TY  - JOUR
A1  - Purr, Christopher
A1  - Brisson, Erwan
A1  - Schlünzen, Katharina Heinke
A1  - Ahrens, Bodo
T1  - Convective rain cell properties and the resulting precipitation scaling in a warm-temperate climate
T2  - Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society
N2  - Convective precipitation events have been shown to intensify at rates exceeding the Clausius–Clapeyron rate (CC rate) of ca. 7% K−1 under current climate conditions. In this study, we relate atmospheric variables (low-level dew point temperature, convective available potential energy, and vertical wind shear), which are regarded as ingredients for severe deep convection, to properties of convective rain cells (cell area, maximum precipitation intensity, lifetime, precipitation sum, and cell speed). The rain cell properties are obtained from a rain gauge-adjusted radar dataset in a mid-latitude region, which is characterized by a temperate climate with warm summers (Germany). Different Lagrangian cell properties scale with dew point temperature at varying rates. While the maximum precipitation intensity of cells scales consistently at the CC rate, the area and precipitation sum per cell scale at varying rates above the CC rate. We show that this super-CC scaling is caused by a covarying increase of convective available potential energy with dew point temperature. Wind shear increases the precipitation sum per cell mainly by increasing the spatial cell extent. From a Eulerian point of view, this increase is partly compensated by a higher cell velocity, which leads to Eulerian precipitation scaling rates close to and slightly above the CC rate. Thus, Eulerian scaling rates of convective precipitation are modulated by convective available potential energy and vertical wind shear, making it unlikely that present scaling rates can be applied to future climate conditions. Furthermore, we show that cells that cause heavy precipitation at fixed locations occur at low vertical wind shear and, thus, move relatively slowly compared to typical cells.
KW  - Clausius–Clapeyron scaling
KW  - convective storms
KW  - precipitation
KW  - tracking
Y1  - 2022
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/78002
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-780026
SN  - 1477-870X
N1  - We thank the "Hessisches Landesamt für Naturschutz, Umwelt und Geologie" and the "Rheinland-Pfalz Kompetenzzentrum für Klimawandelfolgen" for funding the project "Konvektive Gefährdung über Hessen und Rheinland-Pfalz" in the course of which the results of this paper were obtained.
VL  - 148
IS  - 745
SP  - 1768
EP  - 1781
PB  - Wiley
CY  - Weinheim [u.a.]
ER  -