Transport of Water Vapor from Tropical Cyclones to the Upper Troposphere

This paper investigates the influence of tropical cyclones on water vapor concentrations in the upper atmosphere above these storms. We use independent data sets of tropical storm intensity, water vapor and lightning activity to investigate this relationship. Water vapor in the upper troposphere is...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales:	Tair Plotnik, Colin Price, Joydeb Saha, Anirban Guha
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	MDPI AG 2021
Materias:	tropical cyclones upper tropospheric water vapor lightning Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/9fad7d4ffb5f4814af48114dcebbbdbe
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:9fad7d4ffb5f4814af48114dcebbbdbe
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:9fad7d4ffb5f4814af48114dcebbbdbe2021-11-25T16:45:40ZTransport of Water Vapor from Tropical Cyclones to the Upper Troposphere10.3390/atmos121115062073-4433https://doaj.org/article/9fad7d4ffb5f4814af48114dcebbbdbe2021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/12/11/1506https://doaj.org/toc/2073-4433This paper investigates the influence of tropical cyclones on water vapor concentrations in the upper atmosphere above these storms. We use independent data sets of tropical storm intensity, water vapor and lightning activity to investigate this relationship. Water vapor in the upper troposphere is a key greenhouse gas, with direct impacts on surface temperatures. Both the amount and altitude of water vapor impact the radiative balance and the greenhouse effect of the atmosphere. The water vapor enters the upper troposphere through deep convective storms, often associated with lightning activity. The intensity of the lightning activity represents the intensity of the convection in these storms, and hence the amount of water vapor transported aloft. In this paper, we investigate the role of tropical cyclones on the contribution of water vapor to the upper atmosphere moistening. Tropical cyclones are the largest most intense storms on Earth and can last for up to two weeks at a time. There is also evidence that the intensity of tropical cyclones is increasing, and will continue to increase, due to global warming. In this study we find that the maximum moistening of the upper atmosphere occurs at the 200 hPa level (~12 km altitude), with a lag of 1–2 days after the maximum sustained winds in the tropical cyclone. While the water vapor peaks after the maximum of the storm intensity, the lightning activity peaks before the maximum intensity of the storms, as shown previously. We show here that the absolute amount of water vapor in the upper troposphere above tropical storms increases linearly with the intensity of the storms. For every 10 hPa decrease in the minimum pressure of tropical storms, the specific humidity increases around 0.2 g/kg at the 200 hPa level.Tair PlotnikColin PriceJoydeb SahaAnirban GuhaMDPI AGarticletropical cyclonesupper tropospheric water vaporlightningMeteorology. ClimatologyQC851-999ENAtmosphere, Vol 12, Iss 1506, p 1506 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	tropical cyclones upper tropospheric water vapor lightning Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999
spellingShingle	tropical cyclones upper tropospheric water vapor lightning Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 Tair Plotnik Colin Price Joydeb Saha Anirban Guha Transport of Water Vapor from Tropical Cyclones to the Upper Troposphere
description	This paper investigates the influence of tropical cyclones on water vapor concentrations in the upper atmosphere above these storms. We use independent data sets of tropical storm intensity, water vapor and lightning activity to investigate this relationship. Water vapor in the upper troposphere is a key greenhouse gas, with direct impacts on surface temperatures. Both the amount and altitude of water vapor impact the radiative balance and the greenhouse effect of the atmosphere. The water vapor enters the upper troposphere through deep convective storms, often associated with lightning activity. The intensity of the lightning activity represents the intensity of the convection in these storms, and hence the amount of water vapor transported aloft. In this paper, we investigate the role of tropical cyclones on the contribution of water vapor to the upper atmosphere moistening. Tropical cyclones are the largest most intense storms on Earth and can last for up to two weeks at a time. There is also evidence that the intensity of tropical cyclones is increasing, and will continue to increase, due to global warming. In this study we find that the maximum moistening of the upper atmosphere occurs at the 200 hPa level (~12 km altitude), with a lag of 1–2 days after the maximum sustained winds in the tropical cyclone. While the water vapor peaks after the maximum of the storm intensity, the lightning activity peaks before the maximum intensity of the storms, as shown previously. We show here that the absolute amount of water vapor in the upper troposphere above tropical storms increases linearly with the intensity of the storms. For every 10 hPa decrease in the minimum pressure of tropical storms, the specific humidity increases around 0.2 g/kg at the 200 hPa level.
format	article
author	Tair Plotnik Colin Price Joydeb Saha Anirban Guha
author_facet	Tair Plotnik Colin Price Joydeb Saha Anirban Guha
author_sort	Tair Plotnik
title	Transport of Water Vapor from Tropical Cyclones to the Upper Troposphere
title_short	Transport of Water Vapor from Tropical Cyclones to the Upper Troposphere
title_full	Transport of Water Vapor from Tropical Cyclones to the Upper Troposphere
title_fullStr	Transport of Water Vapor from Tropical Cyclones to the Upper Troposphere
title_full_unstemmed	Transport of Water Vapor from Tropical Cyclones to the Upper Troposphere
title_sort	transport of water vapor from tropical cyclones to the upper troposphere
publisher	MDPI AG
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/9fad7d4ffb5f4814af48114dcebbbdbe
work_keys_str_mv	AT tairplotnik transportofwatervaporfromtropicalcyclonestotheuppertroposphere AT colinprice transportofwatervaporfromtropicalcyclonestotheuppertroposphere AT joydebsaha transportofwatervaporfromtropicalcyclonestotheuppertroposphere AT anirbanguha transportofwatervaporfromtropicalcyclonestotheuppertroposphere
_version_	1718413034696736768

Transport of Water Vapor from Tropical Cyclones to the Upper Troposphere

Ejemplares similares