North Atlantic air pressure and temperature conditions associated with heavy rainfall in Great Britain
Severe flooding in the United Kingdom is often linked to the occurrence of heavy rainfall events, which can be characterized by the synoptic scale meteorological conditions over the North Atlantic region. Seasonal heavy rainfall events (summer and winter 1-day maxima) were extracted from 125 locatio...
Published in: | International Journal of Climatology |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Wiley
2021
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/530998/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/530998/1/joc.7414.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.7414 |
id |
ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:530998 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:530998 2023-05-15T17:28:11+02:00 North Atlantic air pressure and temperature conditions associated with heavy rainfall in Great Britain Barnes, Andrew Paul Svensson, Cecilia Kjeldsen, Thomas Rodding 2021-10-18 text http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/530998/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/530998/1/joc.7414.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.7414 en eng Wiley https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/530998/1/joc.7414.pdf Barnes, Andrew Paul; Svensson, Cecilia orcid:0000-0001-9294-5826 Kjeldsen, Thomas Rodding. 2021 North Atlantic air pressure and temperature conditions associated with heavy rainfall in Great Britain. International Journal of Climatology. https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.7414 <https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.7414> cc_by_4 CC-BY Earth Sciences Hydrology Meteorology and Climatology Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2021 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.7414 2023-02-04T19:52:32Z Severe flooding in the United Kingdom is often linked to the occurrence of heavy rainfall events, which can be characterized by the synoptic scale meteorological conditions over the North Atlantic region. Seasonal heavy rainfall events (summer and winter 1-day maxima) were extracted from 125 locations across Great Britain over the period 1950–2017. For each event, anomaly sea-level pressure and 2 m air temperature conditions across the North Atlantic sector were extracted. In contrast to earlier studies, these two datasets were combined and clustered to identify how the pressure and temperature conditions co-vary within each half-year to produce heavy rainfall events. Distinctly different spatial patterns were found for four classes in summer and for three classes in winter. For all classes there is a negative sea-level pressure anomaly centred over or near the British Isles. However, whereas in summer the low pressures are associated with either predominantly cold or warm anomalies over most of the North Atlantic, in winter two phases of a smaller-scale four-pole temperature pattern emerges. Nevertheless, for one of the winter classes the cold anomaly over the northwest Atlantic is so deep, persistent and widespread that, unusually for the winter season, a significant relationship between the class's frequency of occurrence and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) index is found (r = −.39). Further, for both seasons heavy rainfall occurs when the AMO and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) are in opposing phases. Particularly, positive NAO and negative AMO result in heavy rainfall in western Britain. Two classes in each season are consistent with positive and negative phases of the NAO, and the two non-NAO summer classes are associated with a northward extension of the subtropical high pressure and heavy rainfall in the southeast. The association between heavy rainfall and large-scale circulation and temperature drivers can find application in, for example, weather generators. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation Northwest Atlantic Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive International Journal of Climatology 42 5 3190 3207 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftnerc |
language |
English |
topic |
Earth Sciences Hydrology Meteorology and Climatology |
spellingShingle |
Earth Sciences Hydrology Meteorology and Climatology Barnes, Andrew Paul Svensson, Cecilia Kjeldsen, Thomas Rodding North Atlantic air pressure and temperature conditions associated with heavy rainfall in Great Britain |
topic_facet |
Earth Sciences Hydrology Meteorology and Climatology |
description |
Severe flooding in the United Kingdom is often linked to the occurrence of heavy rainfall events, which can be characterized by the synoptic scale meteorological conditions over the North Atlantic region. Seasonal heavy rainfall events (summer and winter 1-day maxima) were extracted from 125 locations across Great Britain over the period 1950–2017. For each event, anomaly sea-level pressure and 2 m air temperature conditions across the North Atlantic sector were extracted. In contrast to earlier studies, these two datasets were combined and clustered to identify how the pressure and temperature conditions co-vary within each half-year to produce heavy rainfall events. Distinctly different spatial patterns were found for four classes in summer and for three classes in winter. For all classes there is a negative sea-level pressure anomaly centred over or near the British Isles. However, whereas in summer the low pressures are associated with either predominantly cold or warm anomalies over most of the North Atlantic, in winter two phases of a smaller-scale four-pole temperature pattern emerges. Nevertheless, for one of the winter classes the cold anomaly over the northwest Atlantic is so deep, persistent and widespread that, unusually for the winter season, a significant relationship between the class's frequency of occurrence and the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) index is found (r = −.39). Further, for both seasons heavy rainfall occurs when the AMO and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) are in opposing phases. Particularly, positive NAO and negative AMO result in heavy rainfall in western Britain. Two classes in each season are consistent with positive and negative phases of the NAO, and the two non-NAO summer classes are associated with a northward extension of the subtropical high pressure and heavy rainfall in the southeast. The association between heavy rainfall and large-scale circulation and temperature drivers can find application in, for example, weather generators. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Barnes, Andrew Paul Svensson, Cecilia Kjeldsen, Thomas Rodding |
author_facet |
Barnes, Andrew Paul Svensson, Cecilia Kjeldsen, Thomas Rodding |
author_sort |
Barnes, Andrew Paul |
title |
North Atlantic air pressure and temperature conditions associated with heavy rainfall in Great Britain |
title_short |
North Atlantic air pressure and temperature conditions associated with heavy rainfall in Great Britain |
title_full |
North Atlantic air pressure and temperature conditions associated with heavy rainfall in Great Britain |
title_fullStr |
North Atlantic air pressure and temperature conditions associated with heavy rainfall in Great Britain |
title_full_unstemmed |
North Atlantic air pressure and temperature conditions associated with heavy rainfall in Great Britain |
title_sort |
north atlantic air pressure and temperature conditions associated with heavy rainfall in great britain |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/530998/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/530998/1/joc.7414.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.7414 |
genre |
North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation Northwest Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic North Atlantic oscillation Northwest Atlantic |
op_relation |
https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/530998/1/joc.7414.pdf Barnes, Andrew Paul; Svensson, Cecilia orcid:0000-0001-9294-5826 Kjeldsen, Thomas Rodding. 2021 North Atlantic air pressure and temperature conditions associated with heavy rainfall in Great Britain. International Journal of Climatology. https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.7414 <https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.7414> |
op_rights |
cc_by_4 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.7414 |
container_title |
International Journal of Climatology |
container_volume |
42 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
3190 |
op_container_end_page |
3207 |
_version_ |
1766120729468731392 |