Climatology of precipitation and clouds over WEST_ATLANTIC_ITCZ
WEST ATLANTIC ITCZ


General info
Precipitation
System properties
Cloud
Seasonal variation
Diurnal variation
Vertical Structure
Extreme events
Time series
  • Mean properties of precipitation system

  • During 1998-2013, total 2270521 snapshots of precipitation features with size > 80 km^2 have been collected over WEST_ATLANTIC_ITCZ , where 3238 of them have lightning flashes inside. Some mean properties of these features are listed below:
    samples (#) mean size (km^2) mean volumetric rain (mm/hr*km^2) mean echo top (km) mean 30 dBZ ehco top (km)mean flash count (#)
    All 2270521 257 919 4.0 1.3 0.00
    DJF 516979 246 867 3.9 1.2 0.01
    MAM 533670 265 959 4.1 1.3 0.00
    JJA 621103 257 923 3.8 1.2 0.00
    SON 598769 258 923 4.2 1.4 0.01

  • Extreme rainy events
  • In all 2270521 precipitation features, top 1% ( volumetric rain > 13226 mm/hr*km^2) rainy features contribute 62 % of total rainfall. Top 100 rainiest events observed by TRMM during 1998-2013 over WEST_ATLANTIC_ITCZ are listed here . Following figure shows the location of the precipitation feautres categorized by the volumetric rainfall.


  • Extreme intense events
  • Some of the precipitation sytems are much intense with large hails and many lightning than others (see the lists of top lightning storms. Following figure shows the location of the precipitation feautres categorized by the lightning rate and 30 dBZ echo top.


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