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Seasonal transition of precipitation characteristics associated with land surface conditions in and around Bangladesh
Author(s) -
Ono M.,
Takahashi H. G.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: atmospheres
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-8996
pISSN - 2169-897X
DOI - 10.1002/2016jd025218
Subject(s) - precipitation , environmental science , water content , atmospheric sciences , moisture , climatology , microwave radiometer , radiometer , meteorology , geography , geology , remote sensing , geotechnical engineering
Abstract This study examined the seasonal transition of precipitation characteristics and its association with land surface conditions in and around Bangladesh, where land surface conditions are predominantly wet. Hourly rain rate data from the Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation Microwave‐Infrared Combined Product and 10 day soil moisture data from the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer Earth Observing System were used over the 7 years from 2003 to 2009. Area mean values of soil moisture, and precipitation amount, frequency, and intensity were calculated for each 10 day period. Results showed that higher precipitation amount and frequency were observed over the wet soil conditions, which indicates that soil moisture was influenced by previous precipitation events. However, the soil moisture could also control the precipitation characteristics. The seasonal and interannual variations in all regions suggested that precipitation amount and frequency increased in moist soil conditions, which is associated with an increase of water vapor supplied from the moist land surface. Over a flat plain (87°E–91°E, 23°N–25°N), a higher afternoon precipitation intensity was observed over drier land surfaces. This relationship was observed on seasonal and interannual variations. This suggests that the land surface conditions in this region can affect the afternoon precipitation intensity to some extent, although changes of atmospheric conditions can be a major factor particularly for the seasonal changes. However, this relationship was not observed in mountainous regions. This can be explained by other factors, such as thermally induced local circulations by the surrounding topography, being stronger than the impact of land surface conditions.