Atmospheric convection, dynamics and topography shape the scaling pattern of hourly rainfall extremes with temperature globally
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Moustakis, Ioannis
Onof, Christian J
Paschalis, Athanasios
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Precipitation extremes (PEx) are expected to increase as ground temperature rises with a rate similar
to the air's water holding capacity 7%=K (Clausius-Clapeyron; CC). Recent studies have been inconclusive on the robustness and global consistency of this behavior. Here, we use hourly weather
stations, 40 years of climate reanalysis and two convection permitting models to unravel the global
pattern of PEx scaling with temperature at the hourly scale for the rst time and identify hotspots
of divergence from thermodynamical expectations. We show that in high- and mid-latitudes PEx
closely follows a CC scaling, while divergence occurs over the tropics and subtropics. Local features of atmospheric convection, larger-scale dynamics and orography, affect the dependence of PEx on surface
temperature.
to the air's water holding capacity 7%=K (Clausius-Clapeyron; CC). Recent studies have been inconclusive on the robustness and global consistency of this behavior. Here, we use hourly weather
stations, 40 years of climate reanalysis and two convection permitting models to unravel the global
pattern of PEx scaling with temperature at the hourly scale for the rst time and identify hotspots
of divergence from thermodynamical expectations. We show that in high- and mid-latitudes PEx
closely follows a CC scaling, while divergence occurs over the tropics and subtropics. Local features of atmospheric convection, larger-scale dynamics and orography, affect the dependence of PEx on surface
temperature.
Date Issued
2020-08-31
Date Acceptance
2020-06-16
Citation
Communications Earth & Environment, 2020, 1 (11), pp.1-9
ISSN
2662-4435
Publisher
Nature Research (part of Springer Nature)
Start Page
1
End Page
9
Journal / Book Title
Communications Earth & Environment
Volume
1
Issue
11
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2020. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing,
adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give
appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative
Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party
material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless
indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the
article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory
regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from
the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing,
adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give
appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative
Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party
material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless
indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the
article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory
regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from
the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
License URL
Sponsor
Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
Identifier
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-020-0003-0
Grant Number
NE/S003495/1
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Physical Sciences
Environmental Sciences
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
Environmental Sciences & Ecology
Geology
PRECIPITATION EXTREMES
FUTURE CHANGES
CONVERGENCE ZONE
VARIABILITY
CLIMATOLOGY
MOISTURE
RESOLUTION
INCREASES
IMPACT
AIR
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2020-08-31