Precipitation I: Processes and measurement

For precipitation to occur, you must have water vapor

Saturation vapor pressure over water

The amount of water vapor that theatmosphere can carry (the saturationvapor pressure) is a function oftemperature; the saturation vaporpressure does not increase linearlywith temperature but rather exponentiallythrough the Clausius-Clapeyronequation

Having water vapor in the atmosphere is a necessary but insufficient condition forprecipitation. There must also be a mechanism to promote uplift, cooling and condensation.

Precipitation requirements and processes

•Condensation occurs when the temperature is ≤ the dewpoint Td

•Without dust in the air to acts as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN),the air can become supersaturated. You need dust greater than10-4 mm to form cloud droplets

•Typical CCN = 0.2 μm

•Typical cloud droplets are 20-100 μm

•Rain drops are around 2000 μm - 2 mm

• Downward velocity must exceed uplift velocity for precipitation to fall. Uplift velocities in convective storms can be large

Relative sizes of CCN, cloud droplets and rain droplets

http://www.flame.org/~cdoswell/wxmod/wxmod.html

Precipitation requirements and processes (cont).•Uplift and cooling to the dew point •Condensation•Growth of droplets (two basic processes)

1) Bergeron-Findeisen theory (top figure): If ice and supercooled water droplets exist together in a cloud, the ice crystals grow at the expense of water droplets, the reason being that the saturation vapor pressure over ice is lower than over water. Solid precipitation that falls may (or may not) melt at a lower, warmer atmospheric level to become rain.

2) Coalescence (bottom figure): Occurs in warm (liquid) clouds. Falling droplets have terminal velocities directly related to their diameter, such that the larger falling drops overtake and absorb smaller drops, the smaller drops can also be swept into the wake of larger drops and be absorbed by them.

Key processes that provide uplift, cooling and condensation are convection, frontal uplift and forced ascent over orographic barriers. http://schepping.punt.nl/?a=2007-10

http://schepping.punt.nl/?a=2007-10

Bergeron-Findeisen theory (cont.)

Arapahoe Basin – May 2005

http://www.geminibv.nl/tidbits/dauwpunt-druk-en-temperatuur?set_language=en

http://www.gi.alaska.edu/alison/ALISON_Science_Snow.html

The process of vapor diffusion is most efficient at around -12 to -15oC, corresponding to the temperature of largest difference between water and ice saturation vapor pressures. Different combinations of temperature andsupersaturation determine the type of snowflake that forms.

Precipitation requirements and processes (cont).

Import of water vapor is important to maintain precipitation

Consider a thunderstorm

•For a column within the thunderstorm of unit area (m2), the volume = 10,000 m3

•Typical average water mass is 0.5 g m-3

= 5000 g water in column= 5000 cm3/10,000 cm2

= 0.5 cm precipitation, which is not much

Thus to maintain precipitation there must be an influx (entrainment)of vapor-rich air to replace the water that falls from precipitation.

http://www.grc.k12.nf.ca/climatecanada/precipfactors.htm

http://www.ux1.eiu.edu/~cfjps/1400/stability.html

Convective Precipitation

Keys to convective storm development are low atmospheric stability and ample atmospheric water vapor. The stronger the decrease in temperature with height (the more negative the environmental lapse rate), and the more water vapor that is available, the more favorable theconditions for convective storms.

Convective precipitation tends to be localized. The typical convective storm occurs when local surface heating makes air parcels warmer (less dense) than their environment, such that they rise and condense.

Lapse rates and stabilityEnvironmental lapse rate: The vertical rate of change

of temperature with height that we would measure with a thermometer

• Is usually negative (temperature decreases with height), the reason being that the atmosphere is heated primarily from the surface and rising air cools. An increase in temperature with height is called an inversion.

• Typical values are 6.5oC km-1

Dry adiabiatic lapse rate (DALR) : The rate of cooling of a rising parcel (a given mass) of air due to expansion and doing work against the environment.

• The DALR is 9.8oC km-1

Saturated (wet) adiabatic lapse rate: The lapse rate after condensation occurs.

• Condensation releases latent heat, such that the saturated adiabatic lapse rate is les than the DALR.

• Value varies; a typical value is 5oC km-1

A rising air parcel cools and expands. If the temperature of the parcel is greaterthan (less than) the temperature of the surrounding environment, it is less (more)dense than the environmental air and willcontinue to rise (it will fall). If condensationoccurs, then the latent heat release makesthe parcel warmer (hence less dense) than it would otherwise be, making it more likely that it will stay warmer than the surrounding environment and continue to rise. Condensation may result in precipitation.

Key: If the environmental lapse rate exceeds the DALR, the situation is unstable and the parcel will rise.

Tropical Cyclones

Dingman 2002 Figure 4-4

NOAA composite satellite image of Hurricane Katrina

Tropical cyclones feed on evaporation and latent heat release. They form between5-20o latitude in each hemisphere where the sea surface temperature is at least 27oC. The grow through a process called CISK (Conditional Instability of the SecondKind) through which rising air, condensation and latent heat release results in a drop in surface pressure, causing inflow (converging winds) and more evaporation, further latent heat release, and a further drop in surface pressure. Rainfall totals can be impressive.

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=7079

Frontal precipitation is associated with travelling extratropical cyclones (low pressure systems). They tend to be strongest in winter. Precipitation is associated with uplift, cooling and condensation in warm fronts, cold fronts and occluded fronts. Extratropicalcyclones should not be confused with tropical cyclones (hurricanes, typhoons).

Dingman 2002, Figure 4-2

Frontal Precipitation

Surface weather analysis from the Canadian Meteorological Center for Nov. 11, 2010 showing locations of cyclones and their

associated fronts, as well as anticyclones

Patterns of extratropical cyclone activity

Extratratropical cyclone frequency (left) and tracks (right) based on a detection and tracking algorithm applied to data from the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis for the winter of 1989/1990. (http://data.giss.nasa.gov/stormtracks/).

Sea level pressure pattern for October 24, 1997, showing a memorable upslope storm that affected Boulder CO

With a cyclone centered over the Oklahoma panhandle, winds over the eastern plans of Colorado have a component from east to west, moving “upslope”, promoting cooling, condensation and precipitation. The system draws in water vapor from the Gulf of Mexico.

Orographic precipitation and chinooks

Because of the latent heat release during ascent, the air at the top of the mountain barrier is warmer that it would have been without the latent heat release. As it descends on the leeward side, it warms at the adiabiatic lapse rate, and arrives at a higher temperature than it had before the ascent process. These warm, leeside conditions are often associated with strong gusty winds called chinooks.

Orographic precipitation results fromascent of air over a mountain barrier,resulting in adiabiatic cooling, condensation and precipitation on the upwind side of the barrier. The leewardside experiences a rain shadow. Thisis in large part why the west slope of theFront Range of Colorado receivesmore precipitation than the plains to the east. However, the plains can receive considerable precipitation from “upslope” storms when a low pressure system lies to the south. These are most commonin winter.

Some notable temperature changeslinked to chinooks:

Loma, MT: -56oF to 49oF in 24 hours Spearfish SD: -4oF to 45oF in 2 minutes!

Precipitation quality

Dingman 2002 Figure 4-53

Precipitation is not pure, but rather contains a number of ions. The straight lines indicate concentration ranges for continental rain, while the wavy lines indicate concentrations for marine rain. Ranges found in high pollution areas are indicated by dashed lines.

Precipitation gauges

http://www.weatherworks.com.au/?p=3082

http://www.hubbardbrook.org/w6_tour/rain-gauge-stop/precipitation.htm

http://www.novalynx.com/260-2501.html

There are many types ofgauges, which vary in theircatch efficiency. Shielded gauges, like the one above,tend to perform better than unshielded gauges. The liquidwater equivalent of snowfallis especially hard to measure.

Wyoming snow gauge

Wyoming snow gauges are designed to provide accurate measurementsof snowfall water equivalent. The one pictured above is located on thedrainage divide of Imnaviat Creek, near Toolik Lake, on the NorthSlope of Alaska.

Typical SNOTEL sites (summer)

SNOTEL (SNOwpack TELemetry) is an automated system to measure snowpack waterequivalent. There are over 600 SNOTEL sites across the western U.S. Snow pillowsmeasure the weight of the overlying snowpack. SNOTEL sites complement snowcourses,where snow water equivalent is measured manually.

Snotel Sites

From Serreze et al., 2001

Areal or gridded estimates of precipitation

A problem often faced in hydrology is using pointmeasurements of precipitation to come up with a regional average (such as for a watershed) or gridded field of precipitation. This generally requires interpolation. While there are many types of interpolation, ranging from a simple average of all stations within a given region to inverse distance weighting to optimal interpolation, they pretty much all boil down to the following:

Pinterp= Σ (Pi .wi)/wi

Where Pinterp is the regional or grid point value we wish to interpolate to, Pi are measurements at each precipitation gauge (as in the watershed shown atright) and wi are the interpolation weights. Simply phrased, the interpolated value is the sum of the station values times the weights divided by the sum of the weights. The key is how one determines the weights.

A practical note: If there is adense station network, all interpolation techniques work well. If the network is sparse, none ofthem work well.

Dingman Figure 4-20

Station Density: Contiguous U.S

The station density from the U.S. cooperative network looks rather dense, but at the scale of medium of small watersheds is can be quite sparse. The country with the densest station network is Israel, followed by the UK.

The figure at left shows monitoring stations north of 40oN with at least ten years of record for the period 1960-1989. Notethe very sparse network in high northern latitudes. The situation over the Antarctic continent is pathetic. Coverage is also very sparse over large areas of the world’s ocean

The Arctic: A very sparse network 3

From Serreze and Barry, 2005

Getting the weights: Examples

Dingman 2002 Figure 4-27

Dingman 2002 Figure 4-28

One can develop a function based on the distance decay of the correlation in precipitation.(see the left hand figure). While attractive, the problem is that the correlation length scale of precipitation tends to be short, especially in mountainous terrain. One can also make use ofrelationships between precipitation and elevation (hypsometric method). A problem is that in mountainous terrain, relationships between precipitation and elevation can be complex.

An alternative: The aerological approach∂W/∂t = ET - P - ∇•Q

∂W/∂t

ETP

∇•Q

∂W/∂t = time change in precipitable water(column water vapor)

ET = Evapotranspiration

P = Precipitation

∇•Q = Vertically-integrated vaporflux divergence

Rearrange: P- ET = - ∇•Q - ∂W/∂t

Key: While P and ET may be hard to measure over large areas, we can get the net precipitation (P-ET) using atmospheric winds and humidities

Aerological estimates of mean annual precipitation minus evapotranspiration (P-ET)based on NCEP/NCAR data for the period 1970-1999 (mm) for the region north of60oN. Contours are at every 100 mm up to 500 m (negative values dashed) and atevery 200 mm for amounts of 600 mm and higher [from Serreze and Barry, 2005].Annual P-ET is positive everywhere except locally in the Norwegian Sea andsouthern Barents Sea where evaporation rates are high from autumn through spring(because of cold, dry air blowing over a fairly warm open ocean).

Annual P-ET from the aerological approach