scholarly journals Features of weather types involving heavy rainfall along the southern Spanish Mediterranean

Author(s):  
J.M. Senciales-González ◽  
J.D. Ruiz-Sinoga

Heavy rainfall events in the Mediterranean can be of high intensity, commonly exceeding 100 mm day-1, and have irregular spatio-temporal distribution. Such events can have significant impacts both on soils and human structures. The aim of this paper is to highlight a systematic comparison of synoptic conditions with heavy rainfall events in Mediterranean Southern Spain, assessing the weather types responsible for meteorological risk in specific locations of this mountainous region. To do this, we analyzed the maximum intensity of rainfall in observational periods ranging from 10 min to 24 h using a database from 132 rain gauge stations across the study area since 1943; then, the heavy rain has been associated with the weather type which triggers it. This analysis identified a pattern of heavy rainfall which differs from that previously reported in the Mediterranean area. Thus, in this research, the maximum number of heavy rainfall events uses to come from a dominant pattern of low pressures associated to front systems and East-Northeast winds; but the maximum volumes use to be associated to Cold Drops and the same winds; in addition, there are differences throughout the territory, showing several patterns and seasonal incidence when analyzing sub-zones, which may be related with different erosive conditions according to its position with respect to Atlantic or Mediterranean sea, and the entity of its relief.

2009 ◽  
Vol 48 (11) ◽  
pp. 2227-2241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zifeng Yu ◽  
Hui Yu ◽  
Peiyan Chen ◽  
Chuanhai Qian ◽  
Caijun Yue

Abstract To evaluate the abilities of satellite retrievals in reflecting precipitation features related to tropical cyclones (TCs) affecting mainland China, four years of 6- and 24-h precipitation retrievals from three datasets, namely the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite algorithm 3B42, version 6 (3B42), Climate Prediction Center morphed (CMORPH) product, and one based on the Geostationary Meteorological Satellite-5 infrared brightness temperature (GMS5-TBB), are compared statistically with direct measurements from surface gauge rainfall data during the periods affected by TCs. The GMS5-TBB dataset was set up by a method of considering the GMS5-TBB characteristics, hourly precipitation intensity, and horizontal distribution for landfalling TCs. The results show that in a general sense, all three satellite-retrieved rainfall datasets give quite reasonable 6- and 24-h rainfall distributions, with skill decreasing with the increase in both latitude and rainfall amount. The 3B42 has a little bit better skill than CMORPH, which is likely related to the fact that the 3B42 product has a rain gauge adjustment and CMORPH does not. Further analyses show that both 3B42 and CMORPH considerably underestimate the moderate and heavy rainfall and overestimate the very light precipitation. The overestimation of the GMS5-TBB data for the light rain is larger than that for 3B42 and CMORPH, probably due to the fact that the GMS5-TBB method considers stratiform and convective rainfall separately with a fixed stratiform rain rate of 2 mm h−1. For the heavy rainfall events, the GMS5-TBB data perform much better than the 3B42 and CMORPH data with an almost halved bias, owing to the fact that the GMS5-TBB method adopted the adjustment of the convective rain rate by considering TBB characteristics of landfalling TCs and using hourly gauge rainfall in the setup process. Since the heavy rainfall events associated with landfalling TCs are of the most concern, the compared GMS5-TBB data could be useful as an operational/research reference.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gamal El Afandi ◽  
Mostafa Morsy ◽  
Fathy El Hussieny

Heavy rainfall is one of major severe weather over Sinai Peninsula and causes many flash floods over the region. The good forecasting of rainfall is very much necessary for providing early warning before the flash flood events to avoid or minimize disasters. In the present study using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model, heavy rainfall events that occurred over Sinai Peninsula and caused flash flood have been investigated. The flash flood that occurred on January 18, 2010, over different parts of Sinai Peninsula has been predicted and analyzed using the Advanced Weather Research and Forecast (WRF-ARW) Model. The predicted rainfall in four dimensions (space and time) has been calibrated with the measurements recorded at rain gauge stations. The results show that the WRF model was able to capture the heavy rainfall events over different regions of Sinai. It is also observed that WRF model was able to predict rainfall in a significant consistency with real measurements. In this study, several synoptic characteristics of the depressions that developed during the course of study have been investigated. Also, several dynamic characteristics during the evolution of the depressions were studied: relative vorticity, thermal advection, and geopotential height.


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeff Callaghan

An extensive search has been carried out to find all major flood and very heavy rainfall events in Victoria since 1876 when Southern Oscillation (SOI) data became available. The synoptic weather patterns were analysed and of the 319 events studied,121 events were found to be East Coast Lows (ECLs) and 82 were other types of low-pressure systems. Tropical influences also played a large role with 105 events being associated with tropical air advecting down to Victoria into weather systems. Examples are presented of all the major synoptic patterns identified. The SOI was found to be an important climate driver with positive SOIs being associated with many events over the 144 years studied. The 1976 Climate Shift and its influence on significant Victorian rainfall events is studied and negative SOI monthly values were shown to dominate following the Shift.However,one of the most active periods in 144 years of Victorian heavy rain occurred after the shift with a sustained period of positive SOI events from 2007 to 2014. Therefore, it is critical for forecasting future Victorian heavy rainfall is to understand if sequences of these positive SOI events continue like those preceding the Shift. Possible relationships between the Shift and Global Temperature rises are also explored. Upper wind data available from some of the heaviest rainfall events showed the presence of anticyclonic turning of the winds between 850hPa and 500hPa levels which has been found to be linked with extreme rainfall around the Globe. 


MAUSAM ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 265-280
Author(s):  
MEHFOOZ ALI MEHFOOZALI ◽  
U.P. SINGH ◽  
D. JOARDAR ◽  
NIZAMUDDIN NIZAMUDDIN

vR;f/kd o"kkZ gksus ds dkj.k HkwL[kyu gksrk gS vDlekr ck<+ vk tkrh gS vkSj Qly dks {kfr igq¡prh gSA lekt] vFkZO;oLFkk vkSj i;kZoj.k ij bldk cgqr nq"izHkko iM+rk gSA i;kZoj.kh; vkSj flukWfIVd fLFkfr;ksa ds mRiUu gksus ls  vR;f/kd vFkok cgqr Hkkjh o"kkZ gksus ds dkj.k Hkkjr esa nf{k.k if’peh ekulwu _rq ds nkSjku vf/kdk¡’kr% ck<+ vkrh gSA bl 'kks/k i= esa izeq[k flukWfIVd dkj.kksa dk irk yxkus dk iz;kl fd;k x;k gS tks y?kq vof/k iwokZuqeku ds {ks= esa fodflr iwokZuqeku rduhd vkSj vk/kqfud izs{k.kkRed izkS|ksfxdh ij vk/kkfjr o"kZ 1998&2010 dh vof/k dh bl o"kkZ  vkSj ok;qeaMyh; iz.kkfy;ksa ds e/; laca/kksa ds fo’ys"k.k ds ek/;e ls ;equk ds fupys tyxzg.k {ks= ¼,y-okbZ-lh-½ esa vR;f/kd Hkkjh o"kkZ dh ?kVukvksa ds fy, mRrjnk;h gSA bl v/;;u ls ;g irk pyk gS fd  bl {ks= esa caxky dh [kkM+h esa fuEu nkc iz.kkfy;ksa dk cuuk izeq[k dkjd gS fuLlansg ;fn LFkkuh; fLFkfr;k¡ izHkkoh gks tSlsa fd xehZ dk c<+uk rks ogk¡ ij Hkkjh o"kkZ gksrh gSA lkekU;r% caxky dh [kkM+h esa fuEu vcnkc iz.kkfy;k¡ ¼pØokr] vonkc] fuEu vonkc {ks= vkfn tSls ¼,y-ih-,l-½ fodflr gqbZ tks if’pe ls mRrjh  if’peh fn’kk dh vksj c<+h rFkk ;equk ds fupys tyxzg.k ¼,y-okbZ-lh-½ {ks= esa igq¡phA ,slh ?kVukvksa ds fy, mRrjnk;h mifjru  ok;q pØokrh ifjlapj.k ¼lkblj½ ds izHkko ls ogha ij ,y- ih- ,l- Hkh cu ldrk gSA ,slh iz.kkyh ls bDds&nwDds LFkkuksa ij vR;f/kd Hkkjh o"kkZ dh ?kVuk,¡ ¼lkekU;r% iz.kkyh ds nf{k.k if’pe {ks= esa½ vkSj dqN LFkkuksa ij Hkkjh ls cgqr Hkkjh o"kkZ gqbZ ftlds dkj.k ck<+ vkbZA ;fn ;equk ds fupys tyxzg.k ¼,y-okbZ-lh-½ {ks= esa ,y-ih-,l- fuf"Ø; ;k /khek iM+ tkrk gS rks bl izdkj dh o"kkZ dh ?kVukvksa dh laHkkouk c<+ ldrh gSA ,y-ih-,l- ds vkxs c<+us dk lgh iwokZuqeku nsus ds fy, vkj-,l-,e-lh- ¼Hkkjr ekSle foKku foHkkx½ ubZ fnYYkh ds iwoZuqeku :i js[kk ds ,u-MCY;w-ih- mRikn@72] 48 vkSj 24 ?kaVksa ds iou pkVZ lgh lk/ku ik, x, gSaA vR;f/kd o"kkZ dh ?kVukvksa ds iwokZuqeku esa bl izdkj dh lwpuk nsus ls iwokZuqekudrkvksa dks fuf’pr :i ls lgh iwokZuqeku feysxk rkfd ftyk izkf/kdkjh le; jgrs vkink dh rS;kjh ds fy, vko’;d ewyHkwr lqfo/kk,¡ miyC/k djk ldsaA  Extreme rainfall results in landslides, flash flood and crop damage that have major impact on society, the economy and the environment. During southwest monsoon season, flood mostly occurs in India due to extremely or very heavy rain that originates from environmental and   synoptic conditions. An attempt has been made to identify the main synoptic reasons, which are responsible for extremely heavy rainfall events over Lower Yamuna catchment (LYC) through the analysis of the relationship between this rainfall and atmospheric systems for the period 1998-2010 based on modern observational technology and developed forecasting technique in the field of short range prediction. The finding of this study show that the major factor have is the arrival of Bay of Bengal low pressure systems in this region, of course if the ascent local conditions such as heat occur, causing the heaviest rains there. The low pressure systems (LPS like, Cyclone, depression, low pressure area etc.) developed generally over Bay of Bengal moved in west to north-westwards direction and reached over the LYC region. Also LPS may be formed in situ under the influence of upper air cyclonic circulation (cycir) responsible for such events. Such system yield extremely heavy rainfall events (generally in the south-west sector of the system) at isolated places and heavy to very heavy rainfall at a few places and there by caused flood situation. The possibility of occurrence of such type of rainfall would be higher if the LPS is either stagnate or slow over LYC region. The NWP products of RSMC (IMD) New Delhi forecast contours / wind charts for 72, 48 & 24 hrs were found good tool for accurate forecast position of the movement of the LPS. Such information certainly facilitate to forecaster in prediction of extreme rainfall events more accurately so that district authorities may set up necessary infrastructures for disaster preparedness in time.


Author(s):  
Chanil Park ◽  
Seok-Woo Son ◽  
Jung-Hoon Kim

AbstractThe nature of the vertical motion responsible for the summertime (June–September) heavy rainfall events (HREs) in Korea is quantitatively examined. By compositing 318 HREs in 1979–2018, it is found that the synoptic conditions of the HREs are typically characterized by a developing surface cyclone with a southwesterly low-level jet on its southeastern flank and an upper-level trough to the west of the HREs. This baroclinic environment allows for well-organized vertical motion over Korea at the equatorward side of the upper-level jet entrance. The relative importance of dynamic and diabatic forcings in driving the vertical motion is further quantified by solving the quasi-geostrophic omega equation. It turns out that the dynamic forcing, defined as Q-vector convergence, is comparable to the diabatic forcing in the developing stage of the HREs. The diabatic forcing, however, becomes more important in the mature stage as latent heating rapidly increases. The decomposition of Q-vector into the transverse and shearwise components reveals that the dynamic uplift is largely caused by the shearwise Q-vector convergence which is closely related to the developing trough in the upper-to-middle troposphere on the west of the HREs. This result indicates that the HREs in Korea are organized by the baroclinic trough coupled to moist processes, with a minor contribution of the thermally-direct secondary circulation at the entrance region of the upper-level jet.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sungmin O ◽  
Ulrich Foelsche

Abstract. Hydrology and remote-sensing communities have made use of dense rain-gauge networks for studying rainfall uncertainty and variability. However, in most regions, these dense networks are only available at sub-pixel scales and over short periods of time. Just a few studies have applied a similar approach, employing dense gauge networks, to local-scale areas, which limits the verification of their results in other regions. Using 10-year rainfall measurements from a network of 150 rain gauges, we assess spatial uncertainty in observed heavy rainfall events. The network is located in southeastern Austria over an area of 20 km × 15 km with no significant orography. First, the spatial variability of rainfall in the region was characterised using a correlogram at daily and sub-daily scales. Differences in the spatial structure of rainfall events between wet and dry seasons are apparent and we selected heavy rainfall events, the upper 10 % of wettest days during the wet season, for further analyses because of their high potential for causing hazard risk. Secondly, we investigated uncertainty in estimating mean areal rainfall arising from a limited gauge density. The number of gauges required to obtain areal rainfall with > 20 % accuracy tends to increase roughly following a power law as time scale decreases. Lastly, the impact of spatial aggregation on extreme rainfall was examined using gridded rainfall data with horizontal grid spacings from 0.1° to 0.01°. The spatial scale dependence was clearly observed at high intensity thresholds and high temporal resolutions. Quantitative uncertainty information from this study can guide both data users and producers to estimate uncertainty in their own observational datasets, consequently leading to the rational use of the data in relevant applications. Our findings are generalisable to other plain regions in mid-latitudes, however the degree of uncertainty could be affected by regional variations, like rainfall type or topography.


MAUSAM ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 699-712
Author(s):  
KULDEEP SHARMA ◽  
RAGHAVENDRA ASHRIT ◽  
R. BHATLA ◽  
R. RAKHI ◽  
G. R. IYENGAR ◽  
...  

Forecasting of heavy rainfall events is still a challenge even for the most advanced state-of-art high resolution NWP modelling systems. Very often the models fail to accurately predict the track and movement of the low pressure systems leading to large spatial errors in the predicted rain. Quantification of errors in forecast rainfall location and amounts is important for forecasters (to choose a forecast and interpret) and modelers for monitoring the impact of changes and improvements in model physics and dynamics configurations. This study aims to quantify and summarize errors in rainfall forecast for heavy rains associated with a Bay of Bengal (BOB) low pressure systems. The verification analysis is based on three heavy rain events during June to September (JJAS) 2015. The performance of the three deterministic models, NCMRWF’s Global Forecast Systems (NGFS), NCMRWF’s Unified Model (NCUM) and Australian Community Climate and Earth-System Simulator – Global (ACCESS-G) in predicting these heavy rainfall events has been analysed. In addition to standard verification metrics like RMSE, ETS, POD and HK Score, this paper also uses new family of scores like EDS (Extreme Dependency Score), EDI (Extremal Dependence Index) and Symmetric EDI with special emphasis on verification of extreme rainfall to bring out the relative performance of the models for these three rainfall events. The results indicate that Unified modeling framework in NCUM and ACCESS-G by and large performs better than NGFS in rainfall forecasts over India specially at higher lead times. Relatively improved skill in NCUM forecasts can be attributed to (i) improved resolution (~17 km) and (ii) END Game dynamics of NCUM.


MAUSAM ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 615-622
Author(s):  
G.K. DAS ◽  
S.N. ROY ◽  
S.K. MIDYA

In this paper an attempt has been made to study climatological characteristics and forecasting aspects of heavy rainfall over Kolkata for data of 34 years of period from 1974 to 2007. Total 184 events has been found out and the data set has been subjected to various types of analysis along with favourable synoptic system and critical index for occurrence of heavy rainfall over Kolkata. Average occurrence is found as 5.4 events per year. Monthly distribution shows maximum of 26% events in July followed by September 20%, August17% and June as 14%. Seasonal distribution naturally indicates maximum of 77% occurrence during monsoon followed by post-monsoon with 14% and pre-monsoon with 09 %. Synoptic analysis revealed that majority of heavy rainfall events occurred due to low pressure system (LPS). Study of 167 cases (during June to October) suggests that when any one of the favourable synoptic condition prevailed over the region and DPD-Wind-PW-WS index reaches a critical value, heavy to very heavy rain occurred over Kolkata and suburban areas.


MAUSAM ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 175-184
Author(s):  
M. MOHAPATRA ◽  
H. R. HATWAR ◽  
S. R. KALSI

India Meteorological Department (IMD) issues heavy rainfall warning for a meteorological sub-division when the expected 24 hours rainfall over any rain gauge station in that sub-division is likely to be 64.5 mm or more. Though these warnings have been provided since long and are also now being issued for smaller spatial scales, very few attempts have been made for quantitative evaluation of these warnings.  Hence, a study is undertaken to verify the heavy rainfall warning over the representative meteorological sub-divisions of east Uttar Pradesh (UP), west UP and Bihar during main monsoon months of July and August. For this purpose data of the recent 5 years (2001-2005) and also for another epoch of 5 years in the early 1970s has been taken into consideration. In this connection, the day when heavy rainfall is recorded over atleast two stations in a sub-division, has been considered as a heavy rainfall day for that sub-division.   This study of verification shows that probability of detection of heavy rainfall is 64% over Bihar, 52% over east UP and 53% over west UP for the recent 5 years. Compared to early 1970s, there has been slight improvement in the forecast skill during 2001-2005 with probability of detection increasing by about 10-20% and with decrease in missing rate and false alarm rate. However, the false alarm rates are still large indicating higher bias towards over-prediction. The synoptic conditions associated with the heavy rainfall events have been collected for the period 2001-05 and analysed. The analysis of the unanticipated heavy rainfall events suggests that though proper interpretation of synoptic charts and NWP outputs could improve the warnings, the forecast system available even today is still not capable to capture every heavy rain event in advance.


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