Articles | Volume 24, issue 3
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1641-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1641-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Quantifying the contribution of atmospheric circulation to precipitation variability and changes in the US Great Plains and southwest using self-organizing map–analogue
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
Rong Fu
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
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This study investigates the influence of lower-tropospheric humidity on land–atmosphere coupling (LAC) during warm seasons in the US Southern Great Plains. Using radiosonde data and a buoyancy model, we find that elevated LT humidity is crucial for generating afternoon precipitation events under dry soil conditions not accounted for by conventional LAC indices. This underscores the importance of considering LT humidity in understanding LAC over dry soil during droughts in the SGP.
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This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
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This study investigates the influence of lower-tropospheric humidity on land–atmosphere coupling (LAC) during warm seasons in the US Southern Great Plains. Using radiosonde data and a buoyancy model, we find that elevated LT humidity is crucial for generating afternoon precipitation events under dry soil conditions not accounted for by conventional LAC indices. This underscores the importance of considering LT humidity in understanding LAC over dry soil during droughts in the SGP.
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Boreal autumn is the main wet season over the Congo basin. Thus, changes in its onset date have a significant impact on the rainforest. This study provides compelling evidence that the cooling effect of aerosols modifies the timing and strength of the southern African easterly jet that is central to the boreal autumn wet season over the Congo rainforest. A higher boreal summer aerosol concentration is positively correlated with the boreal autumn wet season onset timing.
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Short summary
This study investigated how atmospheric circulation affects precipitation variability and changes in the US Great Plains (GP) and southwest (SW). By developing a new method called self organizing map–analogue, we found that circulation significantly influences short-term precipitation variability, accounting for 54 %–61 % of the total variance. Furthermore, circulation contributes considerably to the multi-decadal changes in precipitation and its extremes, especially for the southern GP and SW.
This study investigated how atmospheric circulation affects precipitation variability and...
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