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Warm rain processes over tropical oceans and climate implications
Author(s) -
Lau K. M.,
Wu H. T.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2003gl018567
Subject(s) - precipitation , environmental science , tropics , atmosphere (unit) , climatology , sea surface temperature , atmospheric sciences , tropical climate , meteorology , geology , geography , archaeology , fishery , biology
From analysis of TRMM data, we find that warm rain accounts for 31% of the total rain amount and 72% of the total rain area in the tropics, and plays an important role in regulating the moisture content of the tropical atmosphere. There is a substantial increase in precipitation efficiency of light warm rain as the sea surface temperature increases, but precipitation efficiency of heavy rain associated with deep convection is independent of sea surface temperature. This implies that in a warmer climate, there may be more warm rain, at the expense of less cloud water available for middle and high level clouds.