Influence of African Atmospheric Rivers on Precipitation and Snowmelt in the Near East's Highlands

D. Bozkurt*, O. L. Sen, Y. Ezber, B. Guan, M. Viale, F. Caglar

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Atmospheric rivers (ARs) traveling thousands of kilometers over arid North Africa could interact with the highlands of the Near East (NE), and thus affect the region's hydrometeorology and water resources. Here, we use a state-of-the-art AR tracking database, and reanalysis and observational datasets to investigate the climatology (1979–2017) and influences of these ARs in snowmelt season (March–April). The Red Sea and northeast Africa are found to be the major source regions of these ARs, which are typically associated with the eastern Mediterranean trough positioned over the Balkan Peninsula and a blocking anticyclone over the NE-Caspian region, triggering southwesterly air flow toward the NE's highlands. Approximately 8% of the ARs are relatively strong (integrated water vapor transport >∼275 kg m−1 s−1). AR days exhibit enhanced precipitation over the crescent-shaped orography of the NE region. Mean AR days indicate wetter (up to + 2 mm day−1) and warmer (up to + 1.5°C) conditions than all-day climatology. On AR days, while snowpack tends to decrease (up to 30%) in the Zagros Mountains, it can show decreases or increases in the Taurus Mountains depending largely on elevation. A further analysis with the observations and reanalysis indicates that extreme ARs coinciding with large scale sensible heat transport can significantly increase the daily discharges. These results suggest that ARs can have notable impacts on the hydrometeorology and water resources of the region, particularly of lowland Mesopotamia, a region that is famous with great floods in the ancient narratives.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbere2020JD033646
JournalJournal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
Volume126
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 27 Feb 2021

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.

Funding

D. Bozkurt acknowledges support from ANID‐CONICYT‐PAI (Grant no. 77190080), ANID‐PIA‐Anillo INACH ACT192057 and ANID‐FONDECYT‐11200101. This work was partially funded by ANID‐FONDAP 15110009. O. L. Sen and F. Caglar acknowledge the support from the 2232 International Fellowship for Outstanding Researchers Program of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) through grant 118C329. The financial support received from TUBITAK does not mean that the content of the publication is approved in a scientific sense by TUBITAK. The authors are grateful to two anonymous referees and Raquel Lorente‐Plazas for their constructive comments which helped to improve the manuscript. D. Bozkurt acknowledges support from ANID-CONICYT-PAI (Grant no. 77190080), ANID-PIA-Anillo INACH ACT192057 and ANID-FONDECYT-11200101. This work was partially funded by ANID-FONDAP 15110009. O. L. Sen and F. Caglar acknowledge the support from the 2232 International Fellowship for Outstanding Researchers Program of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) through grant 118C329. The financial support received from TUBITAK does not mean that the content of the publication is approved in a scientific sense by TUBITAK. The authors are grateful to two anonymous referees and Raquel Lorente-Plazas for their constructive comments which helped to improve the manuscript.

FundersFunder number
ANID-CONICYT-PAI
ANID-FONDAP
ANID-PIA-Anillo
ANID‐CONICYT‐PAIACT192057, ANID‐FONDECYT‐11200101, 77190080
ANID‐FONDAP15110009
TUBITAK118C329
Türkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Araştirma Kurumu

    Keywords

    • Euphrates-Tigris Basin
    • extreme precipitation
    • hydrometeorology
    • moisture transport
    • runoff
    • snow

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