EGU2020-144
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-144
EGU General Assembly 2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Understanding the role of water vapor and temperature in easterly wave-related convection

Rosa Vargas Martes1 and Angel Adames Corraliza2
Rosa Vargas Martes and Angel Adames Corraliza
  • 1University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering , United States of America (rvarmart@umich.edu)
  • 2University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering , United States of America (afadames@umich.edu )

Easterly Waves (EW) in the Pacific Ocean (PEW) and over Africa (AEW) account for a large fraction of rainfall variability in their respective regions. Although multiple studies have been conducted to better understand EWs, many questions remain regarding their structure, development, and coupling to deep convection. Recent studies have highlighted the relationship between water vapor and precipitation in tropical motion systems. However, EW have not been studied within this context. On the basis of Empirical Orthogonal Functions (EOFs) and a novel plume-buoyancy framework, the thermodynamic processes associated with EW-related convection are elucidated. A linear regression analysis reveals the relationship between temperature, moisture, and precipitation in EW. Temperature anomalies are found to be highly correlated in space and time with anomalies in specific humidity. However, this coupling between temperature and moisture is more robust in AEWs than PEWs. In PEWs moisture accounts for a larger fraction of precipitation variability. Results suggest that the convective coupling mechanism in AEW may differ from the coupling mechanism of PEWs.

How to cite: Vargas Martes, R. and Adames Corraliza, A.: Understanding the role of water vapor and temperature in easterly wave-related convection, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-144, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-144, 2019

This abstract will not be presented.