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Title: Extreme Convective Storms Over High-Latitude Continental Areas Where Maximum Warming Is Occurring

Journal Article · · Geophysical Research Letters

Deep convective storms play a key role in severe weather, the hydrological cycle and the global atmospheric circulation. Historically little attention has been paid to the occurrence of intense convective storms in the climatologically cool regions of high latitudes. Yet it is these regions that are experiencing the largest increases of mean surface temperature over the last century. Pattern of convection might be expected to change correspondingly. The 2014 launch of the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) core observatory satellite, which features a space-borne Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) providing near-global coverage (65°S to 65°N), has made it possible to establish the occurrence of convective storms at high latitudes. Analysis of the three-dimensional structure of the radar echoes seen by GPM over a 5-year period (2014-2018) shows that extremely intense deep convective storms do occur often during the warm season (April-September) in the high-latitude continental locations where the increase of Earth’s surface temperature has been greatest. This discovery implies that the occurrence of high latitude extreme convection may be expected to increase in a continually warming world.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER). Earth and Environmental Systems Science Division
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830; AC05‐76RL01830; AC02‐05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1507202
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1507203; OSTI ID: 1526754; OSTI ID: 1542883
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-140934
Journal Information:
Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 46, Issue 7; ISSN 0094-8276
Publisher:
American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 18 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (1)

Satellite Remote Sensing of Precipitation and the Terrestrial Water Cycle in a Changing Climate journal October 2019

Figures / Tables (3)