Open AccessSummer regional rainfall over southern Ontario and its associations with outgoing longwave radiation and moisture convergence
Author(s) -
Bao Zhenhao,
Ye Hengchun,
Taylor Peter A.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
meteorological applications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.672
H-Index - 59
eISSN - 1469-8080
pISSN - 1350-4827
DOI - 10.1017/s135048270500160x
Subject(s) - outgoing longwave radiation , environmental science , precipitation , climatology , flooding (psychology) , moisture , longwave , atmospheric sciences , meteorology , geography , radiation , convection , geology , psychology , physics , quantum mechanics , psychotherapist
Daily rainfall records at 50 sites across southern Ontario are used to investigate the association of summer regional rainfall with outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) and moisture convergence, from 1991 to 2000. The results suggest that OLR values correspond well to heavy rainfall amounts when rain occurs over more than 90% of the study region. The average regional daily precipitation of 12.1 mm/day corresponds to 213.0 W/m 2 of OLR values in the study region. Also, OLR is more significantly associated with the regional daily rainfall amount than moisture convergence in the atmospheric layers between 1000 hPa and 300 hPa although both are associated with precipitation. The study suggests that when a low OLR departure centres over Ontario, the region tends to have extremely heavy rainfall and flooding. The results of this study indicate that OLR is a useful tool for satellite detection of extremely heavy rainfall and possible flash flooding during the summer season over southern Ontario. Copyright © 2005 Royal Meteorological Society