1. Initiation and development of a mesoscale convective system in the Ebro River Valley and related heavy precipitation over northeastern Spain during HyMeX IOP 15a
- Author
-
Lee, Keun-Ok, Flamant, Cyrille, Ducrocq, Véronique, Duffourg, Fanny, Fourrié, Nadia, Delanoë, Julien, Bech, Joan, TROPO - LATMOS, Laboratoire Atmosphères, Milieux, Observations Spatiales (LATMOS), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Centre national de recherches météorologiques (CNRM), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France -Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales [Toulouse] (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France -Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), SPACE - LATMOS, Department of Astronomy and Meteorology [Barcelona] (DAM), University of Barcelona, Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR), MISTRALS/HyMeX programme and the Spanish project CGL2015-65627-C3-2-R (MINECO/FEDER), ANR-11-BS56-0005,IODA-MED,Observation et Assimilation de Données:: Des systèmes Innovants pour les événements météorologiques intenses en MEDiterranée(2011), ANR-14-CE01-0014,MUSIC,Etudes multi-échelles d'épisodes de pluie convective intense en Méditerranée(2014), and Météo France-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
- Subjects
[PHYS.PHYS.PHYS-AO-PH]Physics [physics]/Physics [physics]/Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics [physics.ao-ph] ,[SDU.STU.ME]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Meteorology - Abstract
International audience; During Intensive Observation Period 15a (20 October 2012) of the first Special Observation Period of the Hydrological cycle in the Mediterranean Experiment, north-eastern Spain experienced heavy precipitation (130 mm in 24 h) associated with a retrograde regeneration mesoscale convective system (MCS) developing in the exit region of the Ebro River Valley (ERV). The life cycle of the MCS that brought intense hourly rainfall (34 mm) from the foothill of Iberian Plateau to the central Pyrenees, as well as the detailed structure of moist marine flow upstream, were analysed using a combination of ground-based, airborne and space-borne observations as well as model analyses. Over the Balearic Sea, the south-westerlies along the north-eastern flank of a surface low converged with south-easterlies from north Africa, creating a near surface moisture tongue in the region of the Balearic Islands, and a southeast-northwest oriented convergence line within a cloud cluster advecting from northern Africa. Airborne lidar measurements, acquired upstream of the ERV, evidenced water vapour mixing ratios in excess of 15 g kg−1 in the marine atmospheric boundary layer. In the mid-level (700 hPa), the presence of an elevated moisture plume from tropical Africa contributed for about one third to the large moisture content present over the western Mediterranean Sea. In this moist environment, the MCS was initiated over the orography of the north-eastern tip of the Iberian plateau, due to the combined influence of the approaching convergence line ahead of the surface low and the convergence resulting from weak north-westerlies channeled in the ERV and the easterlies impinging on the coastal range. After the initiation phase, the MCS further developed over the foothill of Iberian Plateau and moved into the ERV and along the southern flank of the Pyrenees, thanks to the penetration of the warm and moist maritime south-easterly flow through the narrow gap between the north-eastern part of the Iberian Plateau and the Catalan coastal range.
- Published
- 2017