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- Author or Editor: Charles E. Graves x
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Abstract
Estimating rain rate from environmental microwave emissions is hampered by several difficulties. One of these difficulties is known as the beam-filling effect. Beam filling is the systematic error introduced when the microwave radiometer's field of view is not filled with uniform rain. Beam filling can have dramatic effects on rain-rate estimation, causing rain rates to be underestimated by as much as a factor of 2.
The present study derives an approximate expression for beam filling that provides, in principle, a way to estimate this effect. In addition, this study deals only with single-channel microwave rain estimation over the ocean. The final results reveal that beam filling is essentially determined by the freezing level, the mean fraction of the footprint raining, and the footprint-averaged rain rate. Also, the numerical results appear to agree with other empirical studies. Furthermore, the analysis brings to light an interesting connection with rain threshold techniques for estimating area-averaged rain rates.
Abstract
Estimating rain rate from environmental microwave emissions is hampered by several difficulties. One of these difficulties is known as the beam-filling effect. Beam filling is the systematic error introduced when the microwave radiometer's field of view is not filled with uniform rain. Beam filling can have dramatic effects on rain-rate estimation, causing rain rates to be underestimated by as much as a factor of 2.
The present study derives an approximate expression for beam filling that provides, in principle, a way to estimate this effect. In addition, this study deals only with single-channel microwave rain estimation over the ocean. The final results reveal that beam filling is essentially determined by the freezing level, the mean fraction of the footprint raining, and the footprint-averaged rain rate. Also, the numerical results appear to agree with other empirical studies. Furthermore, the analysis brings to light an interesting connection with rain threshold techniques for estimating area-averaged rain rates.
Abstract
Geopotential height fluctuations are examined in the extratropical Southern Hemisphere on the 35–60 day time scale. These fluctuations, in 200 mb geopotential height one-point correlation maps and anomaly maps, are shown to behave like quasi-stationary wavetrains with eastward energy propagation. The wavetrains follow an elliptically shaped circuit identifiable from low Southern latitudes in the Indian Ocean to the coast of Antarctica near 70°W.
Weak correlations are found between the midlatitude wavetrain and 35–60 day brightness temperatures over the Indian Ocean. Nevertheless, a puzzling lack of correlation exists between the midlatitude 35–60 day signals and the anticipated subtropical wavetrain entry–exit region south of the tropical correlations.
Eliassen–Palm flux calculations reveal strong momentum fluxes in the upper troposphere while the divergence is mostly negative throughout the troposphere.
These observational results constitute several tests for models, viz., the existence and amplification of the midlatitude fluctuations and their quasi-stationary nature.
Abstract
Geopotential height fluctuations are examined in the extratropical Southern Hemisphere on the 35–60 day time scale. These fluctuations, in 200 mb geopotential height one-point correlation maps and anomaly maps, are shown to behave like quasi-stationary wavetrains with eastward energy propagation. The wavetrains follow an elliptically shaped circuit identifiable from low Southern latitudes in the Indian Ocean to the coast of Antarctica near 70°W.
Weak correlations are found between the midlatitude wavetrain and 35–60 day brightness temperatures over the Indian Ocean. Nevertheless, a puzzling lack of correlation exists between the midlatitude 35–60 day signals and the anticipated subtropical wavetrain entry–exit region south of the tropical correlations.
Eliassen–Palm flux calculations reveal strong momentum fluxes in the upper troposphere while the divergence is mostly negative throughout the troposphere.
These observational results constitute several tests for models, viz., the existence and amplification of the midlatitude fluctuations and their quasi-stationary nature.
Abstract
A 40–50 day atmospheric oscillation has recently been reported in the southeastern Pacific based on analyses of satelete-detived microwave brightness temperature data. Prior to this, such oscillations have not been generally recognized in this region. The purpose of this note is to provide corroboration of the microwave analyses from an independent dataset, four years of rawinsonde data from Faster Island (27°S, 109°W). Significant spectral peaks with period 45–53 days were found in the zonal wind near the jet core (300–200 mb) and in the temperature on the underside of the jet. The signal is also present in the 100 mb temperature as shown by strong coherence between 100 and 400 mb temperature perturbations. Direct comparison of the 100 mb temperature perturbations and the microwave data shows good agreement.
There is also an indication of a lower frequency signal, about 65–84 day period, in the meridional wind at 1000 mb. This signal appears to be vertically evanescent with maximum amplitude at the surface.
Abstract
A 40–50 day atmospheric oscillation has recently been reported in the southeastern Pacific based on analyses of satelete-detived microwave brightness temperature data. Prior to this, such oscillations have not been generally recognized in this region. The purpose of this note is to provide corroboration of the microwave analyses from an independent dataset, four years of rawinsonde data from Faster Island (27°S, 109°W). Significant spectral peaks with period 45–53 days were found in the zonal wind near the jet core (300–200 mb) and in the temperature on the underside of the jet. The signal is also present in the 100 mb temperature as shown by strong coherence between 100 and 400 mb temperature perturbations. Direct comparison of the 100 mb temperature perturbations and the microwave data shows good agreement.
There is also an indication of a lower frequency signal, about 65–84 day period, in the meridional wind at 1000 mb. This signal appears to be vertically evanescent with maximum amplitude at the surface.
Abstract
A 30-yr climatology of the snow-to-liquid-equivalent ratio (SLR) using the National Weather Service (NWS) Cooperative Summary of the Day (COOP) data is presented. Descriptive statistics are presented for 96 NWS county warning areas (CWAs), along with a discussion of selected histograms of interest. The results of the climatology indicate that a mean SLR value of 13 appears more appropriate for much of the country rather than the often-assumed value of 10, although considerable spatial variation in the mean exists. The distribution for the entire dataset exhibits positive skewness. Histograms for individual CWAs are both positively and negatively skewed, depending upon the variability of the in-cloud, subcloud, and ground conditions.
Abstract
A 30-yr climatology of the snow-to-liquid-equivalent ratio (SLR) using the National Weather Service (NWS) Cooperative Summary of the Day (COOP) data is presented. Descriptive statistics are presented for 96 NWS county warning areas (CWAs), along with a discussion of selected histograms of interest. The results of the climatology indicate that a mean SLR value of 13 appears more appropriate for much of the country rather than the often-assumed value of 10, although considerable spatial variation in the mean exists. The distribution for the entire dataset exhibits positive skewness. Histograms for individual CWAs are both positively and negatively skewed, depending upon the variability of the in-cloud, subcloud, and ground conditions.
Abstract
The spatial and temporal characteristics of rainfall over Oklahoma and Kansas are analyzed in this paper using the raingage data collected during the Preliminary Regional Experiment for STORM-Central (PRESTORM). The autocorrelation function and the spectrum are obtained directly from both processing the raingage data and using a theoretical stochastic model of space–time precipitation. This theoretical model serves as an intermediate step to obtain more information from the raingage records. The spectra obtained are then compared with those obtained from oceanic precipitation in the GARP (Global Atmospheric Research Program) Atlantic Tropical Experiment (GATE) and with that obtained from analyzing raingage records in east Texas. Finally, the spectra are used to evaluate the sampling errors that are due to the spatial gaps in measurements. The sampling error is expressed as an integral over the product of the spectral density of the stochastic rain field and a filter function. This filter function solely depends on the space–time configuration of the measurement instruments. The values of the analytical and numerical results on the sampling error are obtained for ground, spaceborne, and combined sensors of precipitation for several aggregation levels in space and time and alternative spacing and visiting times. It was found that sampling errors of land precipitation are higher than those reported for ocean precipitation.
Abstract
The spatial and temporal characteristics of rainfall over Oklahoma and Kansas are analyzed in this paper using the raingage data collected during the Preliminary Regional Experiment for STORM-Central (PRESTORM). The autocorrelation function and the spectrum are obtained directly from both processing the raingage data and using a theoretical stochastic model of space–time precipitation. This theoretical model serves as an intermediate step to obtain more information from the raingage records. The spectra obtained are then compared with those obtained from oceanic precipitation in the GARP (Global Atmospheric Research Program) Atlantic Tropical Experiment (GATE) and with that obtained from analyzing raingage records in east Texas. Finally, the spectra are used to evaluate the sampling errors that are due to the spatial gaps in measurements. The sampling error is expressed as an integral over the product of the spectral density of the stochastic rain field and a filter function. This filter function solely depends on the space–time configuration of the measurement instruments. The values of the analytical and numerical results on the sampling error are obtained for ground, spaceborne, and combined sensors of precipitation for several aggregation levels in space and time and alternative spacing and visiting times. It was found that sampling errors of land precipitation are higher than those reported for ocean precipitation.
Abstract
A case study of a long, narrow band of heavy snowfall is presented that illustrates those processes that force and focus the precipitation in a unique linear fashion. System-relative flow on isentropic surfaces shows how the trough of warm air aloft (trowal) formed to the north-northwest of a weak synoptic-scale surface cyclone. To the north of the trowal, midtropospheric frontogenesis formed as the warm, moist, high-θe air in the trowal canyon became confluent with cold, dry air to the northwest of a closed midlevel circulation. Within the trowal airstream, isentropic uplsope is shown to contribute to vertical motion, while transverse to this flow, mesoscale lift is enhanced on the warm side of a frontogenetical zone in the presence of weak symmetric stability and conditional symmetric instability. Further, it is shown that a sloping zone of small positive to negative equivalent potential vorticity forms to the southeast of the midtropospheric system-relative closed circulation as low-θe air associated with the dry conveyor belt, seen in water vapor imagery, overruns warm, moist high-θe air associated with the warm conveyor belt. In this way cold season instability forms due to differential moisture advection on the warm side of the frontogenesis axis. Finally, a conceptual model is shown that encapsulates the key processes that contributed to the extensive, narrow band of heavy snow in the presence of a weak synoptic-scale surface cyclone.
Abstract
A case study of a long, narrow band of heavy snowfall is presented that illustrates those processes that force and focus the precipitation in a unique linear fashion. System-relative flow on isentropic surfaces shows how the trough of warm air aloft (trowal) formed to the north-northwest of a weak synoptic-scale surface cyclone. To the north of the trowal, midtropospheric frontogenesis formed as the warm, moist, high-θe air in the trowal canyon became confluent with cold, dry air to the northwest of a closed midlevel circulation. Within the trowal airstream, isentropic uplsope is shown to contribute to vertical motion, while transverse to this flow, mesoscale lift is enhanced on the warm side of a frontogenetical zone in the presence of weak symmetric stability and conditional symmetric instability. Further, it is shown that a sloping zone of small positive to negative equivalent potential vorticity forms to the southeast of the midtropospheric system-relative closed circulation as low-θe air associated with the dry conveyor belt, seen in water vapor imagery, overruns warm, moist high-θe air associated with the warm conveyor belt. In this way cold season instability forms due to differential moisture advection on the warm side of the frontogenesis axis. Finally, a conceptual model is shown that encapsulates the key processes that contributed to the extensive, narrow band of heavy snow in the presence of a weak synoptic-scale surface cyclone.
Abstract
Twenty-one warm-season heavy-rainfall events in the central United States produced by mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) that developed above and north of a surface boundary are examined to define the environmental conditions and physical processes associated with these phenomena. Storm-relative composites of numerous kinematic and thermodynamic fields are computed by centering on the heavy-rain-producing region of the parent elevated MCS. Results reveal that the heavy-rain region of elevated MCSs is located on average about 160 km north of a quasi-stationary frontal zone, in a region of low-level moisture convergence that is elongated westward on the cool side of the boundary. The MCS is located within the left-exit region of a south-southwesterly low-level jet (LLJ) and the right-entrance region of an upper-level jet positioned well north of the MCS site. The LLJ is directed toward a divergence maximum at 250 hPa that is coincident with the MCS site. Near-surface winds are light and from the southeast within a boundary layer that is statically stable and cool. Winds veer considerably with height (about 140°) from 850 to 250 hPa, a layer associated with warm-air advection. The MCS is located in a maximum of positive equivalent potential temperature θe advection, moisture convergence, and positive thermal advection at 850 hPa. Composite fields at 500 hPa show that the MCS forms in a region of weak anticyclonic curvature in the height field with marginal positive vorticity advection. Even though surface-based stability fields indicate stable low-level air, there is a layer of convectively unstable air with maximum-θe CAPE values of more than 1000 J kg−1 in the vicinity of the MCS site and higher values upstream. Maximum-θe convective inhibition (CIN) values over the MCS centroid site are small (less than 40 J kg−1) while to the south convection is limited by large values of CIN (greater than 60 J kg−1). Surface-to-500-hPa composite average relative humidity values are about 70%, and composite precipitable water values average about 3.18 cm (1.25 in.). The representativeness of the composite analysis is also examined. Last, a schematic conceptual model based upon the composite fields is presented that depicts the typical environment favorable for the development of elevated thunderstorms that lead to heavy rainfall.
Abstract
Twenty-one warm-season heavy-rainfall events in the central United States produced by mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) that developed above and north of a surface boundary are examined to define the environmental conditions and physical processes associated with these phenomena. Storm-relative composites of numerous kinematic and thermodynamic fields are computed by centering on the heavy-rain-producing region of the parent elevated MCS. Results reveal that the heavy-rain region of elevated MCSs is located on average about 160 km north of a quasi-stationary frontal zone, in a region of low-level moisture convergence that is elongated westward on the cool side of the boundary. The MCS is located within the left-exit region of a south-southwesterly low-level jet (LLJ) and the right-entrance region of an upper-level jet positioned well north of the MCS site. The LLJ is directed toward a divergence maximum at 250 hPa that is coincident with the MCS site. Near-surface winds are light and from the southeast within a boundary layer that is statically stable and cool. Winds veer considerably with height (about 140°) from 850 to 250 hPa, a layer associated with warm-air advection. The MCS is located in a maximum of positive equivalent potential temperature θe advection, moisture convergence, and positive thermal advection at 850 hPa. Composite fields at 500 hPa show that the MCS forms in a region of weak anticyclonic curvature in the height field with marginal positive vorticity advection. Even though surface-based stability fields indicate stable low-level air, there is a layer of convectively unstable air with maximum-θe CAPE values of more than 1000 J kg−1 in the vicinity of the MCS site and higher values upstream. Maximum-θe convective inhibition (CIN) values over the MCS centroid site are small (less than 40 J kg−1) while to the south convection is limited by large values of CIN (greater than 60 J kg−1). Surface-to-500-hPa composite average relative humidity values are about 70%, and composite precipitable water values average about 3.18 cm (1.25 in.). The representativeness of the composite analysis is also examined. Last, a schematic conceptual model based upon the composite fields is presented that depicts the typical environment favorable for the development of elevated thunderstorms that lead to heavy rainfall.
