Atmospheric Moisture Content over Europe and the Northern Atlantic

Wypych, Agnieszka; Bochenek, Bogdan; Różycki, Michał

doi:10.3390/atmos9010018

Cited by 31 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…On the contrary, in July, a month characterized by far fewer moisture inversions and especially by elevated inversions over regions of land, the significant role of meridional moisture flux may be observed on the top of surface-based inversions at points located in the northern part of the study area (grids NW and N) along with the advection of dry air (regardless of moisture flux direction) at the bottom of elevated inversions at the point KRK. Dependencies determined at selected grid points are consistent with results produced by studies in near-polar areas [14][15][16], as well as on the macroscale [21], which underscore the significance of meridional moisture flux and the convergence and convection of water vapor in the summer season.…”

Section: Advances In Meteorologysupporting

confidence: 78%

“…In temperate zones, especially across continental Europe, annual uctuations in water vapor content in the air are the highest in the study area due to the increasingly continental climate of the interior of Europe. In the winter, water vapor content over land areas corresponds to that detected at polar latitudes, while in the summer, it is greater than that determined for subtropical regions [21]. Given that the presence of water vapor in the Earth's atmosphere is substantial up to an altitude of about 2 km, determined by a negative temperature gradient, the greatest di erentiation in the vertical pro le is noted up to the 700 hPa level (Figure 2).…”

Section: Vertical Structure Climatologymentioning

confidence: 77%

“…Moisture regions (Figure 1; polygons) were identi ed by Wypych et al [21] via the use of three variables describing moisture content, that is, total column water vapor of the entire atmosphere, speci c humidity, and relative humidity at selected pressure levels (950 hPa, 850 hPa, 700 hPa, and 500 hPa). Cluster analysis helped identify six regions with di erent moisture conditions: Northern-Atlantic, Northern-Continental, Mid-Atlantic, Mid-Continental, Subtropical-Atlantic, and Mediterranean.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Vertical Structure of Moisture Content over Europe

Wypych

Bochenek

2018

Advances in Meteorology

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e vertical structure of water vapor content in the atmosphere strongly affects the amount of solar radiation reaching the Earth's surface and processes associated with the formation of clouds and atmospheric precipitation. e purpose of this study was to assess the vertical differentiation of water vapor over Europe on a seasonal basis and also to evaluate the role of atmospheric circulation in changes therein. Daily values of specific humidity (SHUM) for the time period 1981-2015 were obtained from pressure levels available from ECMWF Era-Interim reanalysis data and used in the study. Eight grid points were analyzed in detail. Each point is representative of a region with different moisture conditions. SHUM profiles were then used to identify cases of moisture inversion. Horizontal flux of specific humidity (SHUMF) was analyzed for principal pressure levels that occur in both inversion-type and inversion-free situations. In addition, SHUM and SHUMF anomalies were identified for advection directions.e research results showed the existence of differences in the vertical structure of water vapor content in the troposphere over Europe, and the Northeastern Atlantic and the presence of moisture inversions not only in areas north of 60°N but also in temperate and subtropical zones. Inversions can occur in two different forms-surface-based and elevated. e occurrence of inversions varies with the seasons. e role of atmospheric circulation is observable in the winter and triggers both surpluses and shortages of moisture via the effect of specific pressure system types (significant role of seasonal pressure high) and via advection directions. In addition, there exists a clear difference between the structure of moisture in the atmospheric boundary layer and in the free atmosphere.

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Section: Advances In Meteorologysupporting

confidence: 78%

Section: Vertical Structure Climatologymentioning

confidence: 77%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Vertical Structure of Moisture Content over Europe

Wypych

Bochenek

2018

Advances in Meteorology

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“…For higher-level comparison, empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis is applied to investigate the spatial variations of precipitation. Over the past few decades, many studies have applied EOF analysis to derive the principle components of climate variability [40][41][42][43]. EOF analysis is a technique that is used to identify optimal representation of patterns (main signals).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of Precipitation Simulations in Central Asia by CMIP5 Climate Models

Sun

et al. 2018

Water

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The Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) provides data, which is widely used to assess global and regional climate change. In this study, we evaluated the ability of 37 global climate models (GCMs) of CMIP5 to simulate historical precipitation in Central Asia (CA). The relative root mean square error (RRMSE), spatial correlation coefficient, and Kling-Gupta efficiency (KGE) were used as criteria for evaluation. The precipitation simulation results of GCMs were compared with the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) precipitation in 1986–2005. Most models show a variety of precipitation simulation capabilities both spatially and temporally, whereas the top six models were identified as having good performance in CA, including HadCM3, MIROC5, MPI-ESM-LR, MPI-ESM-P, CMCC-CM, and CMCC-CMS. As the GCMs have large uncertainties in the prediction of future precipitation, it is difficult to find the best model to predict future precipitation in CA. Multi-Model Ensemble (MME) results can give a good simulation of precipitation, and are superior to individual models.

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“…measurements noise) and allows using the same classification criteria for all the instruments in the ATSR series (the first sensor ATSR-1, aboard the ERS-1 satellite, and the following improved ATSR-2 and AATSR aboard, respectively, the ERS-2 and ENVISAT satellites) and for all the seasons. Based on ERA-Interim reanalysis, Wypych et al (2018) provided an analysis of temporal and spatial variability in TCWV for Europe. Differences strongly depend on air temperature and on latitude; other determinants include local factors, such as the presence of water or land.…”

Section: Lee Wave Detection Using the Airwave Datasetmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lee wave detection over the Mediterranean Sea using the Advanced Infra-Red WAter Vapour Estimator (AIRWAVE) total column water vapour (TCWV) dataset

et al. 2019

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Abstract. Atmospheric gravity waves generated downstream by orography in a stratified airflow are known as lee waves. In the present study, such mesoscale patterns have been detected, over water and in clear-sky conditions, using the Advanced Infra-Red WAter Vapour Estimator (AIRWAVE) total column water vapour (TCWV) dataset, which contains about 20 years of day and night products, obtained from the thermal infrared measurements of the Along Track Scanning Radiometer (ATSR) instrument series. The high accuracy of such data, along with the native 1 km×1 km spatial resolution, allows the investigation of small-scale features such as lee waves. In this work, we focused on the Mediterranean Sea, the largest semi-enclosed basin on the Earth. The peculiarities of this area, which is characterised by complex orography and rough coastlines, lead to the development of these structures over both land and sea. We developed an automatic tool for the rapid detection of areas with high probability of lee wave occurrence, exploiting the TCWV variability in spatial regions with a 0.15∘×0.15∘ area. Through this analysis, several occurrences of structures connected with lee waves have been observed. The waves are detected in spring, autumn and summer seasons, with TCWV values usually falling in the range of 15 to 35 kg m−2. In this article, we describe some cases over the central (Italy) and the Eastern Mediterranean Basin (Greece, Turkey and Cyprus). We compared a case of perturbed AIRWAVE TCWV fields due to lee waves occurring over the Tyrrhenian Sea on 18 July 1997 with the sea surface winds from the synthetic aperture radar (SAR), which sounded the same geographical area, finding a good agreement. Another case has been investigated in detail: on 2 August 2002 the Aegean Sea region was almost simultaneously sounded by both the second sensor of the ATSR series (ATSR-2) and the Advanced ATSR (AATSR) instruments. The AIRWAVE TCWV fields derived from the two sensors were successfully compared with the vertically integrated water vapour content simulated with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) numerical model for the same time period, confirming our findings. Wave parameters such as amplitude, wavelength and phase are described through the use of the Morlet continuous wavelet transformation (CWT). The performed analysis derived typical wavelengths from 6 to 8 km and amplitudes of up to 20 kg m−2.

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Atmospheric Moisture Content over Europe and the Northern Atlantic

Cited by 31 publications

References 59 publications

Vertical Structure of Moisture Content over Europe

Vertical Structure of Moisture Content over Europe

Assessment of Precipitation Simulations in Central Asia by CMIP5 Climate Models

Lee wave detection over the Mediterranean Sea using the Advanced Infra-Red WAter Vapour Estimator (AIRWAVE) total column water vapour (TCWV) dataset

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