Characteristics of Historical Precipitation in High Mountain Asia Based on a 15-Year High Resolution Dynamical Downscaling
The mountains of High Mountain Asia serve as an important source of water for roughly one billion people living downstream. This research uses 15 years of dynamically downscaled precipitation produced by the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to delineate contrasts in precipitation charact...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2021-03-01
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| Series: | Atmosphere |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/12/3/355 |
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| author | Collin Riley Summer Rupper James W. Steenburgh Courtenay Strong Adam K. Kochanski Savanna Wolvin |
| author_facet | Collin Riley Summer Rupper James W. Steenburgh Courtenay Strong Adam K. Kochanski Savanna Wolvin |
| author_sort | Collin Riley |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The mountains of High Mountain Asia serve as an important source of water for roughly one billion people living downstream. This research uses 15 years of dynamically downscaled precipitation produced by the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to delineate contrasts in precipitation characteristics and events between regions dominated by the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) versus westerly disturbances during the cool season (December to March). Cluster analysis reveals a more complex spatial pattern than indicated by some previous studies and illustrates the increasing importance of westerly disturbances at higher elevations. Although prior research suggests that a small number of westerly disturbances dominate precipitation in the western Himalaya and Karakoram, the WRF-downscaled precipitation is less dominated by infrequent large events. Integrated vapor transport (IVT) and precipitation are tightly coupled in both regions during the cool season, with precipitation maximizing for IVT from the south-southwest over the Karakoram and southeast-southwest over the western Himalaya. During the ISM, Karakoram precipitation is not strongly related to IVT direction, whereas over the western Himalaya, primary and secondary precipitation maxima occur for flow from the west-southwest and northwest, respectively. These differences in the drivers and timing of precipitation have implications for hydrology, glacier mass balance, snow accumulation, and their sensitivity to climate variability and change. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T13:26:17Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9f39059844d947cfaa6a20dee3635147 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2073-4433 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T13:26:17Z |
| publishDate | 2021-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Atmosphere |
| spelling | doaj.art-9f39059844d947cfaa6a20dee36351472023-11-21T09:39:22ZengMDPI AGAtmosphere2073-44332021-03-0112335510.3390/atmos12030355Characteristics of Historical Precipitation in High Mountain Asia Based on a 15-Year High Resolution Dynamical DownscalingCollin Riley0Summer Rupper1James W. Steenburgh2Courtenay Strong3Adam K. Kochanski4Savanna Wolvin5Department of Geography, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USADepartment of Geography, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USADepartment of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USADepartment of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USADepartment of Meteorology and Climate Science, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA 95192, USADepartment of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USAThe mountains of High Mountain Asia serve as an important source of water for roughly one billion people living downstream. This research uses 15 years of dynamically downscaled precipitation produced by the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to delineate contrasts in precipitation characteristics and events between regions dominated by the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) versus westerly disturbances during the cool season (December to March). Cluster analysis reveals a more complex spatial pattern than indicated by some previous studies and illustrates the increasing importance of westerly disturbances at higher elevations. Although prior research suggests that a small number of westerly disturbances dominate precipitation in the western Himalaya and Karakoram, the WRF-downscaled precipitation is less dominated by infrequent large events. Integrated vapor transport (IVT) and precipitation are tightly coupled in both regions during the cool season, with precipitation maximizing for IVT from the south-southwest over the Karakoram and southeast-southwest over the western Himalaya. During the ISM, Karakoram precipitation is not strongly related to IVT direction, whereas over the western Himalaya, primary and secondary precipitation maxima occur for flow from the west-southwest and northwest, respectively. These differences in the drivers and timing of precipitation have implications for hydrology, glacier mass balance, snow accumulation, and their sensitivity to climate variability and change.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/12/3/355precipitationdynamical downscalingmonsoonKarakoramHimalayaclimate |
| spellingShingle | Collin Riley Summer Rupper James W. Steenburgh Courtenay Strong Adam K. Kochanski Savanna Wolvin Characteristics of Historical Precipitation in High Mountain Asia Based on a 15-Year High Resolution Dynamical Downscaling Atmosphere precipitation dynamical downscaling monsoon Karakoram Himalaya climate |
| title | Characteristics of Historical Precipitation in High Mountain Asia Based on a 15-Year High Resolution Dynamical Downscaling |
| title_full | Characteristics of Historical Precipitation in High Mountain Asia Based on a 15-Year High Resolution Dynamical Downscaling |
| title_fullStr | Characteristics of Historical Precipitation in High Mountain Asia Based on a 15-Year High Resolution Dynamical Downscaling |
| title_full_unstemmed | Characteristics of Historical Precipitation in High Mountain Asia Based on a 15-Year High Resolution Dynamical Downscaling |
| title_short | Characteristics of Historical Precipitation in High Mountain Asia Based on a 15-Year High Resolution Dynamical Downscaling |
| title_sort | characteristics of historical precipitation in high mountain asia based on a 15 year high resolution dynamical downscaling |
| topic | precipitation dynamical downscaling monsoon Karakoram Himalaya climate |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/12/3/355 |
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