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Yuechun Wang
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Steven M. Quiring

Abstract

The evidence shows that soil moisture has an important influence on North American monsoon (NAM) precipitation. This study evaluates the local and nonlocal feedbacks of soil moisture on summer (June–September) precipitation in the NAM region using observational data. We applied a multivariate statistical method known as the Stepwise Generalized Equilibrium Feedback Assessment (SGEFA) to control for internal atmospheric variability and sea surface temperature (SST) forcings so that we could isolate the impact of soil moisture feedbacks on NAM precipitation. Our results identify feedback pathways between soil moisture and precipitation in the NAM region and in the southern Rocky Mountains (SRM) region. Wet soils in the SRM result in lower-than-normal local surface temperature, weaker water vapor transport from the eastern Pacific and the Gulf of California (GOC), and less monsoon precipitation. Precipitation over the U.S. Great Plains also significantly increases when there are wet soils in the SRM. This occurs due to an enhanced water vapor influx into this region. On the other hand, anomalously wet soils in the NAM region increase NAM precipitation by enhancing local moist static energy and increasing the strength of the monsoonal circulation. Our observational results using SGEFA agree well with previous numerical modeling studies. This study highlights the critical role of land–atmosphere interactions for understanding NAM variability.

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