What is it about?

Aiming to advance the knowledge about precipitation development over Madeira island, four rainfall patterns were investigated based on high-resolution numerical simulations. The main environmental conditions during these precipitation periods were examined.

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Why is it important?

From the simulations, we explained the causes for the distinct rainfall patterns, and the atmospheric environments associated. The variations in the configuration of the ambient flow, jointly with the orographic forcing may produce convection in distinct regions of the island, resulting in different rainfall patterns. Interestingly, our results showed some similarities with situations discussed in idealized studies. However, the real variations of the atmospheric configuration confirm the complexity of significant precipitation development in mountainous regions.

Perspectives

The study provides useful guidelines for interpreting the impact of different mesoscale environments that may produce significant orographic precipitation over the island.

Dr Flavio T. Couto
Instituto de Ciências da Terra, Universidade de Évora

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Understanding significant precipitation in Madeira island using high-resolution numerical simulations of real cases, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, November 2016, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1002/qj.2918.
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