TY - JOUR
T1 - Analyses of the warm season rainfall climatology of the northeastern US using regional climate model simulations and radar rainfall fields
AU - Yeung, June K.
AU - Smith, James A.
AU - Villarini, Gabriele
AU - Ntelekos, Alexandros A.
AU - Baeck, Mary Lynn
AU - Krajewski, Witold F.
N1 - Funding Information:
National Lightning Detection Network data were provided by the NASA Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS) instrument team and the LIS data center via the Global Hydrology Resource Center (GHRC) located at the Global Hydrology and Climate Center (GHCC), Huntsville, Alabama through a license agreement with Global Atmospherics, Inc (GAI). The data available from the GHRC are restricted to LIS science team collaborators and to NASA EOS and TRMM investigators. This research was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF Grants EEC-0540832 and ITR-0427325 ), the NOAA Cooperative Institute for Climate Science and the Willis Research Network .
PY - 2011/2
Y1 - 2011/2
N2 - We examine the warm season (April-September) rainfall climatology of the northeastern US through analyses of high-resolution radar rainfall fields from the Hydro-NEXRAD system and regional climate model simulations using the weather research and forecasting (WRF) model. Analyses center on the 5-year period from 2003 to 2007 and the study area includes the New York-New Jersey metropolitan region covered by radar rainfall fields from the Fort Dix, NJ WSR-88D. The objective of this study is to develop and test tools for examining rainfall climatology, with a special focus on heavy rainfall. An additional emphasis is on rainfall climatology in regions of complex terrain, like the northeastern US, which is characterized by land-water boundaries, large heterogeneity in land use and cover, and mountainous terrain in the western portion of the region. We develop a 5-year record of warm season radar rainfall fields for the study region using the Hydro-NEXRAD system. We perform regional downscaling simulations for the 5-year study period using the WRF model. Radar rainfall fields are used to characterize the interannual, seasonal and diurnal variation of rainfall over the study region and to examine spatial heterogeneity of rainfall. Regional climate model simulations are characterized by a wet bias in the rainfall fields, with the largest bias in the high-elevation regions of the model domain. We show that model simulations capture broad features of the interannual, seasonal, and diurnal variation of rainfall. Model simulations do not capture spatial gradients in radar rainfall fields around the New York metropolitan region and land-water boundaries to the east. The model climatology of convective available potential energy (CAPE) is used to interpret the regional distribution of warm season rainfall and the seasonal and diurnal variability of rainfall. We use hydrologic and meteorological observations from July 2007 to examine the interactions of land surface processes and rainfall from a regional perspective.
AB - We examine the warm season (April-September) rainfall climatology of the northeastern US through analyses of high-resolution radar rainfall fields from the Hydro-NEXRAD system and regional climate model simulations using the weather research and forecasting (WRF) model. Analyses center on the 5-year period from 2003 to 2007 and the study area includes the New York-New Jersey metropolitan region covered by radar rainfall fields from the Fort Dix, NJ WSR-88D. The objective of this study is to develop and test tools for examining rainfall climatology, with a special focus on heavy rainfall. An additional emphasis is on rainfall climatology in regions of complex terrain, like the northeastern US, which is characterized by land-water boundaries, large heterogeneity in land use and cover, and mountainous terrain in the western portion of the region. We develop a 5-year record of warm season radar rainfall fields for the study region using the Hydro-NEXRAD system. We perform regional downscaling simulations for the 5-year study period using the WRF model. Radar rainfall fields are used to characterize the interannual, seasonal and diurnal variation of rainfall over the study region and to examine spatial heterogeneity of rainfall. Regional climate model simulations are characterized by a wet bias in the rainfall fields, with the largest bias in the high-elevation regions of the model domain. We show that model simulations capture broad features of the interannual, seasonal, and diurnal variation of rainfall. Model simulations do not capture spatial gradients in radar rainfall fields around the New York metropolitan region and land-water boundaries to the east. The model climatology of convective available potential energy (CAPE) is used to interpret the regional distribution of warm season rainfall and the seasonal and diurnal variability of rainfall. We use hydrologic and meteorological observations from July 2007 to examine the interactions of land surface processes and rainfall from a regional perspective.
KW - Land-atmospheric interactions
KW - Orographic
KW - Rainfall climatology
KW - Weather research and forecasting model
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=78751635171&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=78751635171&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.advwatres.2010.10.005
DO - 10.1016/j.advwatres.2010.10.005
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:78751635171
SN - 0309-1708
VL - 34
SP - 184
EP - 204
JO - Advances in Water Resources
JF - Advances in Water Resources
IS - 2
ER -