Interactions between Tropospheric Water Vapor and Potential Vorticity in Tropical Disturbances

GSTDTAP

项目编号	1841559
	Interactions between Tropospheric Water Vapor and Potential Vorticity in Tropical Disturbances
	Angel Adames-Corraliza (Principal Investigator)
主持机构	University of Michigan Ann Arbor
项目开始年	2019
	2019-02-01
项目结束日期	2022-01-31
资助机构	US-NSF
项目类别	Standard Grant
项目经费	534785(USD)
国家	美国
语种	英语
英文摘要	Understanding the physical processes that drive atmospheric motions in the tropical latitudes (30 degrees South-30 degrees North) has proven to be one of the great challenges of atmospheric sciences. This challenge arises in part due to the central role that clouds and precipitation processes play in the tropical circulation. While there is much that remains to be learned about the processes that drive tropical rainfall, numerous advancements have been made in recent decades. For example, research has found that the concentration of water vapor in the atmosphere plays a central role in the regulation of tropical rainfall. In spite of this breakthrough, our understanding of how water vapor, precipitation and large-scale atmospheric motions in the tropics occur remains limited. This study seeks to understand such interactions on perturbations in the atmospheric flow that are known as tropical disturbances. These include disturbances whose horizontal flow is largely rotational such as easterly waves, equatorial Rossby waves and monsoon low-pressure systems. These systems play an important role in the hydrologic cycle of multiple regions in the tropics, such as the Caribbean, and often develop into tropical cyclones, and have far-reaching impacts in the extratropics. The research will provide important insights on the organization of precipitation in the tropics, which will lead to improvements in the representation of these processes in models. Furthermore, because these disturbances sometimes develop into tropical cyclones, insights provided by this study may be of interest to the forecasting of tropical cyclogenesis. Results from the project have great potential to form a new general theoretical framework for tropical motions, which may be included in a course in tropical meteorology. A graduate student and a postdoc will be supported through this award. The knowledge gained from the research project will also be used for public outreach and general education. Novel statistical techniques will be used to analyze the interactions among water vapor, precipitation and circulation. The team will examine observational data and simulations from numerical models to obtain a lucid, clear picture of how circulations in these "rotational tropical disturbances" modulate the distribution of water vapor and precipitation processes. The study will elucidate the ways in which water vapor modifies precipitation, and how this change in rainfall affects circulations of these disturbances. The role that thermodynamic processes such as radiation and condensation play in this interplay will also be examined. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
文献类型	项目
条目标识符	http://119.78.100.173/C666/handle/2XK7JSWQ/213005
专题	环境与发展全球科技态势
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Angel Adames-Corraliza .Interactions between Tropospheric Water Vapor and Potential Vorticity in Tropical Disturbances.2019.