School of Earth Sciences - Research Publications
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ItemSub-seasonal to seasonal prediction of rainfall extremes in Australia(WILEY, 2020-04-13)
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ItemExtreme rainfall in New Zealand and its association with Atmospheric Rivers(Institute of Physics (IoP), 2021-04-01)Atmospheric rivers (ARs) are narrow and elongated regions of enhanced horizontal water vapour transport. Considerable research on understanding Northern Hemisphere ARs and their relationship with extreme precipitation has shown that ARs have a strong association with heavy rainfall and flooding. While there has been very little work on ARs in the Southern Hemisphere, global climatologies suggest that ARs are equally as common in both hemispheres. New Zealand in particular is located in a region of high AR frequency. This study aims to test the hypothesis that ARs play a significant role in heavy precipitation and flooding events in New Zealand. We used a recently developed AR identification method and daily station data across New Zealand to test for the concurrence of ARs and extreme rainfall. We found that, at each of the eleven stations analysed, at least seven to all ten of the top ten heaviest precipitation days between 1980 and 2018 were associated with AR conditions. Nine of the ten most damaging floods in New Zealand between 2007 and 2017 occurred during AR events. These results have important implications for understanding extreme rainfall in New Zealand, and ultimately for predicting some of the most hazardous events in the region. This work also highlights that more research on ARs in New Zealand is needed.
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ItemThe Sensitivity of Atmospheric River Identification to Integrated Water Vapor Transport Threshold, Resolution, and Regridding Method(AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION, 2020-10-27)Atmospheric rivers (ARs) are elongated narrow bands of enhanced water vapor that can cause intense rainfall and flooding. ARs only appeared in the literature the last 30 years, and there has been much debate about how to define ARs and how to identify them. As a result, a wide range of AR identification algorithms have been produced with variations in the conditions required for an object to be classified as an AR and differences in the input data. One of the key conditions in most AR identification algorithms is a minimum threshold of water vapor flux, along with geometric criteria. The aim of this study is to explore uncertainties in global AR identification based on a single integrated water vapor transport (IVT)-based identification method. We conduct a sensitivity analysis under one algorithmic framework to explore the effects of different IVT thresholds, input data resolutions, and regridding methods during the Years of Tropical Convection operational analysis (May 2008 to April 2010). We found that the resolution and regridding method affects the number of ARs identified but the seasonal cycle is maintained. AR identification is highly sensitive to the choice of IVT threshold; importantly, the commonly used 250 kg m−1 s−1 IVT threshold is not appropriate for global studies with detection methods that also include a restrictive geometric condition as this combination can lead to the strongest systems failing to be identified. The uncertainties within a single AR detection method and input data parameters may be as large as uncertainties across AR detection methodologies.
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ItemGlobal and regional impacts differ between transient and equilibrium warmer worlds(NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP, 2020-01-01)under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited. There has recently been interest in understanding the differences between specific levels of global warming, especially the Paris Agreement limits of 1.5 °C and 2 °C above pre-industrial levels. However, different model experiments1–3 have been used in these analyses under varying rates of increase in global-average temperature. Here, we use climate model simulations to show that, for a given global temperature, most land is significantly warmer in a rapidly warming (transient) case than in a quasi-equilibrium climate. This results in more than 90% of the world’s population experiencing a warmer local climate under transient global warming than equilibrium global warming. Relative to differences between the 1.5 °C and 2 °C global warming limits, the differences between transient and quasi-equilibrium states are substantial. For many land regions, the probability of very warm seasons is at least two times greater in a transient climate than in a quasi-equilibrium equivalent. In developing regions, there are sizable differences between transient and quasi-equilibrium climates that underline the importance of explicitly framing projections. Our study highlights the need to better understand differences between future climates under rapid warming and quasi-equilibrium conditions for the development of climate change adaptation policies. Yet, current multi-model experiments1,4 are not designed for this purpose.