Terrain and Multiple-Scale Interactions as Factors in Generating Extreme Precipitation Events
The Mediterranean region is often affected by flooding and landslides due to heavy precipitation events. These events have been the subject of specific interest because they represent complex interaction of synoptic-scale upper-level steering flows and local topographic barriers. In the present work...
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Published in | Journal of hydrometeorology Vol. 5; no. 3; pp. 390 - 404 |
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Main Authors | , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
American Meteorological Society
01.06.2004
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Online Access | Get full text |
ISSN | 1525-755X 1525-7541 |
DOI | 10.1175/1525-7541(2004)005<0390:TAMIAF>2.0.CO;2 |
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Abstract | The Mediterranean region is often affected by flooding and landslides due to heavy precipitation events. These events have been the subject of specific interest because they represent complex interaction of synoptic-scale upper-level steering flows and local topographic barriers. In the present work, data from a dense network of surface precipitation gauges over northern Italy and a global atmospheric analysis at a coarser scale are combined to develop a multiscale diagnostic model of the phenomenon.
Composite maps are formed based on departures from climatology and standard deviation of sea level pressure, 500-hPa geopotential, wind, and water vapor flux. A diagnostic model is built based on the evidence that shows the spawning of secondary mesoscale features in the steering synoptic flow. The mesoscale features draw moisture and energy from local sources and cause extreme precipitation events over adjoining areas.
The primary trough system steering the flow often originates in the North Sea and extends over middle Europe. When this system flows across the Alps, a secondary cyclone develops in the western Mediterranean, more frequently over the Gulf of Genoa on the lee side of the Alps barrier. The mesoscale cyclone is evident in the weather charts, and its signature is identifiable in the dense surface gauge network data, but it is not evident in the atmospheric analyses maps owing to their coarse resolution.
Further analysis of the ensemble of such cases is made by manual inspection of daily all-Europe weather charts. Two precursor conditions for this mesoscale cyclogenesis are identified. It is shown that longitudinal blocking frequency over a larger region strongly differs from climatology (especially for the second one of these precursors). A low pressure center tracking algorithm is used to follow the evolution of some events. Two cases are presented as illustrative of the patterns identified by the ensemble composites. |
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AbstractList | The Mediterranean region is often affected by flooding and landslides due to heavy precipitation events. These events have been the subject of specific interest because they represent complex interaction of synoptic-scale upper-level steering flows and local topographic barriers. In the present work, data from a dense network of surface precipitation gauges over northern Italy and a global atmospheric analysis at a coarser scale are combined to develop a multiscale diagnostic model of the phenomenon.
Composite maps are formed based on departures from climatology and standard deviation of sea level pressure, 500-hPa geopotential, wind, and water vapor flux. A diagnostic model is built based on the evidence that shows the spawning of secondary mesoscale features in the steering synoptic flow. The mesoscale features draw moisture and energy from local sources and cause extreme precipitation events over adjoining areas.
The primary trough system steering the flow often originates in the North Sea and extends over middle Europe. When this system flows across the Alps, a secondary cyclone develops in the western Mediterranean, more frequently over the Gulf of Genoa on the lee side of the Alps barrier. The mesoscale cyclone is evident in the weather charts, and its signature is identifiable in the dense surface gauge network data, but it is not evident in the atmospheric analyses maps owing to their coarse resolution.
Further analysis of the ensemble of such cases is made by manual inspection of daily all-Europe weather charts. Two precursor conditions for this mesoscale cyclogenesis are identified. It is shown that longitudinal blocking frequency over a larger region strongly differs from climatology (especially for the second one of these precursors). A low pressure center tracking algorithm is used to follow the evolution of some events. Two cases are presented as illustrative of the patterns identified by the ensemble composites. |
Author | Roth, Giorgio Rudari, Roberto Entekhabi, Dara |
Author_xml | – sequence: 1 givenname: Roberto surname: Rudari fullname: Rudari, Roberto organization: Dipartimento di Ingegneria Ambientale, Università degli Studi di Genova, Genoa, and Centro di Ricerca Interuniversitario in Monitoraggio Ambientale, Università degli Studi di Genova e della Basilicata, Savona, Italy, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts – sequence: 2 givenname: Dara surname: Entekhabi fullname: Entekhabi, Dara organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts – sequence: 3 givenname: Giorgio surname: Roth fullname: Roth, Giorgio organization: Dipartimento di Ingegneria Ambientale, Università degli Studi di Genova, Genoa, and Centro di Ricerca Interuniversitario in Monitoraggio Ambientale, Università degli Studi di Genova e della Basilicata, Savona, Italy |
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Cites_doi | 10.1029/96JD01377 10.1029/2000GL012379 10.1175/1520-0493(1998)126<2369:NSOTPF>2.0.CO;2 10.1175/1520-0442(2001)014<1568:DPOTIR>2.0.CO;2 10.1175/1520-0493(1998)126<1859:MMSOTH>2.0.CO;2 10.1002/joc.3370140804 10.1175/1520-0477(2001)082<0247:TNNYRM>2.3.CO;2 10.1111/j.1600-0870.1983.tb00210.x 10.1007/BF01028107 10.1002/qj.49710444004 10.1080/07055900.1981.9649096 10.1007/BF00662592 10.1007/BF00209750 10.1175/1520-0477(1996)077<0437:TNYRP>2.0.CO;2 10.1256/smsqj.47001 10.1016/S0169-8095(99)00045-9 10.1175/1520-0442(1993)006<2217:OIOCIG>2.0.CO;2 10.1175/1520-0442(1988)001<0109:ACCOTC>2.0.CO;2 10.1029/94JC02206 10.1175/1520-0493(1982)110<1271:ADOALC>2.0.CO;2 10.1175/1520-0434(2001)016<0007:TCLVIT>2.0.CO;2 10.1002/qj.49710644807 10.1016/S0169-8095(02)00038-8 10.1002/(SICI)1097-0088(199612)16:12<1315::AID-JOC92>3.0.CO;2-M 10.1029/98GL50869 10.1007/BF01030491 10.3402/tellusa.v42i3.11882 10.3402/tellusa.v52i3.12263 10.1175/1520-0434(1998)013<0102:ADSOTH>2.0.CO;2 |
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