Identification

Title

Linkage between projected precipitation and atmospheric thermodynamic changes

Abstract

Light-moderate precipitation is projected to decrease whereas heavy precipitation may increase under greenhouse gas (GHG)-induced global warming, while atmospheric convective available potential energy (CAPE) over most of the globe and convective inhibition (CIN) over land are projected to increase. The underlying processes for these precipitation changes are not fully understood. Here, projected precipitation changes are analyzed using 3-hourly data from simulations by a fully coupled climate model, and their link to the CAPE and CIN changes is examined. The model approximately captures the spatial patterns in the mean precipitation frequencies and the significant correlation between the precipitation frequencies or intensity and CAPE over most of the globe or CIN over tropical oceans seen in reanalysis, and it projects decreased light-moderate precipitation (0.01 < P <= 1 mm h(-1)) but increased heavy precipitation (P > 1 mm h(-1) ) in a warmer climate. Results show that most of the light-moderate precipitation events occur under low-CAPE and/or low-CIN conditions, which are projected to decrease greatly in a warmer climate as increased temperature and humidity shift many of such cases into moderate-high CAPE or CIN cases. This results in large decreases in the light-moderate precipitation events. In contrast, increases in heavy precipitation result primarily from its increased probability under given CAPE and CIN, with a secondary contribution from the CAPE/CIN frequency changes. The increased probability for heavy precipitation partly results from a shift of the precipitation histogram toward higher intensity that could result from a uniform percentage increase in precipitation intensity due to increased water vapor in a warmer climate.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d7tt4v9r

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2020-08-15T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact