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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

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Oceanography and Atmospheric Sciences and Meteorology

Precipitation

Plants, Soils, and Climate Faculty Publications

Publication Year

Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Ocean Impacts On Australian Interannual To Decadal Precipitation Variability, Zachary F. Johnson, Yoshimitsu Chikamoto, Jing-Jia Luo, Takashi Mochizuki Jul 2018

Ocean Impacts On Australian Interannual To Decadal Precipitation Variability, Zachary F. Johnson, Yoshimitsu Chikamoto, Jing-Jia Luo, Takashi Mochizuki

Plants, Soils, and Climate Faculty Publications

In Australia, successful seasonal predictions of wet and dry conditions are achieved by utilizing the remote impact of sea surface temperature (SST) variability in tropical oceans, particularly the Pacific Ocean, on the seasonal timescale. Beyond seasonal timescales, however, it is still unclear which processes and oceans contribute to interannual-to-decadal wet/dry conditions in Australia. This research examines the interannual-to-decadal relationship between global SST anomalies (SSTAs) and Australian wet/dry variability by analyzing observational data and global climate model experiments conducted with the NCAR Community Earth System Model (CESM) and the Model for Interdisciplinary Research on Climate (MIROC). A 10-member ensemble simulation suite …


Significant Impacts Of Radiation Physics In The Wrf Model On The Precipitation And Dynamics Of The West African Monsoon, R. Li, J. Jin, Shih-Yu (Simon) Wang, R. R. Gillies Jan 2014

Significant Impacts Of Radiation Physics In The Wrf Model On The Precipitation And Dynamics Of The West African Monsoon, R. Li, J. Jin, Shih-Yu (Simon) Wang, R. R. Gillies

Plants, Soils, and Climate Faculty Publications

Precipitation from the West African Monsoon (WAM) provides food security and supports the economy in the region. As a consequence of the intrinsic complexities of the WAM’s evolution, accurate simulations of the WAM and its precipitation regime, through the application of regional climate models, are challenging. We used the coupled Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) and Community Land Model (CLM) to explore impacts of radiation physics on the precipitation and dynamics of the WAM. Our results indicate that the radiation physics schemes not only produce biases in radiation fluxes impacting radiative forcing, but more importantly, result in large bias in …


Observational And Synoptic Analyses Of The Winter Precipitation Regime Change Over Utah, Robert R. Gillies, Shih-Yu Wang, Marty R. Booth Jul 2012

Observational And Synoptic Analyses Of The Winter Precipitation Regime Change Over Utah, Robert R. Gillies, Shih-Yu Wang, Marty R. Booth

Plants, Soils, and Climate Faculty Publications

Previous studies have indicated a widespread decline in snowpack over Utah accompanied by a decline in the snow–precipitation ratio while anecdotal evidence claims have been put forward that measured changes in Utah’s snowpack are spurious and do not reflect actual change. Using two distinct lines of investigation, this paper further analyzes the winter precipitation regime in the state of Utah. First, by means of observation-based, gridded daily temperature, precipitation, and remotely sensed data, as well as utilizing a climatological rain–snow threshold (RST) temperature method, the precipitation regime of Utah was scrutinized. Second, a comprehensive synoptic analysis was conducted as an …