Extreme Convective Storms Over High-Latitude Continental Areas Where Maximum Warming Is Occurring
- Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States); Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
- Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)
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
Web of Science
Satellite Remote Sensing of Precipitation and the Terrestrial Water Cycle in a Changing Climate
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journal | October 2019 |
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