Precipitation and water vapor transport in the Southern Hemisphere with emphasis on the South American region
December-March climatologies of precipitation and vertically integrated water vapor transport were analyzed and compared to find the main paths by which moisture is fed to high-rainfall regions in the Southern Hemisphere in this season. The southern tropics (20°S-0°) exhibit high rainfall and receiv...
Published in: | Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology |
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Language: | English |
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Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology
2009
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Online Access: | https://repositorio.inpa.gov.br/handle/1/16298 https://doi.org/10.1175/2009JAMC2030.1 |
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ftinstnpamazon:oai:repositorio:1/16298 2023-05-15T17:29:33+02:00 Precipitation and water vapor transport in the Southern Hemisphere with emphasis on the South American region Arraut, Josefina Moraes Satyamurty, Prakki 2009 application/pdf https://repositorio.inpa.gov.br/handle/1/16298 https://doi.org/10.1175/2009JAMC2030.1 en eng Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology Volume 48, Número 9, Pags. 1902-1912 https://repositorio.inpa.gov.br/handle/1/16298 doi:10.1175/2009JAMC2030.1 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Brazil http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/br/ CC-BY-NC-ND Amazonia Atlantic Ocean Convergence Zones Double Peak Eastern Pacific Integrated Water Vapors Local Maximum Meridional Transport Moisture Flow North Atlantic Atlantic Ocean (north) Rain Forests Rainfall Distribution Rainy Seasons South America South Atlantic Southern Hemisphere Time-scale Tropical Atlantic Water Vapor Transport Climatology Moisture Oceanography Tropics Water Vapor Rain Atmospheric Moisture Moisture Transfer Precipitation (climatology) Precipitation Assessment Rainfall Artigo 2009 ftinstnpamazon https://doi.org/10.1175/2009JAMC2030.1 2020-08-26T12:19:04Z December-March climatologies of precipitation and vertically integrated water vapor transport were analyzed and compared to find the main paths by which moisture is fed to high-rainfall regions in the Southern Hemisphere in this season. The southern tropics (20°S-0°) exhibit high rainfall and receive ample moisture from the northern trades, except in the eastern Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans. This interhemispheric flow is particularly important for Amazonian rainfall, establishing the North Atlantic as the main source of moisture for the forest during its main rainy season. In the subtropics the rainfall distribution is very heterogeneous. The meridional average of precipitation between 358 and 258S is well modulated by the meridional water vapor transport through the 258S latitude circle, being greater where this transport is from the north and smaller where it is from the south. In South America, to the east of the Andes, the moisture that fuels precipitation between 20° and 30°S comes from both the tropical South and North Atlantic Oceans whereas between 30° and 40°S it comes mostly from the North Atlantic after passing over the Amazonian rain forest. The meridional transport (across 25°S) curve exhibits a double peak over South America and the adjacent Atlantic, which is closely reproduced in the mean rainfall curve. This corresponds to two local maxima in the two-dimensional field of meridional transport: the moisture corridor from Amazonia into the continental subtropics and the moisture flow coming from the southern tropical Atlantic into the subtropical portion of the South Atlantic convergence zone. These two narrow pathways of intense moisture flow could be suitably called "aerial rivers." Their longitudinal positions are well defined. The yearly deviations from climatology for moisture flow and rainfall correlate well (0.75) for the continental peak but not for the oceanic peak (0.23). The structure of two maxima is produced by the effect of transients in the time scale of days. © 2009 American Meteorological Society. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Repositório do INPA Pacific Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology 48 9 1902 1912 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Repositório do INPA |
op_collection_id |
ftinstnpamazon |
language |
English |
topic |
Amazonia Atlantic Ocean Convergence Zones Double Peak Eastern Pacific Integrated Water Vapors Local Maximum Meridional Transport Moisture Flow North Atlantic Atlantic Ocean (north) Rain Forests Rainfall Distribution Rainy Seasons South America South Atlantic Southern Hemisphere Time-scale Tropical Atlantic Water Vapor Transport Climatology Moisture Oceanography Tropics Water Vapor Rain Atmospheric Moisture Moisture Transfer Precipitation (climatology) Precipitation Assessment Rainfall |
spellingShingle |
Amazonia Atlantic Ocean Convergence Zones Double Peak Eastern Pacific Integrated Water Vapors Local Maximum Meridional Transport Moisture Flow North Atlantic Atlantic Ocean (north) Rain Forests Rainfall Distribution Rainy Seasons South America South Atlantic Southern Hemisphere Time-scale Tropical Atlantic Water Vapor Transport Climatology Moisture Oceanography Tropics Water Vapor Rain Atmospheric Moisture Moisture Transfer Precipitation (climatology) Precipitation Assessment Rainfall Arraut, Josefina Moraes Satyamurty, Prakki Precipitation and water vapor transport in the Southern Hemisphere with emphasis on the South American region |
topic_facet |
Amazonia Atlantic Ocean Convergence Zones Double Peak Eastern Pacific Integrated Water Vapors Local Maximum Meridional Transport Moisture Flow North Atlantic Atlantic Ocean (north) Rain Forests Rainfall Distribution Rainy Seasons South America South Atlantic Southern Hemisphere Time-scale Tropical Atlantic Water Vapor Transport Climatology Moisture Oceanography Tropics Water Vapor Rain Atmospheric Moisture Moisture Transfer Precipitation (climatology) Precipitation Assessment Rainfall |
description |
December-March climatologies of precipitation and vertically integrated water vapor transport were analyzed and compared to find the main paths by which moisture is fed to high-rainfall regions in the Southern Hemisphere in this season. The southern tropics (20°S-0°) exhibit high rainfall and receive ample moisture from the northern trades, except in the eastern Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans. This interhemispheric flow is particularly important for Amazonian rainfall, establishing the North Atlantic as the main source of moisture for the forest during its main rainy season. In the subtropics the rainfall distribution is very heterogeneous. The meridional average of precipitation between 358 and 258S is well modulated by the meridional water vapor transport through the 258S latitude circle, being greater where this transport is from the north and smaller where it is from the south. In South America, to the east of the Andes, the moisture that fuels precipitation between 20° and 30°S comes from both the tropical South and North Atlantic Oceans whereas between 30° and 40°S it comes mostly from the North Atlantic after passing over the Amazonian rain forest. The meridional transport (across 25°S) curve exhibits a double peak over South America and the adjacent Atlantic, which is closely reproduced in the mean rainfall curve. This corresponds to two local maxima in the two-dimensional field of meridional transport: the moisture corridor from Amazonia into the continental subtropics and the moisture flow coming from the southern tropical Atlantic into the subtropical portion of the South Atlantic convergence zone. These two narrow pathways of intense moisture flow could be suitably called "aerial rivers." Their longitudinal positions are well defined. The yearly deviations from climatology for moisture flow and rainfall correlate well (0.75) for the continental peak but not for the oceanic peak (0.23). The structure of two maxima is produced by the effect of transients in the time scale of days. © 2009 American Meteorological Society. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Arraut, Josefina Moraes Satyamurty, Prakki |
author_facet |
Arraut, Josefina Moraes Satyamurty, Prakki |
author_sort |
Arraut, Josefina Moraes |
title |
Precipitation and water vapor transport in the Southern Hemisphere with emphasis on the South American region |
title_short |
Precipitation and water vapor transport in the Southern Hemisphere with emphasis on the South American region |
title_full |
Precipitation and water vapor transport in the Southern Hemisphere with emphasis on the South American region |
title_fullStr |
Precipitation and water vapor transport in the Southern Hemisphere with emphasis on the South American region |
title_full_unstemmed |
Precipitation and water vapor transport in the Southern Hemisphere with emphasis on the South American region |
title_sort |
precipitation and water vapor transport in the southern hemisphere with emphasis on the south american region |
publisher |
Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology |
publishDate |
2009 |
url |
https://repositorio.inpa.gov.br/handle/1/16298 https://doi.org/10.1175/2009JAMC2030.1 |
geographic |
Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Pacific |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_relation |
Volume 48, Número 9, Pags. 1902-1912 https://repositorio.inpa.gov.br/handle/1/16298 doi:10.1175/2009JAMC2030.1 |
op_rights |
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Brazil http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/br/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY-NC-ND |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1175/2009JAMC2030.1 |
container_title |
Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology |
container_volume |
48 |
container_issue |
9 |
container_start_page |
1902 |
op_container_end_page |
1912 |
_version_ |
1766123715021504512 |