Convective Precipitation Efficiency Observed in the Tropics

Narsey, Sugata; Jakob, Christian; Singh, Martin S.; Bergemann, Martin; Louf, Valentin; Protat, Alain; Williams, C. R.

doi:10.1029/2019gl085031

Cited by 29 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 43 publications

(69 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Changes in precipitation efficiency are also closely related to changes in cloud microphysics, changes in entrainment, and convection dynamics. A study on precipitation efficiency at convective scales for a long record of observations in the tropics 143 found that precipitation efficiency increases with precipitation rate and mid-tropospheric humidity and decreases with increasing CAPE and surface temperature. However, these efficiency differences do not directly translate to changes in precipitation intensity due to compensating changes in cloud updraft velocities 143 .…”

Section: Cloud-scale Dynamics and Microphysicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A study on precipitation efficiency at convective scales for a long record of observations in the tropics 143 found that precipitation efficiency increases with precipitation rate and mid-tropospheric humidity and decreases with increasing CAPE and surface temperature. However, these efficiency differences do not directly translate to changes in precipitation intensity due to compensating changes in cloud updraft velocities 143 . Climate change effects of precipitation efficiency are uncertain, with changes in efficiency found at different temperatures 142 and some evidence of increases in efficiency with warming in small domains, although this is complicated by changes to convective organisation 144 .…”

Section: Cloud-scale Dynamics and Microphysicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Anthropogenic intensification of short-duration rainfall extremes

Fowler

Lenderink

Prein

et al. 2021

Nat Rev Earth Environ

448

234

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Heavy rainfall extremes are intensifying with warming at a rate generally consistent with the increase in atmospheric moisture, for accumulation periods from hours to days.• In some regions, high-resolution modeling, observed trends and observed temperature dependencies indicate stronger increases in short-duration, sub-daily, extreme rainfall intensities, up to twice what would be expected from atmospheric moisture increases alone.• Stronger local increases in short-duration extreme rainfall intensities are related to convective cloud feedbacks but their relevance to climate change is uncertain due to modulation by changes to temperature stratification and large-scale atmospheric circulation• The evidence is unclear whether storm size will increase or decrease with warming; however, increases in rainfall intensity and the spatial footprint of the storm can compound to give significant increases in the total rainfall during an event.• Evidence is emerging that sub-daily rainfall intensification is related to an intensification of flash flooding, at least locally. This will have serious implications for flash flooding on much of the planet and requires urgent climate-change adaptation measures.

show abstract

Section: Cloud-scale Dynamics and Microphysicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Cloud-scale Dynamics and Microphysicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anthropogenic intensification of short-duration rainfall extremes

Fowler

Lenderink

Prein

et al. 2021

Nat Rev Earth Environ

448

234

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The low‐troposphere represents the moisture intake thickness of the cloud and the evaporation region of raindrops after leaving the cloud. High low‐tropospheric relative humidity promotes moisture supply to the cloud and restricts the evaporation of raindrops, thus it is beneficial for increasing the PE (Market et al ., 2003; Narsey et al ., 2019). It is thought that the strong vertical wind shear in the mid‐troposphere causes the cloud to tilt, which increases the contact and entrainment between the cloud and the environmental dry air, resulting in an increased probability of hydrometeors evaporating, thereby reducing the PE of the cloud (Market et al ., 2003; Zhou, 2013).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Precipitation efficiency of cloud and its influencing factors over the Tibetan plateau

Zhao

Xiao

Liu³

et al. 2021

Intl Journal of Climatology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The basic characteristics of cloud water, precipitation, and the dependence of precipitation efficiency (PE) on the influencing factors over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) are investigated. Results found that the liquid water path shows a significant downward trend in winter over the TP, and the ice water path shows a significant upward trend in the pre‐monsoon and winter seasons and a significant downward trend in the monsoon season in the western TP from 1998 to 2015. In the eastern TP, the precipitation in the monsoon season also shows a significant downward trend, which may be related to the weakening of the South Asian monsoon. Results have determined that precipitation depends more on the ice water cloud than on the liquid water cloud over the TP. Moreover, the convective available potential energy (CAPE) and the low‐tropospheric relative humidity (RH) are two environmental factors that have a prominent influence on the PE. During the monsoon season, higher CAPE and RH were conducive to a larger PE over the TP. The results suggest that the CAPE has a positive effect on the PE, which means that the PE is directly dependent on the convective precipitation, mainly due to the frequent convective activity and dominant convective precipitation over the TP.

show abstract

“…Finally, while we have largely tried to focus on the potential influence that changes in dynamics due to changing convective organization could have on extreme precipitation, microphysics may play also play an important role. Compensation between microphysics and dynamics has been identified in observations [60] and with changes in organization in model simulations [39•]. Simulated scaling of extreme precipitation with warming can vary with how microphysics is represented [61].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changing Degree of Convective Organization as a Mechanism for Dynamic Changes in Extreme Precipitation

Pendergrass

2020

Curr Clim Change Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose of Review What does recent work say about how changes in convective organization could lead to changes in extreme precipitation? Recent Findings Changing convective organization is one mechanism that could explain variation in extreme precipitation increase through dynamics. In models, the effects of convective self-aggregation on extreme precipitation are sensitive to parameterization, among other factors. In both models and observations, whether or not convective organization influences extreme precipitation is sensitive to the time and space scales analyzed, affecting extreme precipitation on some scales but not others. While trends in observations in convective organization associated with mean precipitation have been identified, it has not yet been established whether these trends are robust or relevant for events associated with extreme precipitation. Summary Recent work has documented a somewhat view of how changes in convective organization could affect extreme precipitation with warming, and it remains unclear whether or not they do.

show abstract

Convective Precipitation Efficiency Observed in the Tropics

Cited by 29 publications

References 43 publications

Anthropogenic intensification of short-duration rainfall extremes

Anthropogenic intensification of short-duration rainfall extremes

Precipitation efficiency of cloud and its influencing factors over the Tibetan plateau

Changing Degree of Convective Organization as a Mechanism for Dynamic Changes in Extreme Precipitation

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About