Similarities in Meteorological Composites Among Different Atmospheric River Detection Tools During Landfall Over Western Coastal North America

Quagraine, Kwesi T.; O’Brien, Travis A.; Zhou, Yang

doi:10.1029/2024jd042163

Similarities in Meteorological Composites Among Different Atmospheric River Detection Tools During Landfall Over Western Coastal North America

Journal Article · Sat Mar 22 00:00:00 EDT 2025 · Journal of Geophysical Research. Atmospheres

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/2024jd042163· OSTI ID:2553922

^[1]; ^[2]; ^[3]

Indiana Univ., Bloomington, IN (United States)
Indiana Univ., Bloomington, IN (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Many atmospheric river detection tools (ARDTs) have been developed over the past few decades to identify atmospheric rivers (ARs). Different ARDTs have been observed to capture a variety of frequencies, shapes, and sizes of ARs. Due to this, questions have arisen about the underlying phenomena associated with the detected ARs: do all ARDTs detect the same meteorological phenomena? In this paper, we assess eight ARDTs and investigate the underlying synoptic scale phenomena during landfalling ARs along the west coast of North America. We find that during landfalling AR events, prevalent low-pressure and high-pressure systems converge and enhance moisture influx toward the landfalling site. We identify that all eight ARDTs identify AR conditions associated with baroclinic waves, with the region of intense integrated vapor transport (IVT) located downstream of the upper level (500 hPa) trough. The magnitude of IVT is enhanced by the strength of the pressure gradients in the confluence region. Although the ARDTs assessed agree on the general phenomena, there are however subtle differences in each ARDT per the clustering analysis we performed. We conclude that the eight ARDTs identify similar underpinning synoptic scale meteorological phenomena.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231; SC0023519

OSTI ID:: 2553922

Journal Information:: Journal of Geophysical Research. Atmospheres, Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research. Atmospheres Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 130; ISSN 2169-897X

Publisher:: American Geophysical Union; WileyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (36)

An evaluation of atmospheric rivers over the North Pacific in CMIP5 and their response to warming under RCP 8.5: NORTH PACIFIC ATMOSPHERIC RIVERS IN CMIP5 Payne, Ashley E.; Magnusdottir, Gudrun Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 120, Issue 21 https://doi.org/10.1002/2015jd023586	journal	November 2015
Detection of atmospheric rivers: Evaluation and application of an algorithm for global studies: Detection of Atmospheric Rivers Guan, Bin; Waliser, Duane E. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 120, Issue 24 https://doi.org/10.1002/2015jd024257	journal	December 2015
Evaluation of landfalling atmospheric rivers along the U.S. West Coast in reanalysis data sets: Evaluation of ARs in Reanalysis Data Jackson, Darren L.; Hughes, Mimi; Wick, Gary A. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 121, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1002/2015jd024412	journal	March 2016
Persistent landfalling atmospheric rivers over the west coast of North America: PERSISTENT LANDFALLING ARS Payne, Ashley E.; Magnusdottir, Gudrun Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 121, Issue 22 https://doi.org/10.1002/2016jd025549	journal	November 2016
Mixed populations and annual flood frequency estimates in the western United States: The role of atmospheric rivers: ATMOSPHERIC RIVERS AND WEST UNITE STATES FLOODS Barth, Nancy A.; Villarini, Gabriele; Nayak, Munir A. Water Resources Research, Vol. 53, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1002/2016wr019064	journal	January 2017
Hourly storm characteristics along the U.S. West Coast: Role of atmospheric rivers in extreme precipitation: Storm Characteristics in U.S. West Coast Lamjiri, M. A.; Dettinger, M. D.; Ralph, F. M. Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 44, Issue 13 https://doi.org/10.1002/2017gl074193	journal	July 2017
Quantifying the role of atmospheric rivers in the interior western United States Rutz, Jonathan J.; Steenburgh, W. James Atmospheric Science Letters, Vol. 13, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1002/asl.392	journal	July 2012
Climatology of landfalling atmospheric Rivers and associated heavy precipitation over the Indian coastal regions Dhana Laskhmi, Douluri; Satyanarayana, A. N. V. International Journal of Climatology, Vol. 40, Issue 13 https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.6540	journal	March 2020
North American extreme precipitation events and related large-scale meteorological patterns: a review of statistical methods, dynamics, modeling, and trends Barlow, Mathew; Gutowski, William J.; Gyakum, John R. Climate Dynamics, Vol. 53, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382‐019‐04958‐z	journal	September 2019
Dynamic Meteorology \| Potential Vorticity McIntyre, M. E. Encyclopedia of Atmospheric Sciences https://doi.org/10.1016/B0-12-227090-8/00484-X	book	January 2003
Atmospheric river changes shaped mid-latitude hydroclimate since the mid-Holocene Skinner, Christopher B.; Lora, Juan M.; Payne, Ashley E. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Vol. 541 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2020.116293	journal	July 2020
The contribution of atmospheric rivers to precipitation in Europe and the United States Lavers, David A.; Villarini, Gabriele Journal of Hydrology, Vol. 522 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2014.12.010	journal	March 2015
Extreme snowfall events linked to atmospheric rivers and surface air temperature via satellite measurements: EXTREME SNOWFALL AND ATMOSPHERIC RIVERS Guan, Bin; Molotch, Noah P.; Waliser, Duane E. Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 37, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1029/2010gl044696	journal	October 2010
Storms, floods, and the science of atmospheric rivers Ralph, F. M.; Dettinger, M. D. Eos, Transactions American Geophysical Union, Vol. 92, Issue 32 https://doi.org/10.1029/2011eo320001	journal	August 2011
The Relationship Between Extratropical Cyclone Strength and Atmospheric River Intensity and Position Zhang, Zhenhai; Ralph, F. Martin; Zheng, Minghua Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 46, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1029/2018gl079071	journal	February 2019
The Atmospheric River Tracking Method Intercomparison Project (ARTMIP): Quantifying Uncertainties in Atmospheric River Climatology Rutz, Jonathan J.; Shields, Christine A.; Lora, Juan M. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 124, Issue 24 https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JD030936	journal	December 2019
An Assessment of Rainfall from Hurricanes Harvey and Florence Relative to Other Extremely Wet Storms in the United States Kunkel, Kenneth E.; Champion, Sarah M. Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 46, Issue 22 https://doi.org/10.1029/2019gl085034	journal	November 2019
The Atmospheric River Tracking Method Intercomparison Project (ARTMIP): Quantifying Uncertainties in Atmospheric River Climatology Rutz, Jonathan J.; Shields, Christine A.; Lora, Juan M. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 124, Issue 24 https://doi.org/10.1029/2019jd030936	journal	December 2019
Impact of Distinct Origin Locations on the Life Cycles of Landfalling Atmospheric Rivers Over the U.S. West Coast Zhou, Yang; Kim, Hyemi Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 124, Issue 22 https://doi.org/10.1029/2019jd031218	journal	November 2019
Consensus and Disagreement in Atmospheric River Detection: ARTMIP Global Catalogues Lora, J. M.; Shields, C. A.; Rutz, J. J. Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 47, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1029/2020gl089302	journal	October 2020
Atmospheric River Lifecycle Responses to the Madden‐Julian Oscillation Zhou, Yang; Kim, Hyemi; Waliser, Duane E. Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 48, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1029/2020gl090983	journal	January 2021
The Sensitivity of Atmospheric River Identification to Integrated Water Vapor Transport Threshold, Resolution, and Regridding Method Reid, Kimberley J.; King, Andrew D.; Lane, Todd P. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 125, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1029/2020jd032897	journal	October 2020
Constraining and Characterizing the Size of Atmospheric Rivers: A Perspective Independent From the Detection Algorithm Inda‐Díaz, H. A.; O'Brien, T. A.; Zhou, Y. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 126, Issue 16 https://doi.org/10.1029/2020jd033746	journal	August 2021
An Extreme High Temperature Event in Coastal East Antarctica Associated With an Atmospheric River and Record Summer Downslope Winds Turner, John; Lu, Hua; King, John C. Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 49, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1029/2021gl097108	journal	February 2022
Increases in Future AR Count and Size: Overview of the ARTMIP Tier 2 CMIP5/6 Experiment O’Brien, T. A.; Wehner, M. F.; Payne, A. E. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 127, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1029/2021jd036013	journal	March 2022
Future Atmospheric Rivers and Impacts on Precipitation: Overview of the ARTMIP Tier 2 High‐Resolution Global Warming Experiment Shields, Christine A.; Payne, Ashley E.; Shearer, Eric Jay Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 50, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1029/2022gl102091	journal	March 2023
Atmospheric Rivers in the Eastern and Midwestern United States Associated With Baroclinic Waves O’Brien, Travis A.; Loring, Burlen; Dufek, Amanda Sabatini Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 51, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1029/2023gl107236	journal	April 2024
Cluster Quality Analysis Using Silhouette Score Shahapure, Ketan Rajshekhar; Nicholas, Charles 2020 IEEE 7th International Conference on Data Science and Advanced Analytics (DSAA) https://doi.org/10.1109/DSAA49011.2020.00096	conference	October 2020
Meteorological Characteristics and Overland Precipitation Impacts of Atmospheric Rivers Affecting the West Coast of North America Based on Eight Years of SSM/I Satellite Observations Neiman, Paul J.; Ralph, F. Martin; Wick, Gary A. Journal of Hydrometeorology, Vol. 9, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1175/2007jhm855.1	journal	February 2008
Impact of Rossby Wave Breaking on U.S. West Coast Winter Precipitation during ENSO Events Ryoo, Ju-Mee; Kaspi, Yohai; Waugh, Darryn W. Journal of Climate, Vol. 26, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.1175/jcli‐d‐12‐00297.1	journal	August 2013
Dynamics of Landfalling Atmospheric Rivers over the North Pacific in 30 Years of MERRA Reanalysis Payne, Ashley E.; Magnusdottir, Gudrun Journal of Climate, Vol. 27, Issue 18 https://doi.org/10.1175/jcli‐d‐14‐00034.1	journal	September 2014
The Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications, Version 2 (MERRA-2) Gelaro, Ronald; McCarty, Will; Suárez, Max J. Journal of Climate, Vol. 30, Issue 14 https://doi.org/10.1175/jcli‐d‐16‐0758.1	journal	July 2017
Interpretation of Enhanced Integrated Water Vapor Bands Associated with Extratropical Cyclones: Their Formation and Connection to Tropical Moisture Bao, J-W.; Michelson, S. A.; Neiman, P. J. Monthly Weather Review, Vol. 134, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1175/mwr3123.1	journal	April 2006
Atmospheric Rivers and Associated Precipitation over France and Western Europe: 1980–2020 Climatology and Case Study Doiteau, Benjamin; Dournaux, Meredith; Montoux, Nadège Atmosphere, Vol. 12, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12081075	journal	August 2021
Atmospheric River Tracking Method Intercomparison Project (ARTMIP) Tier 1 Catalogues Shields, Christine UCAR/NCAR Climate Data Gateway https://doi.org/10.5065/D6R78D1M	dataset	January 2018
Qwecitq/Masters-Revised: Similarities in Meteorological composites among different atmospheric river detection tools during landfall over western coastal North America Quagraine, Kwesi https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14201407	software	November 2024

Similar Records

Response of Atmospheric River Width and Intensity to Aquaplanet Warming: A Detection Algorithm‐ and Background Moisture‐Independent Approach

Journal Article · Sat Jul 05 00:00:00 EDT 2025 · Journal of Geophysical Research. Atmospheres · OSTI ID:2572377

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
AR frequencies
atmospheric river detectors
atmospheric rivers
landfalling ARs

Similarities in Meteorological Composites Among Different Atmospheric River Detection Tools During Landfall Over Western Coastal North America

Citation Formats

References (36)

Similar Records

Related Subjects