Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: In the midlatitudes, extratropical cyclones produce the majority of winter precipitation. Precipitation rates and accumulation depend strongly on both the cyclone intensity and the environmental moisture amount. Using 5 years of the Integrated Multi‐satellitE Retrievals for Global Precipitation Measurement (IMERG) product, cyclone‐centered composites of surface precipitation rates are compared between cyclones that occlude and those that do not. Occluding cyclones produce greater surface precipitation because they tend to be more intense. When the non‐occluding cyclones are selected such that they collectively have similar intensity and moisture amount distributions as the occluding cyclones, precipitation rates at peak intensity are still larger for occluding cyclones. This is because a particular type of forced, frontal‐scale, ascent in the occluded thermal ridge, unique to occluded cyclones by virtue of their thermal structure, favors more precipitation. The results demonstrate that life‐cycle type (i.e., achieving occlusion vs. not) matters for precipitation production in extratropical cyclones.
Source: Geophysical Research Letters
DOI: 10.1029/2025gl115153
Language: English
Subfield: Atmospheric Science
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Climate action
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,190
Awards: G3648211085, G3728003619, G4501891524, G4668983285, G4814526843, THE DEPARTMENT OF APPLIED MATHEMATICS AND PHYSICS (APAM) AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY (CU) PROPOSES TO RENEW COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT NNX15AJ05A WITH THE NASA GODDARD INSTITUTE FOR SPACE STUDIES. THE SCOPE OF WORK SPANS THREE BROAD THEMES. EARTH SYSTEM MODELING WILL INVOLVE THE DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF ATMOSPHERIC OCEANIC LAND SURFACE AND CRYOSPHERIC MODEL COMPONENTS TO BETTER UNDERSTAND PAST NATURAL AND ANTHROPOGENIC CHANGES IN CLIMATE AND AS A CENTRAL PART OF THE US CONTRIBUTION TO INTERNATIONALLYCOORDINATED EFFORTS TO MAKE PROJECTIONS OF POSSIBLE FUTURE CLIMATES. RESEARCH IN COMPARATIVE PLANETARY CLIMATOLOGIES WILL EXTEND THE EARTH SYSTEM MODELING EFFORT TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THE CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH OTHER PLANETS IN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM HAVE BEEN HABITABLE AND HOW WE MIGHT DETECT HABITABLE PLANETS AT GREATER DISTANCES. REMOTE SENSING RESEARCH WILL INCLUDE FUNDAMENTAL WORK IN RADIATIVE TRANSFER AND SIGNIFICANT INVOLVEMENT IN MAJOR FIELD CAMPAIGNS TO BETTER MEASURE AEROSOLS CLOUDS AND OCEAN SURFACE PROPERTIES. THE COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT IS THE ADMINISTRATIVE MECHANISM THROUGH WHICH THE UNIQUE EXPERTISE OF NASA AND APAM CAN BE LEVERAGED TO ADVANCE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE EARTH SYSTEM OTHER PLANETS AND CUTTING EDGE MEASUREMENTS BUILDING UPON THE RICH SCIENTIFIC HISTORY OF BOTH INSTITUTIONS., G8649680804
OpenAlex ID: W4409392959