Atmospheric Rivers – Bridging Weather, Climate and Society

A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433). This special issue belongs to the section "Meteorology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 March 2022) | Viewed by 7628

Special Issue Editors

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China
Interests: atmospheric river, east asian monsoon, northwest pacific tropical cyclone, hydrometeorological extremes, regional atmospheric moisture transport & recycle
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China
Interests: atmospheric river; East Asian Summer Monsoon; hydrometeorological Extreme; climate change and variability

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Atmospheric rivers (ARs)—"a long, narrow and transient corridor of strong horizonal water vapor transport in the lower atmosphere”—play a significant role in maintaining the balance of moisture, momentum and energy on the Earth. Our understanding of ARs has drastically improved in the last decade. Increasing attention is being given to algorithm development for AR detection and quantification, and the analysis of the links between AR occurrence and hydrological extremes (both dry and wet). In addition, there is a growing appreciation of the strong role of ARs in bridging climate and weather, particularly in regional water cycles. Atmosphere dedicates this Special Issue to pushing forward scientific development in AR studies, from the understanding of their formation and development, to the quantification and modelling of their links to the occurrence, intensity and spatiotemporal variability of hydrological extremes, especially under the consideration of climate change. In light of discussion over the possible regulation of climate variability based on the frequency of ARs, whose presence is directly connected to local weather processes and, thus, local social–ecological systems, we welcome original research and review articles on topics including, but not limited to:

  • The exploration of new algorithms and datasets that improve the quantification of AR characteristics;
  • New insights into favorable environmental conditions for long-lived and high-impact ARs over diverse spatial and temporal scales;
  • Studies that address the regulation of multiscale climate variability based on the AR annual cycle, lifecycle and impacts;
  • The development of dynamic and/or data-driven models that capture the interlinks among AR, weather, climate and society;
  • Projections of future AR characteristics and impacts under different climate change scenarios.

Dr. Mengqian Lu
Ms. Mengxin Pan
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Atmosphere is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • atmospheric Rivers
  • regional water cycle
  • predictability of extremes
  • climate change

Published Papers (3 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

15 pages, 9856 KiB  
Article
Multiscale Interactive Processes Underlying the Heavy Rainstorm Associated with a Landfalling Atmospheric River
by Zhuang Zhang and X. San Liang
Atmosphere 2022, 13(1), 29; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/atmos13010029 - 26 Dec 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1902
Abstract
The heavy precipitation in Northern California—brought about by a landfalling atmospheric river (AR) on 25–27 February 2019—is investigated for an understanding of the underlying dynamical processes. By the peaks in hourly accumulation, this rainstorm can be divided into two stages (Stage I and [...] Read more.
The heavy precipitation in Northern California—brought about by a landfalling atmospheric river (AR) on 25–27 February 2019—is investigated for an understanding of the underlying dynamical processes. By the peaks in hourly accumulation, this rainstorm can be divided into two stages (Stage I and Stage II). Using a recently developed multiscale analysis methodology, i.e., multiscale window transform (MWT), and the MWT-based theory of canonical transfer, the original fields are reconstructed onto three scale windows, namely, the background flow, synoptic-scale and mesoscale windows, and the interactions among them are henceforth investigated. In both stages, the development of the precipitation is attributed to a vigorous buoyancy conversion and latent heating, and besides, the instability of the background flow. In Stage I, the instability is baroclinic, while in Stage II, it is barotropic. Interestingly, in Stage I, the mesoscale kinetic energy is transferred to the background flow where it is stored, and is released back in Stage II to the mesoscale window again, triggering intense precipitation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Atmospheric Rivers – Bridging Weather, Climate and Society)
Show Figures

Figure 1

13 pages, 5967 KiB  
Article
Decadal Variation of Atmospheric Rivers in Relation to North Atlantic Tripole SST Mode
by Jie Zhang, Yinglai Jia, Rui Ji and Yifei Wu
Atmosphere 2021, 12(10), 1252; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/atmos12101252 - 27 Sep 2021
Viewed by 1857
Abstract
The North Atlantic tripole (NAT) is the leading mode of sea-surface temperature (SST) in the decadal time scale. Although the NAT is forced by North Atlantic oscillation (NAO), it also has an effect on the atmosphere; for example, the early winter tripole SST [...] Read more.
The North Atlantic tripole (NAT) is the leading mode of sea-surface temperature (SST) in the decadal time scale. Although the NAT is forced by North Atlantic oscillation (NAO), it also has an effect on the atmosphere; for example, the early winter tripole SST signal can influence storm tracks in March. As the NAT not only changes the baroclinicity of the lower layer but also modifies the moisture being released into the atmosphere, we surmise that the NAT has an impact on moisture transport and atmospheric rivers in the decadal time scale. Using ERA5 reanalysis data, the decadal variations in Atmospheric Rivers (ARs) in the North Atlantic in boral winter in relation to NAT phases were studied. During the positive NAT phase, the positive SST in the central and western North Atlantic increases the humidity and causes an anticyclonic wind response, which enhances the northeastward transport of moisture. As a result, ARs tend to be longer and transport more moisture toward northwestern Europe. This causes enhanced extreme rain in the UK and Norway. During the negative NAT phase, the positive SST anomalies in the south and east of the North Atlantic provide more moisture, induce a southward shift of the ARs and enhance extreme rain in the Iberian Peninsula. The Gulf Stream (GS) front is stronger during the negative NAT phase, increasing the frequency of the atmospheric front and enlarging the rain rate in ARs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Atmospheric Rivers – Bridging Weather, Climate and Society)
Show Figures

Figure 1

19 pages, 5954 KiB  
Article
Atmospheric Rivers and Associated Precipitation over France and Western Europe: 1980–2020 Climatology and Case Study
by Benjamin Doiteau, Meredith Dournaux, Nadège Montoux and Jean-Luc Baray
Atmosphere 2021, 12(8), 1075; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/atmos12081075 - 21 Aug 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2622
Abstract
Atmospheric rivers are important atmospheric features implicated in the global water vapor budget, the cloud distribution, and the associated precipitation. The ARiD (Atmospheric River Detector) code has been developed to automatically detect atmospheric rivers from water vapor flux and has been applied to [...] Read more.
Atmospheric rivers are important atmospheric features implicated in the global water vapor budget, the cloud distribution, and the associated precipitation. The ARiD (Atmospheric River Detector) code has been developed to automatically detect atmospheric rivers from water vapor flux and has been applied to the ECMWF ERA5 archive over the period 1980–2020 above the Atlantic Ocean and Europe. A case study of an atmospheric river formed in the East Atlantic on August 2014 that reached France has been detailed using ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis, ground based observation data, and satellite products such as DARDAR, AIRS, GPCP, and GOES. This atmospheric river event presents a strong interaction with an intense upper tropospheric jet stream, which induced stratosphere–troposphere exchanges by tropopause fold. A 1980–2020 climatology of atmospheric rivers over Europe has been presented. The west of France, Iberian Peninsula, and British Islands are the most impacted regions by atmospheric rivers with an occurrence of up to four days per month during the October–April period. Up to 40% of the precipitation observed on the west European coast can be linked to the presence of ARs. No significant trend in the occurrence of the phenomena was found over 1980–2020. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Atmospheric Rivers – Bridging Weather, Climate and Society)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop