Implications of North Atlantic sea surface salinity for summer precipitation over the U.S. Midwest : mechanisms and predictive value
Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2016. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Climate 29 (2016): 3143-3159, doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-15-0520.1. Moisture orig...
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1912/8054 |
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ftwhoas:oai:darchive.mblwhoilibrary.org:1912/8054 2023-05-15T17:30:09+02:00 Implications of North Atlantic sea surface salinity for summer precipitation over the U.S. Midwest : mechanisms and predictive value Li, Laifang Schmitt, Raymond W. Ummenhofer, Caroline C. Karnauskas, Kristopher B. 2016-04-19 https://hdl.handle.net/1912/8054 en_US eng American Meteorological Society https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-15-0520.1 Journal of Climate 29 (2016): 3143-3159 https://hdl.handle.net/1912/8054 doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-15-0520.1 Journal of Climate 29 (2016): 3143-3159 doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-15-0520.1 Circulation/ Dynamics Hydrologic cycle Physical Meteorology and Climatology Moisture/moisture budget Salinity Article 2016 ftwhoas https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-15-0520.1 2022-05-28T22:59:36Z Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2016. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Climate 29 (2016): 3143-3159, doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-15-0520.1. Moisture originating from the subtropical North Atlantic feeds precipitation throughout the Western Hemisphere. This ocean-to-land moisture transport leaves its imprint on sea surface salinity (SSS), enabling SSS over the subtropical oceans to be used as an indicator of terrestrial precipitation. This study demonstrates that springtime SSS over the northwestern portion of the subtropical North Atlantic significantly correlates with summertime precipitation over the U.S. Midwest. The linkage between springtime SSS and the Midwest summer precipitation is established through ocean-to-land moisture transport followed by a soil moisture feedback over the southern United States. In the spring, high SSS over the northwestern subtropical Atlantic coincides with a local increase in moisture flux divergence. The moisture flux is then directed toward and converges over the southern United States, which experiences increased precipitation and soil moisture. The increased soil moisture influences the regional water cycle both thermodynamically and dynamically, leading to excessive summer precipitation in the Midwest. Thermodynamically, the increased soil moisture tends to moisten the lower troposphere and enhances the meridional humidity gradient north of 36°N. Thus, more moisture will be transported and converged into the Midwest by the climatological low-level wind. Dynamically, the increases in soil moisture over the southern United States enhance the west–east soil moisture gradient eastward of the Rocky Mountains, which can help to intensify the Great Plains low-level jet in the summer, converging more moisture into the Midwest. Owing to these robust physical linkages, the springtime SSS outweighs the leading SST modes in predicting the ... Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Woods Hole Scientific Community: WHOAS (Woods Hole Open Access Server) Journal of Climate 29 9 3143 3159 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Woods Hole Scientific Community: WHOAS (Woods Hole Open Access Server) |
op_collection_id |
ftwhoas |
language |
English |
topic |
Circulation/ Dynamics Hydrologic cycle Physical Meteorology and Climatology Moisture/moisture budget Salinity |
spellingShingle |
Circulation/ Dynamics Hydrologic cycle Physical Meteorology and Climatology Moisture/moisture budget Salinity Li, Laifang Schmitt, Raymond W. Ummenhofer, Caroline C. Karnauskas, Kristopher B. Implications of North Atlantic sea surface salinity for summer precipitation over the U.S. Midwest : mechanisms and predictive value |
topic_facet |
Circulation/ Dynamics Hydrologic cycle Physical Meteorology and Climatology Moisture/moisture budget Salinity |
description |
Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2016. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Climate 29 (2016): 3143-3159, doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-15-0520.1. Moisture originating from the subtropical North Atlantic feeds precipitation throughout the Western Hemisphere. This ocean-to-land moisture transport leaves its imprint on sea surface salinity (SSS), enabling SSS over the subtropical oceans to be used as an indicator of terrestrial precipitation. This study demonstrates that springtime SSS over the northwestern portion of the subtropical North Atlantic significantly correlates with summertime precipitation over the U.S. Midwest. The linkage between springtime SSS and the Midwest summer precipitation is established through ocean-to-land moisture transport followed by a soil moisture feedback over the southern United States. In the spring, high SSS over the northwestern subtropical Atlantic coincides with a local increase in moisture flux divergence. The moisture flux is then directed toward and converges over the southern United States, which experiences increased precipitation and soil moisture. The increased soil moisture influences the regional water cycle both thermodynamically and dynamically, leading to excessive summer precipitation in the Midwest. Thermodynamically, the increased soil moisture tends to moisten the lower troposphere and enhances the meridional humidity gradient north of 36°N. Thus, more moisture will be transported and converged into the Midwest by the climatological low-level wind. Dynamically, the increases in soil moisture over the southern United States enhance the west–east soil moisture gradient eastward of the Rocky Mountains, which can help to intensify the Great Plains low-level jet in the summer, converging more moisture into the Midwest. Owing to these robust physical linkages, the springtime SSS outweighs the leading SST modes in predicting the ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Li, Laifang Schmitt, Raymond W. Ummenhofer, Caroline C. Karnauskas, Kristopher B. |
author_facet |
Li, Laifang Schmitt, Raymond W. Ummenhofer, Caroline C. Karnauskas, Kristopher B. |
author_sort |
Li, Laifang |
title |
Implications of North Atlantic sea surface salinity for summer precipitation over the U.S. Midwest : mechanisms and predictive value |
title_short |
Implications of North Atlantic sea surface salinity for summer precipitation over the U.S. Midwest : mechanisms and predictive value |
title_full |
Implications of North Atlantic sea surface salinity for summer precipitation over the U.S. Midwest : mechanisms and predictive value |
title_fullStr |
Implications of North Atlantic sea surface salinity for summer precipitation over the U.S. Midwest : mechanisms and predictive value |
title_full_unstemmed |
Implications of North Atlantic sea surface salinity for summer precipitation over the U.S. Midwest : mechanisms and predictive value |
title_sort |
implications of north atlantic sea surface salinity for summer precipitation over the u.s. midwest : mechanisms and predictive value |
publisher |
American Meteorological Society |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/1912/8054 |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
Journal of Climate 29 (2016): 3143-3159 doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-15-0520.1 |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-15-0520.1 Journal of Climate 29 (2016): 3143-3159 https://hdl.handle.net/1912/8054 doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-15-0520.1 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-15-0520.1 |
container_title |
Journal of Climate |
container_volume |
29 |
container_issue |
9 |
container_start_page |
3143 |
op_container_end_page |
3159 |
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1766125961277865984 |