Variability of Precipitation Recycling and Moisture Sources over the Colombian Pacific Region: A Precipitationshed Approach

• Published in: Atmosphere
• Main Authors: Angelica M. Enciso, Olga Lucia Baquero, Daniel Escobar-Carbonari, Jeimar Tapasco, Wilmar L. Cerón
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2022
• Subjects: moisture transport; evaporation; precipitation; Pacific region; WAM-2 layer; precipitationshed; Meteorology. Climatology; QC851-999; Pacific; Mira; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos13081202; https://doaj.org/article/4d1f25c8d9fd4fb2a5f5788d789d5b43

This study assessed the precipitation recycling and moisture sources in the Colombian Pacific region between 1980–2017, based on the monitoring of moisture in the atmosphere through the Eulerian Water Accounting Model-2 layer (WAM2 layer) and the delimitation of the area contributing to terrestrial and oceanic moisture in the region is performed using the “precipitationshed” approach. The results indicate a unimodal precipitation recycling ratio for the North and Central Pacific and Patía-Mira regions, with the highest percentages between March and April, reaching 30% and 34%, respectively, and the lowest between September and October (between 19% and 21%). Moreover, monthly changes in the circulation of the region promote a remarkable variability of the sources that contribute to the precipitation of the study area and the spatial dynamics of the precipitationshed. From December to April, the main contributions come from continental sources in eastern Colombia and Venezuela, the tropical North Atlantic, and the Caribbean Sea, a period of high activity of the Orinoco Low-Level jet. In September, the moisture source region is located over the Pacific Ocean, where a southwesterly cross-equatorial circulation predominates, converging in western Colombia, known as the Choco Jet (CJ), decreasing the continental contribution. An intensified Caribbean Low-Level Jet inhibits moisture sources from the north between June and August, strengthening a southerly cross-equatorial flow from the Amazon River basin and the southeastern tropical Pacific. The March–April (September–October) season of higher (lower) recycling of continental precipitation is related to the weakening (strengthening) of the CJ in the first (second) half of the year, which decreases (increases) the contribution of moisture from the Pacific Ocean to the region, increasing (decreasing) the influence of land-based sources in the study area.