Linkage between Projected Precipitation and Atmospheric Thermodynamic Changes

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (16) ◽  
pp. 7155-7178
Author(s):  
Jiao Chen ◽  
Aiguo Dai ◽  
Yaocun Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Climate Model ◽  
Convective Available Potential Energy ◽  
Heavy Precipitation ◽  
Percentage Increase ◽  
Tropical Oceans ◽  
Hourly Data ◽  
Frequency Changes ◽  
Precipitation Changes ◽  
Underlying Processes ◽  
Precipitation Events

AbstractLight–moderate precipitation is projected to decrease whereas heavy precipitation may increase under greenhouse gas (GHG)-induced global warming, while atmospheric convective available potential energy (CAPE) over most of the globe and convective inhibition (CIN) over land are projected to increase. The underlying processes for these precipitation changes are not fully understood. Here, projected precipitation changes are analyzed using 3-hourly data from simulations by a fully coupled climate model, and their link to the CAPE and CIN changes is examined. The model approximately captures the spatial patterns in the mean precipitation frequencies and the significant correlation between the precipitation frequencies or intensity and CAPE over most of the globe or CIN over tropical oceans seen in reanalysis, and it projects decreased light–moderate precipitation (0.01 < P ≤ 1 mm h−1) but increased heavy precipitation (P > 1 mm h−1) in a warmer climate. Results show that most of the light–moderate precipitation events occur under low-CAPE and/or low-CIN conditions, which are projected to decrease greatly in a warmer climate as increased temperature and humidity shift many of such cases into moderate–high CAPE or CIN cases. This results in large decreases in the light–moderate precipitation events. In contrast, increases in heavy precipitation result primarily from its increased probability under given CAPE and CIN, with a secondary contribution from the CAPE/CIN frequency changes. The increased probability for heavy precipitation partly results from a shift of the precipitation histogram toward higher intensity that could result from a uniform percentage increase in precipitation intensity due to increased water vapor in a warmer climate.

Trends in Intense Precipitation in the Climate Record

2005 ◽  
Vol 18 (9) ◽  
pp. 1326-1350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pavel Ya Groisman ◽  
Richard W. Knight ◽  
David R. Easterling ◽  
Thomas R. Karl ◽  
Gabriele C. Hegerl ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Model ◽  
Heavy Precipitation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Small Radius ◽  
Intense Precipitation ◽  
Instrumental Observations ◽  
Climate Model Simulations ◽  
Precipitation Changes ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Precipitation Events

Abstract Observed changes in intense precipitation (e.g., the frequency of very heavy precipitation or the upper 0.3% of daily precipitation events) have been analyzed for over half of the land area of the globe. These changes have been linked to changes in intense precipitation for three transient climate model simulations, all with greenhouse gas concentrations increasing during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and doubling in the later part of the twenty-first century. It was found that both the empirical evidence from the period of instrumental observations and model projections of a greenhouse-enriched atmosphere indicate an increasing probability of intense precipitation events for many extratropical regions including the United States. Although there can be ambiguity as to the impact of more frequent heavy precipitation events, the thresholds of the definitions of these events were raised here, such that they are likely to be disruptive. Unfortunately, reliable assertions of very heavy and extreme precipitation changes are possible only for regions with dense networks due to the small radius of correlation for many intense precipitation events.

scholarly journals Projected Changes in Intense Precipitation over Europe at the Daily and Subdaily Time Scales*

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (15) ◽  
pp. 6193-6203 ◽  
Author(s):  
Enrico Scoccimarro ◽  
Gabriele Villarini ◽  
Marcello Vichi ◽  
Matteo Zampieri ◽  
Pier Giuseppe Fogli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Time Scales ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Daily Rainfall ◽  
Heavy Precipitation ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Intense Precipitation ◽  
Rate Of Increase ◽  
Daily Scale ◽  
Projected Changes ◽  
Precipitation Events

Abstract Heavy precipitation is a major hazard over Europe. It is well established that climate model projections indicate a tendency toward more extreme daily rainfall events. It is still uncertain, however, how this changing intensity translates at the subdaily time scales. The main goal of the present study is to examine possible differences in projected changes in intense precipitation events over Europe at the daily and subdaily (3-hourly) time scales using a state-of-the-science climate model. The focus will be on one representative concentration pathway (RCP8.5), considered as illustrative of a high rate of increase in greenhouse gas concentrations over this century. There are statistically significant differences in intense precipitation projections (up to 40%) when comparing the results at the daily and subdaily time scales. Over northeastern Europe, projected precipitation intensification at the 3-hourly scale is lower than at the daily scale. On the other hand, Spain and the western seaboard exhibit an opposite behavior, with stronger intensification at the 3-hourly scale rather than the daily scale. While the mean properties of the precipitation distributions are independent of the analyzed frequency, projected precipitation intensification exhibits regional differences. This finding has implications for the extrapolation of impacts of intense precipitation events, given the daily time scale at which the analyses are usually performed.

Precipitation projections of the first multi-model ensemble of regional climate simulations at convection permitting scale

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emanuela Pichelli ◽  
Erika Coppola ◽  
Nikolina Ban ◽  
Filippo Giorgi ◽  
Paolo Stocchi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Model ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Heavy Precipitation ◽  
Precipitation Intensity ◽  
Historical Period ◽  
Model Ensemble ◽  
Climate Simulations ◽  
Local Impacts ◽  
Precipitation Changes ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

&lt;p&gt;We present a multi-model ensemble of regional climate model scenario simulations run at scales allowing for explicit treatment of convective processes (2-3km) over historical and end of century time slices, providing an overview of future precipitation changes over the Alpine domain within the convection-permitting CORDEX-FPS initiative. The 12 simulations of the ensemble have been performed by different research groups around Europe. The simulations are compared with high resolution observations to assess the performance over the historical period and the ensemble of 12 to 25 km resolution driving models is used as a benchmark.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;An improvement of the representation of fine scale details of the analyzed fields on a seasonal scale is found, as well as of the onset and peak of the summer diurnal convection. An enhancement of the projected patterns of change and modifications of its sign for the daily precipitation intensity and heavy precipitation over some regions are found with respect to coarse resolution ensemble. A change of the amplitude of the diurnal cycle for precipitation intensity and frequency is also shown, as well also a larger positive change for high to extreme events for daily and hourly precipitation distributions. The results&amp;#160; are challenging and promising for further assessment of the local impacts of climate change.&lt;/p&gt;

A Comparison of CMIP3 Simulations of Precipitation over North America with Observations: Daily Statistics and Circulation Features Accompanying Extreme Events

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (10) ◽  
pp. 3209-3230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony M. DeAngelis ◽  
Anthony J. Broccoli ◽  
Steven G. Decker
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Extreme Events ◽  
Extreme Precipitation ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Heavy Precipitation ◽  
Convective Precipitation ◽  
Southern Mexico ◽  
Extreme Precipitation Events ◽  
Precipitation Events

Abstract Climate model simulations of daily precipitation statistics from the third phase of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP3) were evaluated against precipitation observations from North America over the period 1979–99. The evaluation revealed that the models underestimate the intensity of heavy and extreme precipitation along the Pacific coast, southeastern United States, and southern Mexico, and these biases are robust among the models. The models also overestimate the intensity of light precipitation events over much of North America, resulting in fairly realistic mean precipitation in many places. In contrast, heavy precipitation is simulated realistically over northern and eastern Canada, as is the seasonal cycle of heavy precipitation over a majority of North America. An evaluation of the simulated atmospheric dynamics and thermodynamics associated with extreme precipitation events was also conducted using the North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR). The models were found to capture the large-scale physical mechanisms that generate extreme precipitation realistically, although they tend to overestimate the strength of the associated atmospheric circulation features. This suggests that climate model deficiencies such as insufficient spatial resolution, inadequate representation of convective precipitation, and overly smoothed topography may be more important for biases in simulated heavy precipitation than errors in the large-scale circulation during extreme events.

On the role of CO2 in enhancing the temporal clustering of heavy precipitation across Europe

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhiqi Yang ◽  
Gabriele Villarini
Keyword(s):  
Climate Model ◽  
Cox Regression ◽  
Heavy Precipitation ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Cmip5 Models ◽  
Economic Losses ◽  
Climate Modes ◽  
Temporal Clustering ◽  
Simulated Precipitation ◽  
Precipitation Events

&lt;p&gt;Heavy precipitation has increased across many areas of the world, not only in terms of amounts but also of intensity and frequency, causing billions of dollars in economic losses and numerous fatalities. Our ability to prepare for and adapt to these events is tied to our understanding of the physical processes responsible for these events, and how they may respond to changes in anthropogenic forcings. Here we focus on the temporal clustering of heavy precipitation across Europe, highlight what the major climate drivers responsible for it are, and how it may change in response to changes in the concentration of greenhouse gasses. More specifically, we use a peak over threshold approach to identify heavy precipitation events, and Cox regression to relate the occurrence of these events to four climate modes that have been connected with the occurrence of heavy precipitation across Europe: the Arctic Oscillation (AO), the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), the East Atlantic (EA) pattern, and the Scandinavia pattern (SCAND). We use outputs from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5), and experiments that allow us to focus on the response to CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; (pre-industrial, 1pctCO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;, abrupt4&amp;#215;CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;). To further detect the effects of downscaling on model-simulated precipitation, we also considered the accuracy of the EURO-CORDEX regional climate model (RCM) on capturing the temporal clustering in heavy precipitation across Europe. We find that: 1) the CMIP5 models can capture the temporal clustering in heavy precipitation across Europe as a function of these four climate modes; 2) the increases in CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; are expected to lead to a strengthening of the relationship between the climate modes and the occurrence of heavy precipitation events; 3) the response to an abrupt increase in CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; is generally stronger compared to a more gradual one.&lt;/p&gt;

scholarly journals Heat Waves in Florida: Climatology, Trends, and Related Precipitation Events

2019 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 447-466 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shealynn R. Cloutier-Bisbee ◽  
Ajay Raghavendra ◽  
Shawn M. Milrad
Keyword(s):  
Heat Wave ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Heat Waves ◽  
Heavy Precipitation ◽  
Daily Maximum ◽  
Recent Climate ◽  
Climate Model Simulations ◽  
Southern Florida ◽  
Precipitation Events

AbstractHeat waves are increasing in frequency, duration, and intensity and are strongly linked to anthropogenic climate change. However, few studies have examined heat waves in Florida, despite an older population and increasingly urbanized land areas that make it particularly susceptible to heat impacts. Heavy precipitation events are also becoming more frequent and intense; recent climate model simulations showed that heavy precipitation in the three days after a Florida heat wave follow these trends, yet the underlying dynamic and thermodynamic mechanisms have not been investigated. In this study, a heat wave climatology and trend analysis are developed from 1950 to 2016 for seven major airports in Florida. Heat waves are defined based on the 95th percentile of daily maximum, minimum, and mean temperatures. Results show that heat waves exhibit statistically significant increases in frequency and duration at most stations, especially for mean and minimum temperature events. Frequency and duration increases are most prominent at Tallahassee, Tampa, Miami, and Key West. Heat waves in northern Florida are characterized by large-scale continental ridging, while heat waves in central and southern Florida are associated with a combination of a continental ridge and a westward extension of the Bermuda–Azores high. Heavy precipitation events that follow a heat wave are characterized by anomalously large ascent and moisture, as well as strong instability. Light precipitation events in northern Florida are characterized by advection of drier air from the continent, while over central and southern Florida, prolonged subsidence is the most important difference between heavy and light events.

scholarly journals Atmospheric Rivers in CMIP5 climate ensembles downscaled with a high resolution regional climate model

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthias Gröger ◽  
Christian Dieterich ◽  
Cyril Dutheil ◽  
Markus Meier ◽  
Dmitry Sein
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Regional Climate Model ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Heavy Precipitation ◽  
Atmospheric Rivers ◽  
Precipitation Events

Abstract. Atmospheric rivers (AR) are important drivers of heavy precipitation events in western and central Europe and often associated with intense floods. So far, the ARs response to climate change in Europe has been investigated by global climate models within the CMIP5 framework. However, their spatial resolution between 1 and 3° is too coarse for an adequate assessment of local to regional precipitation patterns. Using a regional climate model with 0.22° resolution we downscale an ensemble of 24 global climate simulations following the greenhouse gas scenarios RCP2.6, RCP4.5, RCP8.5. The performance of the model was tested against ER-I reanalysis data. The downscaled simulation notably better represents small-scale spatial characteristics which is most obvious over the terrain of the Iberian Peninsula where the AR induced precipitation pattern clearly reflect eat-west striking topographical elements resulting in zonal bands of high and low AR impact. Over central Europe the model simulates a less far propagation of ARs toward eastern Europe compared to ERA-I but a higher share of AR forced heavy precipitation events especially Norway where 60 % of annual precipitation maxima are related to ARs. We find ARs more frequent and more intense in a future warmer climate especially in the higher emission scenarios whereas the changes are mostly mitigated under the assumption of RCP2.6. They also propagate further inland to eastern Europe in a warmer climate. In the high emission scenario RCP8.5 AR induced precipitation rates increase between 20 and 40 % in western central Europe while mean precipitation rates increase by maximal 12 %. Over the Iberian Peninsula AR induced precipitation rates slightly decrease around −6 % but mean rates decrease around −15 %. The result of these changes is an overall increased contribution of ARs to heavy precipitation with greatest impact over Iberia (15–30 %). Over Norway average AR precipitation rates decline between −5 to −30 %. These reductions most likely the originate from regional dynamical changes. In fact, over Norway we find ARs originating from > 60° N are reduced by up to 20 % while those originating south of 45° N are increased. Also, no clear climate change signal is seen for AR related heavy precipitation and annual maximum precipitation over Norway where the uncertainty of the ensemble is quite large.

scholarly journals Twenty-First-Century Changes in U.S. Regional Heavy Precipitation Frequency Based on Resolved Atmospheric Patterns

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (7) ◽  
pp. 2501-2521 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiang Gao ◽  
C. Adam Schlosser ◽  
Paul A. O’Gorman ◽  
Erwan Monier ◽  
Dara Entekhabi
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Heavy Precipitation ◽  
First Century ◽  
Specific Humidity ◽  
Atmospheric Conditions ◽  
Precipitation Frequency ◽  
Model Based ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
Precipitation Events

Precipitation-gauge observations and atmospheric reanalysis are combined to develop an analogue method for detecting heavy precipitation events based on prevailing large-scale atmospheric conditions. Combinations of atmospheric variables for circulation (geopotential height and wind vector) and moisture (surface specific humidity, column and up to 500-hPa precipitable water) are examined to construct analogue schemes for the winter [December–February (DJF)] of the “Pacific Coast California” (PCCA) region and the summer [June–August (JJA)] of the Midwestern United States (MWST). The detection diagnostics of analogue schemes are calibrated with 1979–2005 and validated with 2006–14 NASA Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA). All analogue schemes are found to significantly improve upon MERRA precipitation in characterizing the occurrence and interannual variations of observed heavy precipitation events in the MWST. When evaluated with the late twentieth-century climate model simulations from phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5), all analogue schemes produce model medians of heavy precipitation frequency that are more consistent with observations and have smaller intermodel discrepancies than model-based precipitation. Under the representative concentration pathways (RCP) 4.5 and 8.5 scenarios, the CMIP5-based analogue schemes produce trends in heavy precipitation occurrence through the twenty-first century that are consistent with model-based precipitation, but with smaller intermodel disparity. The median trends in heavy precipitation frequency are positive for DJF over PCCA but are slightly negative for JJA over MWST. Overall, the analyses highlight the potential of the analogue as a powerful diagnostic tool for model deficiencies and its complementarity to an evaluation of heavy precipitation frequency based on model precipitation alone.

scholarly journals Regional, Very Heavy Daily Precipitation in NARCCAP Simulations

2013 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 1212-1227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sho Kawazoe ◽  
William J. Gutowski
Keyword(s):  
Mississippi River ◽  
Climate Models ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Daily Precipitation ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Global Climate Model ◽  
Regional Climate ◽  
Heavy Precipitation ◽  
River Region ◽  
Precipitation Events

Abstract The authors analyze the ability of the North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program's ensemble of climate models to simulate very heavy daily precipitation and its supporting processes, comparing simulations that used observation-based boundary conditions with observations. The analysis includes regional climate models and a time-slice global climate model that all used approximately half-degree resolution. Analysis focuses on an upper Mississippi River region for winter (December–February), when it is assumed that resolved synoptic circulation governs precipitation. All models generally reproduce the precipitation-versus-intensity spectrum seen in observations well, with a small tendency toward producing overly strong precipitation at high-intensity thresholds, such as the 95th, 99th, and 99.5th percentiles. Further analysis focuses on precipitation events exceeding the 99.5th percentile that occur simultaneously at several points in the region, yielding so-called “widespread events.” Examination of additional fields shows that the models produce very heavy precipitation events for the same physical conditions seen in the observations.

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