1 / 25

Satellite Radar Studies of Extreme Convective Storms

Satellite Radar Studies of Extreme Convective Storms. Rockies. Himalayas. ?. Andes. Robert A. Houze, Jr. University of Washington. New Fellows Presentation, AGU, San Francisco, 5 December 2012. Radars in Space. TRMM 1997-. CloudSat 2006-.

louis
Download Presentation

Satellite Radar Studies of Extreme Convective Storms

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Satellite Radar Studies of Extreme Convective Storms Rockies Himalayas ? Andes Robert A. Houze, Jr. University of Washington New Fellows Presentation, AGU, San Francisco, 5 December 2012

  2. Radars in Space TRMM 1997- CloudSat 2006-

  3. Typical Tropical Convective Cloud Population TRMM CloudSat 2 cm wavelength 3 mm wavelength

  4. Locations of the deepest and most intense convective cores seen by TRMM over ~14 years in South Asia and South America warm seasons JJAS DJF Romatschke et al. 2010 Romatschke and Houze 2010 Near the large mountain ranges

  5. Relationship to Mountain Ranges and Moisture Sources Rockies Himalayas ? Andes How similar are the storms in these three regimes?

  6. The North American Case

  7. dry,hot moist Carlson et al. 1983 MexicanPlateau Texas Gulf of Mexico

  8. Something similar happens to extreme convective cores in the western region of South Asia

  9. Sawyer 1947

  10. A case observed by TRMM

  11. TRMM PR Observations WRF Simulation Medina et al. 2010

  12. Backward trajectories (HYSPLIT/NCEP) 2.5 km 1.0 km Consistent with Sawyer 1947 Consistent with Sawyer 1947 Consistent with Sawyer 1947 Medina et al. 2010

  13. WRF Model Simulation Mixing ratio CAPE Surface wind Medina et al. 2010

  14. WRF Simulation Cloud just after convection formed in the model Triggering is over foothills—consistent with satellite data Medina et al. 2010

  15. A similarregime occurs near the Andes

  16. Convective Regimes in South America Identified by TRMM Romatschke and Houze 2010

  17. Example of triggering over the Sierra Cordóba range Rasmussen & Houze 2011

  18. What the storm looked like on the TRMM radar Rasmussen and Houze 2011

  19. Vertical air motions COMPOSITEof average conditions for storms with intense convection seen by the TRMM radar down up Low-level winds moist unstable Rasmussen and Houze 2011

  20. Recap LARGE MOUNTAIN RANGES NEAR WARM MOIST ZONES • SIMILARITIES • Channeling of moisture • Downwind capping • Explosive triggering Rockies Himalayas ? Andes • DIFFERENCES • Capping may be downslope from a plateau or response to flow over a ridge • Triggering may be meteorological or orographic

  21. Similar studies • Pakistan flood cases • Convection in the Madden-Julian Oscillation • Storm systems over land and ocean • Other…

  22. GPM The future CloudSat  EarthCare Rockies Himalayas ? • Next generation: • Radars need to be in the same orbit! TRMM Andes This research was supported by NASA grants NNX10AH70G, NNX10AM28G, and NSF grant AGS1144105

  23. End Rockies Himalayas ? Andes This research was supported by NASA grants NNX10AH70G, NNX10AM28G, and NSF grant AGS1144105

  24. End Rockies Himalayas ? Andes This research was supported by NASA grants NNX10AH70G, NNX10AM28G, and NSF grant AGS1144105

  25. Global Pattern of Deep Convection seen by TRMM Maximum height of TRMM’s most intense radar echoes Zipser et al. 2006

More Related