Tropical Convective Transition Statistics and Causality in the Water Vapor–Precipitation Relation

Tropical Convective Transition Statistics and Causality in the Water Vapor–Precipitation Relation AbstractPrevious work by various authors has pointed to the role of lower-free-tropospheric humidity in affecting the onset of deep convection in the tropics. Empirical relationships between column water vapor (CWV) and precipitation have been inferred to result from these effects. Evidence from previous work has included deep convective conditional instability calculations for entraining plumes, in which the lower-free-tropospheric environment affects the onset of deep convection due to the differential impact on buoyancy of turbulent entrainment of dry versus moist air. The relationship between deep convection and water vapor is, however, a two-way interaction because convection also moistens the free troposphere. The present study adds an additional line of evidence toward fully establishing the causality of the precipitation–water vapor relationship. Parameter perturbation experiments using the coupled Community Earth System Model (CESM) with high-time-resolution output are analyzed for a set of statistics for the transition to deep convection, coordinated with observational diagnostics for the Green Ocean Amazon (GOAmazon) campaign and tropical western Pacific Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) sites. For low values of entrainment in the deep convective scheme, these statistics are radically altered and the observed pickup of precipitation with CWV is no longer seen. In addition to helping cement the dominant direction of causality in the fast-time-scale precipitation–CWV relationship, the results point to impacts of entrainment on the climatology. Because at low entrainment convection can fire before tropospheric moistening, the climatological values of relative humidity are lower than observed. These findings can be consequential to biases in simulated climate and to projections of climate change. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences American Meteorological Society

Tropical Convective Transition Statistics and Causality in the Water Vapor–Precipitation Relation

17 pages
Read Article

Loading next page...
 
/lp/ams/tropical-convective-transition-statistics-and-causality-in-the-water-QwXy8fw02C
Publisher
American Meteorological Society
Copyright
Copyright © American Meteorological Society
ISSN
1520-0469
eISSN
1520-0469
D.O.I.
10.1175/JAS-D-16-0182.1
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

AbstractPrevious work by various authors has pointed to the role of lower-free-tropospheric humidity in affecting the onset of deep convection in the tropics. Empirical relationships between column water vapor (CWV) and precipitation have been inferred to result from these effects. Evidence from previous work has included deep convective conditional instability calculations for entraining plumes, in which the lower-free-tropospheric environment affects the onset of deep convection due to the differential impact on buoyancy of turbulent entrainment of dry versus moist air. The relationship between deep convection and water vapor is, however, a two-way interaction because convection also moistens the free troposphere. The present study adds an additional line of evidence toward fully establishing the causality of the precipitation–water vapor relationship. Parameter perturbation experiments using the coupled Community Earth System Model (CESM) with high-time-resolution output are analyzed for a set of statistics for the transition to deep convection, coordinated with observational diagnostics for the Green Ocean Amazon (GOAmazon) campaign and tropical western Pacific Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) sites. For low values of entrainment in the deep convective scheme, these statistics are radically altered and the observed pickup of precipitation with CWV is no longer seen. In addition to helping cement the dominant direction of causality in the fast-time-scale precipitation–CWV relationship, the results point to impacts of entrainment on the climatology. Because at low entrainment convection can fire before tropospheric moistening, the climatological values of relative humidity are lower than observed. These findings can be consequential to biases in simulated climate and to projections of climate change.

Journal

Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences – American Meteorological Society

Published: Mar 15, 2017

References

  • GNSS observations of deep convective time scales in the Amazon
    Adams, D. K.; Gutman, S. I.; Holub, K. L.; Pereira, D. S.
  • The Version-2 Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP) monthly precipitation analysis (1979–present)
    Adler, R.
  • The simulation of the diurnal cycle of convective precipitation over land in a global model
    Bechtold, P.; Chaboureau, J.; Beljaars, A.; Betts, A. K.; Kohler, M.; Miller, M. J.; Redelsperger, J.
  • Advances in simulating atmospheric variability with the ECMWF model: From synoptic to decadal time-scales
    Bechtold, P.; Kohler, M.; Jung, T.; Doblas-Reyes, F.; Leutbecher, M.; Rodwell, M. J.; Vitart, F.; Balsamo, G.
  • Gross moist stability and MJO simulation skill in three full-physics GCMs
    Benedict, J. J.; Maloney, E. D.; Sobel, A. H.; Frierson, D. M. W.
  • Identifying sensitive ranges in global warming precipitation change dependence on convective parameters
    Bernstein, D. N.; Neelin, J. D.
  • Relationships between water vapor path and precipitation over the tropical oceans
    Bretherton, C. S.; Peters, M. E.; Back, L. E.
  • Variability of midtropospheric moisture and its effect on cloud-top height distribution during TOGA COARE
    Brown, R. G.; Zhang, C.
  • The role of entrainment in the diurnal cycle of continental convection
    Del Genio, A. D.; Wu, J.
  • The MJO transition from shallow to deep convection in CloudSat/CALIPSO and GISS GCM simulations
    Del Genio, A. D.; Chen, Y.; Kim, D.; Yao, M.-S.
  • Sensitivity of moist convection to environmental humidity
    Derbyshire, S. H.; Beau, I.; Bechtold, P.; Gandpeix, J.-Y.; Piriou, J.-M.; Redelsperger, J.-L.; Soares, P.
  • The Community Climate System Model version 4
    Gent, P. R.
  • The moist static energy budget in NCAR CAM5 hindcasts during DYNAMO
    Hannah, W. M.; Maloney, E. D.
  • Intercalibrated passive microwave rain products from the Unified Microwave Ocean Retrieval Algorithm (UMORA)
    Hilburn, K. A.; Wentz, F. J.
  • Role of convective entrainment in spatial distributions of and temporal variations in precipitation over tropical oceans
    Hirota, H.; Takayabu, Y. N.; Watanabe, M.; Kimoto, M.; Chikira, M.
  • Moisture vertical structure, column water vapor, and tropical deep convection
    Holloway, C. E.; Neelin, J. D.
  • Temporal relations of column water vapor and tropical precipitation
    Holloway, C. E.; Neelin, J. D.
  • LMDZ5B: The atmospheric component of the IPSL climate model with revisited parameterizations for clouds and convection
    Hourdin, F.
  • The Community Earth System Model: A framework for collaborative research
    Hurrell, J. W.
  • Factors limiting convective cloud-top height at the ARM Nauru Island climate research facility
    Jensen, M. P.; Del Genio, A. D.
  • Further remarks on reducing truncation errors
    Kahan, W.
  • NCEP–DOE AMIP-II Reanalysis (R-2)
    Kanamitsu, M.; Ebisuzaki, W.; Woollen, J.; Yang, S.; Hnilo, J.; Fiorino, M.; Potter, G.
  • High-resolution simulation of shallow-to-deep convection transition over land
    Khairoutdinov, M.; Randall, D.
  • A systematic relationship between intraseasonal variability and mean state bias in AGCM simulations
    Kim, D.; Sobel, A. H.; Maloney, E. D.; Frierson, D. M. W.; Kang, I.-S.
  • Vertical structure and physical processes of the Madden-Julian oscillation: Linking hindcast fidelity to simulated diabatic heating and moistening
    Klingaman, N. P.
  • Vertical structure and physical processes of the Madden-Julian oscillation: Synthesis and summary
    Klingaman, N. P.; Jiang, X.; Xavier, P. K.; Petch, J.; Waliser, D.; Woolnough, S. J.
  • A mass-flux scheme view of a high-resolution simulation of a transition from shallow to deep convection
    Kuang, Z.; Bretherton, C. S.
  • The double-ITCZ problem in IPCC AR4 coupled GCMs: Ocean–atmosphere feedback analysis
    Lin, J.-L.
  • Column water vapor statistics and their relationship to deep convection, vertical and horizontal circulation, and moisture structure at Nauru
    Lintner, B. R.; Holloway, C. E.; Neelin, J. D.
  • Detection of a 40–50 day oscillation in the zonal wind in the tropical Pacific
    Madden, R. A.; Julian, P. R.
  • Parameterizing convective organization to escape the entrainment dilemma
    Mapes, B. E.; Neale, R. B.
  • An atmospheric radiation and cloud station in the tropical western Pacific
    Mather, J. H.; Ackerman, T. P.; Clements, W. E.; Barnes, F. J.; Ivey, M. D.; Hatfield, L. D.; Reynolds, R. M.
  • The seasonal cycle over the tropical Pacific in coupled ocean–atmosphere general circulation models
    Mechoso, C. R.
  • The impact of convection on ENSO: From a delayed oscillator to a series of events
    Neale, R. B.; Richter, J. H.; Jochum, M.
  • The transition to strong convection
    Neelin, J. D.; Peters, O.; Hales, K.
  • Convective entrainment and large-scale organization of tropical precipitation: Sensitivity of the CNRM-CM5 hierarchy of models
    Oueslati, B.; Bellon, G.
  • The double ITCZ bias in CMIP5 models: Interaction between SST, large-scale circulation and precipitation
    Oueslati, B.; Bellon, G.
  • The evolution of the tropical western Pacific atmosphere-ocean system following the arrival of a dry intrusion
    Parsons, D. B.; Yoneyama, K.; Redelsperger, J.-L.
  • Critical phenomena in atmospheric precipitation
    Peters, O.; Neelin, J. D.
  • A stochastic mixing model for nonprecipitating cumulus clouds
    Raymond, D. J.; Blyth, A. M.
  • Recovery processes and factors limiting cloud-top height following the arrival of a dry intrusion observed during TOGA COARE
    Redelsperger, J.-L.; Parsons, D. B.; Guichard, F.
  • Effects of convective momentum transport on the atmospheric circulation in the Community Atmosphere Model, version 3
    Richter, J. H.; Rasch, P. J.
  • Sensitivity of tropical Pacific convection to dry layers at mid- to upper levels: Simulation and parameterization tests
    Ridout, J.
  • Shifting the diurnal cycle of parameterized deep convection over land
    Rio, C.; Hourdin, F.; Grandpeix, J.-Y.; Lafore, J.-P.
  • Do undiluted convective plumes exist in the upper tropical troposphere?
    Romps, D. M.; Kuang, Z.
  • Temperature–moisture dependence of the deep convective transition as a constraint on entrainment in climate models
    Sahany, S.; Neelin, J. D.; Hales, K.; Neale, R. B.
  • Deep convective transition characteristics in the NCAR CCSM and changes under global warming
    Sahany, S.; Neelin, J. D.; Hales, K.; Neale, R. B.
  • A multimodel study of parametric uncertainty in predictions of climate response to rising greenhouse gas concentrations
    Sanderson, B. M.
  • Deep convection and column water vapor over tropical land versus tropical ocean: A comparison between the Amazon and the tropical western Pacific
    Schiro, K. A.; Neelin, J. D.; Adams, D. K.; Linter, B. R.
  • Observed evolution of tropical deep convective events and their environment
    Sherwood, S. C.; Wahrlich, R.
  • Spread in model climate sensitivity traced to atmospheric convective mixing
    Sherwood, S. C.; Bony, S.; Dufresne, J.-L.
  • Large-scale meteorology and deep convection during TRMM KWAJEX
    Sobel, A. H.; Yuter, S. E.; Bretherton, C. S.; Kiladis, G. N.
  • The Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program: Programmatic design of the cloud and radiation test bed
    Stokes, G. M.; Schwartz, S. E.
  • Organization of tropical convection in low vertical wind shears: The role of water vapor
    Tompkins, A. M.
  • How well can satellite data characterize the water cycle of the Madden-Julian Oscillation?
    Waliser, D. E.; Tian, B.; Xie, X.; Liu, W. T.; Schwartz, M. J.; Fetzer, E. J.
  • Sensitivity of climate simulations to the parameterization of cumulus convection in the Canadian Climate Centre general circulation model
    Zhang, G. J.; McFarlane, N. A.
  • Role of large-scale moisture advection for simulation of the MJO with increased entrainment
    Zhu, H.; Hendon, H.

You’re reading a free preview. Subscribe to read the entire article.

Try 2 weeks free now

DeepDyve is your
personal research library

It’s your single place to instantly
discover and read the research
that matters to you.

Enjoy affordable access to
over 18 million articles from more than
15,000 peer-reviewed journals.

All for just $49/month

Explore the DeepDyve Library

or browse the journals available

Search

Query the DeepDyve database, plus search all of PubMed and Google Scholar seamlessly

Organize

Save any article or search result from DeepDyve, PubMed, and Google Scholar... all in one place.

Access

Get unlimited, online access to over 18 million full-text articles from more than 15,000 scientific journals.

Your journals are on DeepDyve

Read from thousands of the leading scholarly journals from SpringerNature, Elsevier, Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford University Press and more.

All the latest content is available, no embargo periods.

See the journals in your area

DeepDyve

Freelancer

DeepDyve

Pro

Price

FREE

$49/month
$360/year

Save searches from
Google Scholar,
PubMed

Create lists to
organize your research

Export lists, citations

Read DeepDyve articles

Abstract access only

Unlimited access to over
18 million full-text articles

Print

20 pages / month

PDF Discount

20% off

Sign up
for free
Start 14 day
Free Trial