Topographic Dependency of Rainfall Characteristics from the Sierra Madre Occidental in Northwest Mexico

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Topographic Dependency of Rainfall
Characteristics from the Sierra Madre Occidental
in Northwest Mexico
NERN Project Team NCAR, U. Arizona, U. Sonora,
IMADES, ITSON, NOAA-CPC, Hampton U. 29th Annual
Climate Diagnostics and Prediction
Workshop October 20, 2004
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Outline of Presentation

• Brief overview of the precipitation event
  monitoring network in Mexico for the 2004
  NAME-EOP
• Recent findings from the NERN with emphasis on
  the diurnal cycle
• Complimentary activities

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Radar Umbrella Radius Approx. 150 km
NEXRAD Midland
NEXRAD Tucson
NEXRAD Yuma
NEXRAD El Paso
NEXRAD San Angelo
SMN Cd. Obregon
SMN El Palmito
SMN Guasabe
NCAR SPOL
SMN Los Cabos
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NERN-Spol Radar Network
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NAME Simple Rain Gauge Network

• 141 Gauges
• Daily Reporting

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NERN Configuration

• 87 Event logging, tipping bucket raingages
• 6 major W-E transects traversing SMO
• Major improvement in topographic and temporal
  sampling of precipitation
• Installed 2002-2003, in operation through spring
  of 2006
• Not available in real-time

Contacts gochis_at_rap.ucar.edu, watts_at_fisica.uson.m
x, garatuza_at_itson.mx
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NAME Physiographic Relationships
2002
2003
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Precipitation Analyses Diurnal Cycle of
Precipitation Frequency
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Precipitation Analyses Diurnal Cycle of
Precipitation Frequency
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Precipitation Analyses Diurnal Cycle of Precip.
Frequency
Jul-Aug 03 Transect Mean Diurnal Cycle
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Precipitation Analyses Diurnal Cycle of Intensity
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Precipitation Analyses Extreme Precipitation,
Maximum Hourly Intensity

• Popular theme Jones et al. Extreme precip and
  MJO
• Saha CFS extreme precip validation
• Kunkel Extreme precip. 1895-2003
• What is an extreme? S. Saha Large departure
  from
• normal (gt 2?, 1.5?)

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Precipitation Analyses Extreme Precipitation,
Maximum Hourly Intensity
Jul-Aug 2002-2003 Jul-Aug 2002-2003            
Elevation Bands Network B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6
Elevation Band Interval (m) Elevation Band Interval (m) 0-500 500-1000 1000-1500 1500-2000 2000-2500 2500-3000
Number of Gages 76 20 12 5 18 14 7

Avg. Max. Intensity   37.4 28.9 26.6 23.1 21.0 19.5
Std. Dev. Max. Intensity   19.8 9.2 21.4 8.7 5.5 6.2
Abs. Max. Intensity   78.5 43.2 47.3 38.6 31.8 32.5
               
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1-Day
5-Min
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Gulf Surges During 2003 NERN Analysis
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Quantifying Uncertainty in QPE Products

• Difference in monthly and
• seasonal precipitation in
• CPC daily gridded analyses
• and NERN
• Appear to be regions of
• persistently high uncertainty
• Useful a value-analysis of
• NERN gauges in formation
• of a long-term observing
• network

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Complimentary Activities Isotopic Analysis

• Evaporation of falling rain appears to be
  significant only in the desert climate of the
• three northwestern stations (Tucson, Mazocahui
  and Huasabas). Trend in ?O18
• values from northwest to southeast is mainly a
  function of station altitude.
• The samples generally plot close to the Global
  Meteoric Water Line (GMWL) but
• do show evidence of some interannual
  variability

(Courtesy of Chris Estoe, U. Arizona)
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NAME Community Archives

• Hydrological Data (NHWG-Action Plan)
• Daily Reports from the CNA from Sonora (and
  Sinaloa)
• Streamflow, reservoir levels, precipitation, pan
  evaporation
• Currently in Excel Spreadsheets
• Will be distributed via JOSS NAME Data Catalog
• WRF Modeling Archive
• Jul 1 Sep 1, 2004
• 2x Daily 48-hr Forecasts
• GFS Initialization and Boundary Forcing
• 12 km horizontal resolution, 31 vertical layers
• Available to community via NCAR Mass Store (1.22
  Gb)
• Photo Archive
• UCAR Digital Image Library (https//www.fin.ucar.e
  du/ucardil/default.jsp)
• NOAA Photo Library (http//www.photolib.noaa.gov/)

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Precipitation Analyses Topographic Dependence of
the Diurnal Cycle of Wet Day Rain Rate