Precipitation and cloud structure in midlatitude cyclones
Composite mean fields and probability distribution functions (PDFs) of rain rate, cloud type and cover, cloud-top temperature, surface wind velocity, and water vapor path (WVP) are constructed using satellite observations of midlatitude cyclones from four oceanic regions (i.e., the North Pacific, So...
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ftncar:oai:drupal-site.org:articles_6607 2023-05-15T17:35:23+02:00 Precipitation and cloud structure in midlatitude cyclones Field, Paul (Paul R. Field) (authoraut) Wood, Robert (Robert Wood) (authoraut) application/pdf https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI3998.1 http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7qc03q3 en eng American Meteorological Society Journal of Climate http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JCLI3998.1 articles:6607 uri: http://nldr.library.ucar.edu/repository/collections/OSGC-000-000-003-876 doi:10.1175/JCLI3998.1 ark:/85065/d7qc03q3 http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7qc03q3 Copyright 2007 American Meteorological Society (AMS). Permission to use figures, tables, and brief excerpts from this work in scientific and educational works is hereby granted provided that the source is acknowledged. Any use of material in this work that is determined to be "fair use" under Section 107 or that satisfies the conditions specified in Section 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law (17 USC, as revised by P.L. 94-553) does not require the Society's permission. Republication, systematic reproduction, posting in electronic form on servers, or other uses of this material, except as exempted by the above statements, requires written permission or license from the AMS. Additional details are provided in the AMS Copyright Policies, available from the AMS at 617-227-2425 or amspubs@ametsoc.org. Permission to place a copy of this work on this server has been provided by the AMS. The AMS does not guarantee that the copy provided here is an accurate copy of the published work. Cloud type Rain rate Text article ftncar https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI3998.1 2022-08-09T17:38:09Z Composite mean fields and probability distribution functions (PDFs) of rain rate, cloud type and cover, cloud-top temperature, surface wind velocity, and water vapor path (WVP) are constructed using satellite observations of midlatitude cyclones from four oceanic regions (i.e., the North Pacific, South Pacific, North Atlantic, and South Atlantic). Reanalysis surface pressure fields are used to ascertain the locations of the cyclone centers, onto which the satellite fields are interpolated to give a database of ∼ 1500 cyclones from a two-year period (2003-04). Cyclones are categorized by their strength, defined here using surface wind speed, and by their WVP, and it is found that these two measures can explain a considerable amount of the intercyclone variability of other key variables. Composite cyclones from each of the four ocean basins exhibit similar spatial structure for a given strength and WVP. A set of nine composites is constructed from the database using three strength and three WVP ranges and is used to demonstrate that the mean column relative humidity of these systems varies only slightly (0.58-0.62) for a doubling in WVP (or equivalently a 7-K rise in sea surface temperature) and a 50% increase in cyclone strength. However, cyclone-mean rain rate increases markedly with both cyclone strength and WVP, behavior that is explained with a simple warm conveyor belt model. Systemwide high cloud fraction (tops above 440 hPa) increases from 0.23 to 0.31 as cyclone strength increases by 50%, but does not vary systematically with WVP. It is suggested that the composite fields constitute useful diagnostics for evaluating the behavior of large-scale numerical models, and may provide insight into how precipitation and clouds in midlatitude cyclones respond under a changed climate. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic OpenSky (NCAR/UCAR - National Center for Atmospheric Research/University Corporation for Atmospheric Research) Pacific Journal of Climate 20 2 233 254 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
OpenSky (NCAR/UCAR - National Center for Atmospheric Research/University Corporation for Atmospheric Research) |
op_collection_id |
ftncar |
language |
English |
topic |
Cloud type Rain rate |
spellingShingle |
Cloud type Rain rate Precipitation and cloud structure in midlatitude cyclones |
topic_facet |
Cloud type Rain rate |
description |
Composite mean fields and probability distribution functions (PDFs) of rain rate, cloud type and cover, cloud-top temperature, surface wind velocity, and water vapor path (WVP) are constructed using satellite observations of midlatitude cyclones from four oceanic regions (i.e., the North Pacific, South Pacific, North Atlantic, and South Atlantic). Reanalysis surface pressure fields are used to ascertain the locations of the cyclone centers, onto which the satellite fields are interpolated to give a database of ∼ 1500 cyclones from a two-year period (2003-04). Cyclones are categorized by their strength, defined here using surface wind speed, and by their WVP, and it is found that these two measures can explain a considerable amount of the intercyclone variability of other key variables. Composite cyclones from each of the four ocean basins exhibit similar spatial structure for a given strength and WVP. A set of nine composites is constructed from the database using three strength and three WVP ranges and is used to demonstrate that the mean column relative humidity of these systems varies only slightly (0.58-0.62) for a doubling in WVP (or equivalently a 7-K rise in sea surface temperature) and a 50% increase in cyclone strength. However, cyclone-mean rain rate increases markedly with both cyclone strength and WVP, behavior that is explained with a simple warm conveyor belt model. Systemwide high cloud fraction (tops above 440 hPa) increases from 0.23 to 0.31 as cyclone strength increases by 50%, but does not vary systematically with WVP. It is suggested that the composite fields constitute useful diagnostics for evaluating the behavior of large-scale numerical models, and may provide insight into how precipitation and clouds in midlatitude cyclones respond under a changed climate. |
author2 |
Field, Paul (Paul R. Field) (authoraut) Wood, Robert (Robert Wood) (authoraut) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
title |
Precipitation and cloud structure in midlatitude cyclones |
title_short |
Precipitation and cloud structure in midlatitude cyclones |
title_full |
Precipitation and cloud structure in midlatitude cyclones |
title_fullStr |
Precipitation and cloud structure in midlatitude cyclones |
title_full_unstemmed |
Precipitation and cloud structure in midlatitude cyclones |
title_sort |
precipitation and cloud structure in midlatitude cyclones |
publisher |
American Meteorological Society |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI3998.1 http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7qc03q3 |
geographic |
Pacific |
geographic_facet |
Pacific |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_relation |
Journal of Climate http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JCLI3998.1 articles:6607 uri: http://nldr.library.ucar.edu/repository/collections/OSGC-000-000-003-876 doi:10.1175/JCLI3998.1 ark:/85065/d7qc03q3 http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7qc03q3 |
op_rights |
Copyright 2007 American Meteorological Society (AMS). Permission to use figures, tables, and brief excerpts from this work in scientific and educational works is hereby granted provided that the source is acknowledged. Any use of material in this work that is determined to be "fair use" under Section 107 or that satisfies the conditions specified in Section 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law (17 USC, as revised by P.L. 94-553) does not require the Society's permission. Republication, systematic reproduction, posting in electronic form on servers, or other uses of this material, except as exempted by the above statements, requires written permission or license from the AMS. Additional details are provided in the AMS Copyright Policies, available from the AMS at 617-227-2425 or amspubs@ametsoc.org. Permission to place a copy of this work on this server has been provided by the AMS. The AMS does not guarantee that the copy provided here is an accurate copy of the published work. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI3998.1 |
container_title |
Journal of Climate |
container_volume |
20 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
233 |
op_container_end_page |
254 |
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1766134538935730176 |