Observational study of the 1997/1998 El Nino-Induced Changes in Rainfall Vertical Structure in the East Pacific (original) (raw)

Abstract

The 1997/1998 El Nino induced changes in rainfall vertical structure in the East Pacific are studied by using Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Precipitation Radar (PR) and TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) measurements during January-April of 1998, 1999, and 2000. NOAA OI daily SST and the nearest 6-hour ERA-40 reanalysis datasets are collocated with each PR FOV to provide the best estimation of associated SST and atmospheric states. We segregate PR precipitation profiles into convective, straitform, and warm rain regimes, and study the response of their vertical structures to the sea surface temperature. The precipitation top height (PTH) and precipitation top temperature (PTT) of convective rains change with SST at a rate of 0.51km/oC and -2.17 oC / oC, respectively. For stratiform rains, the associated rates are 0.59 km/ oC and -2.06 oC / oC, respectively. It implies that the storm system expanded vertically at a rate of about 6.4% per oC, which is close to the storm horizont...

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