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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.


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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a high-resolution, absolutely-dated oxygen isotope (δ18O) records of stalagmites from Kesang Cave characterize a dynamic precipitation history over most of the past 500,000 years.
Abstract: [1] Central Asia is currently a semiarid-arid region, dominated by the Westerlies. It is important to understand mechanisms of climate and precipitation changes here, as water availability in the region is crucial today and in the future. High-resolution, absolutely-dated oxygen isotope (δ18O) records of stalagmites from Kesang Cave characterize a dynamic precipitation history over most of the past 500,000 years. This record demonstrates, for the first time, that climate change in the region exhibits a processional rhythm with abrupt inceptions of low δ18O speleothem growth at times of high Northern Hemisphere summer insolation followed by gradual δ18O increases that track decreases of insolation. These observations and interpretations contrast with the interpretation of nearby, but higher elevation ice core records. The absolutely-dated caveδ18O shifts can be used to correlate the regional climate variability by providing chronological marks. Combined with other paleoclimate records, the Kesang observations suggest that possible incursions of Asian summer monsoon rainfall or related moisture into the Kesang site and/or adjacent areas during the high insolation times may play an important role in changing orbital-scale hydrology of the region. Based on our record, arid climate will prevail in this region for the next several millennia, providing that anthropogenic effects do not supersede natural processes.

343 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the first three-dimensional global model in which time-dependent spectral albedos and emissivities over snow and sea ice are predicted with a radiative transfer solution, rather than prescribed, is applied to study the climate response of fossil fuel plus biofuel black carbon plus organic matter (ff+bf BC+OM) when BC absorption in snow and Sea ice is accounted for.
Abstract: [1] The first three-dimensional global model in which time-dependent spectral albedos and emissivities over snow and sea ice are predicted with a radiative transfer solution, rather than prescribed, is applied to study the climate response of fossil fuel plus biofuel black carbon plus organic matter (ff+bf BC+OM) when BC absorption in snow and sea ice is accounted for. The model treats the cycling of size-resolved BC+OM between emission and removal by dry deposition and precipitation from first principles. Particles produce and enter size-resolved clouds and precipitation by nucleation scavenging and aerosol-hydrometeor coagulation. Removal brings BC to the surface, where internally and externally mixed BC in snow and sea ice affects albedo and emissivity through radiative transfer. Climate response simulations were run with a ff+bf BC+OC emission inventory lower than that used in a previous study. The 10-year, globally averaged ff+bf BC+OM near-surface temperature response due to all feedbacks was about +0.27 K (+0.32 in the last 3 years), close to those from the previous study (5-year average of +0.3 K and fifth-year warming of +0.35 K) and its modeled range (+0.15 to +0.5 K) because warming due to soot absorption in snow and sea ice here (10-year average of +0.06 K with a modeled range of +0.03 to +0.11 K) offset reduced warming due to lower emission. BC was calculated to reduce snow and sea ice albedo by ∼0.4% in the global average and 1% in the Northern Hemisphere. The globally averaged modeled BC concentration in snow and sea ice was ∼5 ng/g; that in rainfall was ∼22 ng/g. About 98% of BC removal from the atmosphere was due to precipitation; the rest was due to dry deposition. The results here support previous findings that controlling ff+bf BC+OM and CO2 emission may slow global warming.

343 citations

13 Aug 2008
TL;DR: In this article, the application of trivariate thin-plate smoothing splines to the interpolation of daily weather data is investigated, and the method is used to develop spatial models of daily minimum and maximum temperature and daily precipitation for all of Canada.
Abstract: Abstract The application of trivariate thin-plate smoothing splines to the interpolation of daily weather data is investigated. The method was used to develop spatial models of daily minimum and maximum temperature and daily precipitation for all of Canada, at a spatial resolution of 300 arc s of latitude and longitude, for the period 1961–2003. Each daily model was optimized automatically by minimizing the generalized cross validation. The fitted trivariate splines incorporated a spatially varying dependence on ground elevation and were able to adapt automatically to the large variation in station density over Canada. Extensive quality control measures were performed on the source data. Error estimates for the fitted surfaces based on withheld data across southern Canada were comparable to, or smaller than, errors obtained by daily interpolation studies elsewhere with denser data networks. Mean absolute errors in daily maximum and minimum temperature averaged over all years were 1.1° and 1.6°C, respectiv...

343 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of different formulations for the occurrence and amounts components of stochastic daily precipitation (i.e., weather generator) models are investigated with respect to overall goodness of fit, and their capacity to represent observed interannual precipitation variability, extreme daily precipitation amounts, and long runs of consecutive wet and dry days.

342 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Palazzi et al. as discussed by the authors studied the properties of precipitation in the HKKH region using currently available data sets, including satellite rainfall estimates (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission), reanalyses (ERA-Interim), and a merged satellite and rain gauge climatology (Global Precipitation Climatology Project).
Abstract: We study the properties of precipitation in the Hindu-Kush Karakoram Himalaya (HKKH) region using currently available data sets. We consider satellite rainfall estimates (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission), reanalyses (ERA-Interim), gridded in situ rain gauge data (Asian Precipitation Highly Resolved Observational Data Integration Towards Evaluation of Water Resources, Climate Research Unit, and Global Precipitation Climatology Centre), and a merged satellite and rain gauge climatology (Global Precipitation Climatology Project). The data are compared with simulation results from the global climate model EC-Earth. All data sets, despite having different resolutions, coherently reproduce the mean annual cycle of precipitation in the western and eastern stretches of the HKKH. While for the Himalaya only a strong summer precipitation signal is present, associated with the monsoon, the data indicate that the Hindu-Kush Karakoram, which is exposed to midlatitude qwestern weather patternsq, receives water inputs in winter. Time series of seasonal precipitation confirm that the various data sets provide a consistent measurement of interannual variability for the HKKH. The longest observational data sets indicate a statistically significant decreasing trend in Himalaya during summer. None of the data sets gives statistically significant precipitation trends in Hindu-Kush Karakoram during winter. Precipitation data from EC-Earth are in good agreement with the climatology of the observations (rainfall distribution and seasonality). The evolution of precipitation under two different future scenarios (RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5) reveals an increasing trend over the Himalaya during summer, associated with an increase in wet extremes and daily intensity and a decrease in the number of rainy days. Unlike the observations, the model shows an increasing precipitation trend also in the period 1950-2009, possibly as a result of the poor representation of aerosols in this type of GCMs. Citation: Palazzi, E., J. von Hardenberg, and A. Provenzale (2013), Precipitation in the Hindu-Kush Karakoram Himalaya: Observations and future scenarios, J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 118, 85-100, doi: 10.1029/2012JD018697.

342 citations


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Performance
Metrics
No. of papers in the topic in previous years
YearPapers
20237,839
202214,365
20212,302
20201,964
20191,942
20181,773