Precipitation

About: Precipitation is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 32861 publications have been published within this topic receiving 990496 citations. The topic is also known as: rain & rainfall.

Tibetan Plateau warming and precipitation changes in East Asia

Abstract: [1] Observational evidence presented here indicates that the surface temperatures on the Tibetan Plateau (TP) have increased by about 1.8°C over the past 50 years. The precipitation pattern that is projected as a result of this warming resembles the leading pattern of precipitation variations in East Asia (EA). Numerical experiments with atmospheric general circulation models show that atmospheric heating induced by the rising TP temperatures can enhance East Asian subtropical frontal rainfall. The mechanism of the linkage is found to be through two distinct Rossby wave trains and the isentropic uplift to the east of the TP, which deform the western Pacific Subtropical High and enhance moisture convergence toward the EA subtropical front. The model calculations suggest that the past changes in TP temperatures and EA summer rainfall may be linked, and that projected future increases in TP temperatures may lead to further enhanced summer frontal rainfall in EA region.

Meteorology Today: An Introduction to Weather, Climate, and the Environment

Abstract: 1. Earth and Its Atmosphere. 2. Energy: Warming the Earth and the Atmosphere. 3. Seasonal and Daily Temperatures. 4. Atmospheric Humidity. 5. Condensation: Dew, Fog, and Clouds. 6. Stability and Cloud Development. 7. Precipitation. 8. Air Pressure and Winds. 9. Wind: Small-Scale and Local Systems. 10. Wind: Global Systems. 11. Air Masses and Fronts. 12. Middle-Latitude Cyclones. 13. Weather Forecasting. 14. Thunderstorms. 15. Tornadoes. 16. Hurricanes. 17. Earth's Changing Climate. 18. Global Climate. 19. Air Pollution. 20. Light, Color, and Atmospheric Optics.

Simulation of climate response to aerosol direct and indirect effects with aerosol transport‐radiation model

Abstract: [1] With a global aerosol transport-radiation model coupled to a general circulation model, changes in the meteorological parameters of clouds, precipitation, and temperature caused by the direct and indirect effects of aerosols are simulated, and its radiative forcing are calculated. A microphysical parameterization diagnosing the cloud droplet number concentration based on the Kohler theory is introduced into the model, which depends not only on the aerosol particle number concentration but also on the updraft velocity, size distributions, and chemical properties of each aerosol species and saturation condition of the water vapor. The simulated cloud droplet effective radius, cloud radiative forcing, and precipitation rate, which relate to the aerosol indirect effect, are in reasonable agreement with satellite observations. The model results indicate that a decrease in the cloud droplet effective radius by anthropogenic aerosols occurs globally, while changes in the cloud water and precipitation are strongly affected by a variation of the dynamical hydrological cycle with a temperature change by the aerosol direct and first indirect effects rather than the second indirect effect itself. However, the cloud water can increase and the precipitation can simultaneously decrease in regions where a large amount of anthropogenic aerosols and cloud water exist, which is a strong signal of the second indirect effect. The global mean radiative forcings of the direct and indirect effects at the tropopause by anthropogenic aerosols are calculated to be −0.1 and −0.9 W m−2, respectively. It is suggested that aerosol particles approximately reduce 40% of the increase in the surface air temperature by anthropogenic greenhouse gases on the global mean.

Global patterns of ENSO‐induced precipitation

Abstract: Although there have been many analyses of El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) induced precipitation anomalies, global patterns from these analyses remain incomplete. Here we combine recent satellite estimates of oceanic precipitation and historical rain-gauge records to derive a global climatology of ENSO-induced precipitation anomalies using empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analyses. The patterns suggest that the re-arrangement of convection centers of the Walker circulation during ENSO events induces large precipitation anomalies in the tropics, while associated changes in the monsoon systems (through the Hadley cell) over the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans, and their interactions with midlatitude westerlies generate coherent anomaly patterns over the extratropics. Our results can be used to evaluate climate models and forecast ENSO-induced precipitation anomalies.

Raindrop Size Distribution in Different Climatic Regimes from Disdrometer and Dual-Polarized Radar Analysis

Abstract: The application of polarimetric radar data to the retrieval of raindrop size distribution parameters and rain rate in samples of convective and stratiform rain types is presented. Data from the Colorado State University (CSU), CHILL, NCAR S-band polarimetric (S-Pol), and NASA Kwajalein radars are analyzed for the statistics and functional relation of these parameters with rain rate. Surface drop size distribution measurements using two different disdrometers (2D video and RD-69) from a number of climatic regimes are analyzed and compared with the radar retrievals in a statistical and functional approach. The composite statistics based on disdrometer and radar retrievals suggest that, on average, the two parameters (generalized intercept and median volume diameter) for stratiform rain distributions lie on a straight line with negative slope, which appears to be consistent with variations in the microphysics of stratiform precipitation (melting of larger, dry snow particles versus smaller, rimed ic...