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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 paper, an analysis of climate model simulations shows that warm regions are projected to become wetter in annual mean, whereas seasonally high rainfall anomalies are expected in regions that are currently wet.
Abstract: The response of tropical precipitation to global warming varies spatially and the factors controlling the spatial patterns of precipitation changes are unclear. An analysis of climate model simulations shows that warm regions are projected to become wetter in annual mean, whereas seasonally high rainfall anomalies are expected in regions that are currently wet.

295 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a comparison between a speleothem record of precipitation in northeast Brazil and rainfall reconstructions from the rest of tropical South America shows that a similar antiphasing operated in the same hemisphere during the Holocene.
Abstract: The variations of tropical precipitation are antiphased between the hemispheres on orbital timescales. A comparison between a speleothem record of precipitation in northeast Brazil and rainfall reconstructions from the rest of tropical South America shows that a similar antiphasing operated in the same hemisphere during the Holocene. The variations of tropical precipitation are antiphased between the hemispheres on orbital timescales. This antiphasing arises through the alternating strength of incoming solar radiation in the two hemispheres, which affects monsoon intensity and hence the position of the meridional atmospheric circulation of the Hadley cells1,2,3,4. Here we compare an oxygen isotopic record recovered from a speleothem from northeast Brazil for the past 26,000 years with existing reconstructions of precipitation in tropical South America5,6,7,8. During the Holocene, we identify a similar, but zonally oriented, antiphasing of precipitation within the same hemisphere: northeast Brazil experiences humid conditions during low summer insolation and aridity when summer insolation is high, whereas the rest of southern tropical South America shows opposite characteristics. Simulations with a general circulation model that incorporates isotopic variations support this pattern as well as the link to insolation-driven monsoon activity. Our results suggest that convective heating over tropical South America and associated adjustments in large-scale subsidence over northeast Brazil lead to a remote forcing of the South American monsoon, which determines most of the precipitation changes in the region on orbital timescales.

295 citations

Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 1990
TL;DR: In this article, the most important advantage of using radar for precipitation measurements is the coverage of a large area with high spatial and temporal resolution from a single point and in real time.
Abstract: The most important advantage of using radar for precipitation measurements is the coverage of a large area with high spatial and temporal resolution from a single point and in real time. Furthermore, the three-dimensional picture of the weather situation can be extended over a very large area by compositing data from several radars. However, we have not been able until recently to make measurements over a large area with an accuracy acceptable for hydrological applications.

295 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a record of precipitation in the southwestern United States from 56,000 to 11,000 years ago, on the basis of δ18O measurements of speleothem calcite from New Mexico, was presented.
Abstract: The last glacial period was characterized by large, rapid climate fluctuations. An analysis of a speleothem from New Mexico shows that the coldest conditions over Greenland coincide with increased winter precipitation in the southwestern United States, which can be attributed to a southward displacement of the polar jet stream and the North American storm track. During the last glacial period, the climate of the Northern Hemisphere was characterized by rapid, large-amplitude temperature fluctuations through cycles lasting a few thousand years1,2,3. These fluctuations are apparent in Greenland temperature reconstructions2,3, and corresponding temperature and hydrological variations have been documented throughout the Northern Hemisphere4,5. Here we present a record of precipitation in the southwestern United States from 56,000 to 11,000 yr ago, on the basis of δ18O measurements of speleothem calcite from New Mexico. Our record shows that increased winter precipitation in the southwestern United States is associated with Northern Hemisphere cooling, which we attribute to a southward shift in the polar jet stream, which modulated the position of the winter storm track over North America. On the western side of the Pacific Ocean basin, decreases in summer monsoon precipitation are associated with Northern Hemisphere cooling, due to southward displacement of the intertropical convergence zone4. We conclude that cooling and warming excursions in the Northern Hemisphere lead to concurrent latitudinal displacement of both the intertropical convergence zone and the polar jet stream over the Pacific Ocean. Our data are consistent with modern evidence for a northward shift of the polar jet stream in response to global warming6,7,8, which could lead to increasingly arid conditions in southwestern North America in the future.

295 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the role of direct radiative forcing of desert dust aerosol in the change from wet to dry climate observed in the African Sahel region in the last half of the twentieth century is investigated using simulations with an atmospheric general circulation model.
Abstract: The role of direct radiative forcing of desert dust aerosol in the change from wet to dry climate observed in the African Sahel region in the last half of the twentieth century is investigated using simulations with an atmospheric general circulation model. The model simulations are conducted either forced by the observed sea surface temperature (SST) or coupled with the interactive SST using the Slab Ocean Model (SOM). The simulation model uses dust that is less absorbing in the solar wavelengths and has larger particle sizes than other simulation studies. As a result, simulations show less shortwave absorption within the atmosphere and larger longwave radiative forcing by dust. Simulations using SOM show reduced precipitation over the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) including the Sahel region and increased precipitation south of the ITCZ when dust radiative forcing is included. In SST-forced simulations, on the other hand, significant precipitation changes are restricted to over North Africa. These changes are considered to be due to the cooling of global tropical oceans as well as the cooling of the troposphere over North Africa in response to dust radiative forcing. The model simulation of dust cannot capture the magnitude of the observed increase of desert dust when allowing dust to respond to changes in simulated climate, even including changes in vegetation, similar to previous studies. If the model is forced to capture observed changes in desert dust, the direct radiative forcing by the increase of North African dust can explain up to 30% of the observed precipitation reduction in the Sahel between wet and dry periods. A large part of this effect comes through atmospheric forcing of dust, and dust forcing on the Atlantic Ocean SST appears to have a smaller impact. The changes in the North and South Atlantic SSTs may account for up to 50% of the Sahel precipitation reduction. Vegetation loss in the Sahel region may explain about 10% of the observed drying, but this effect is statistically insignificant because of the small number of years in the simulation. Greenhouse gas warming seems to have an impact to increase Sahel precipitation that is opposite to the observed change. Although the estimated values of impacts are likely to be model dependent, analyses suggest the importance of direct radiative forcing of dust and feedbacks in modulating Sahel precipitation.

294 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