significant pre-conditioning of water vapor over NC induced by southerly WVT anomalies over eastern China, whereas the ISEs in the YRV region are mainly associated with a strengthened Siberian High (SH) and strong northerly cold advection invading the YRV region. These results suggest a dominant role of anomalous southerly WVT in triggering the ISEs in NC and a dominant role of northerly cold advection in triggering the ISEs in the YRV region. The different roles of anomalous southerly WVT and northerly cold advection in the ISEs over the NC and YRV regions are largely attributed to the different winter climate in the NC and YRV regions—during winter, the NC (YRV) region is dominated by cold and dry (relatively warm and moist) air flow and hence southerly WVT (northerly cold advection) is the key factor for triggering the ISEs in NC (the YRV region). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analysis of Oceanic and Terrestrial Atmospheric Moisture Sources)
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19 pages, 32570 KiB  
Article
The Moisture Sources and Transport Processes for a Sudden Rainstorm Associated with Double Low-Level Jets in the Northeast Sichuan Basin of China
by Fangli Zhang, Guoping Li and Jun Yue
Atmosphere 2019, 10(3), 160; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos10030160 - 25 Mar 2019
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 4366
Abstract
A sudden rainstorm that occurred in the northeast Sichuan Basin of China in early May 2017 was associated with a southwest low-level jet (SWLJ) and a mountainous low-level jet (MLLJ). This study investigates the impact of the double low-level jets (LLJs) on rainfall [...] Read more.
A sudden rainstorm that occurred in the northeast Sichuan Basin of China in early May 2017 was associated with a southwest low-level jet (SWLJ) and a mountainous low-level jet (MLLJ). This study investigates the impact of the double low-level jets (LLJs) on rainfall diurnal variation by using the data from ERA5 reanalysis, and explores the characteristics of water vapor transport, including the main paths and sources of moisture, by using the HYSPLIT-driven data of the ERA—interim, GDAS (Global Data Assimilation System), and NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data. The analysis shows that the sudden rainstorm in the mountain terrain was located at the left side of the large-scale SWLJ at 700 hPa, and at the exit region of the meso-scale MLLJ at 850 hPa. The double LLJs provide favorable moisture conditions, and the enhancement (weakening) of the LLJs is ahead of the start (end) of the rainstorm. The capacity of the LLJ at 850 hPa with respect to moisture convergence is superior to that at 700 hPa, especially when the MLLJ and the southerly LLJ at 850 hPa appear at the same time. The HYSPLIT backward trajectory model based on Lagrangian methods has favorable applicability in the event of sudden rainstorms in mountainous terrain, and there is no special path of moisture transport in this precipitation event. The main moisture sources of this process are the East China Sea–South China Sea, the Arabian Sea–Indian Peninsula, the Bay of Bengal, and the Middle East, accounting for 38%, 34%, 17% and 11% of the total moisture transport, respectively. Among them, the moisture transport in the Bay of Bengal and the South China Sea–East China Sea is mainly located in the lower troposphere, which is below 900 hPa, while the moisture transport in the Arabian Sea–Indian Peninsula and the Middle East is mainly in the middle and upper layers of the troposphere. The moisture changes of the transport trajectories are affected by the topography, especially the high mountains around the Sichuan Basin. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Analysis of Oceanic and Terrestrial Atmospheric Moisture Sources)
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