HR: 0800h
AN: GC41A-0378 INVITED     [Abstracts]
TI: Evaluation of diurnal precipitation rates from rain gauges over western Mexico
AU: * Gochis, D J
EM: gochis@rap.ucar.edu
AF: National Center for Atmospheric Research, 3450 Mitchell Lane, Boulder, CO 80304 United States
AU: Watts, C J
EM: watts@fisica.uson.edu
AF: University of Sonora, Encinas y Rosales, Hermosillo, Son 8300 Mexico
AU: Cesar-Rodriguez, J
EM: jcrod2001@yahoo.com
AF: IMADES, Reyes y Aguascalientes, Hermosillo, Son 83190 Mexico
AU: Garatuza-Payan, J
EM: garatuza@itson.mx
AF: ITSON, 5 de Frebrero 818 Sur, Obregon, Son 83625 Mexico
AU: Shi, W
EM: wei.shi@noaa.gov
AF: NOAA Climate Prediction Center, National Center for Environmental Prediction 5200 Auth Road, Camp Springs, MD 20706 United States
AU: Higgins, W
EM: wayne.higgins@noaa.gov
AF: NOAA Climate Prediction Center, National Center for Environmental Prediction 5200 Auth Road, Camp Springs, MD 20706 United States
AB: The NAME Event Rain gauge Network (NERN) presently consists of 87 tipping-bucket recording rain gauges installed in the core North American Monsoon region of Northwest Mexico, between latitude 23° - 30° North and longitude 105° - 111° West. The network was designed to provide an improved sampling at higher elevations as well as data for the diurnal cycle. The gauges were installed in a two year period between 2002 and 2004 and are currently being maintained indefinitely. A laboratory-based bias correction has been developed and applied to the NERN which corrects for a systematic low bias in rain rate estimates at high rain rates. The main results may be summarized in the following general tendencies: 1) Rainy days are more frequent at higher elevations, 2) High intensity storms are more frequent at lower elevations, 3) Maximum rainfall occurs earlier in the day at high elevation (~17 UTC) than low elevations (~22 UTC) and 4) Maximum seasonal rainfall occurs on the western slopes of the Sierra Madre Occidental (SMO). In addition to documenting diurnal cycle of precipitation we also characterize the regional variability in gauge-observed rain rates across several areas of the SMO and surrounding environs. Comparisons between the operational gridded product NOAA Climate Prediction Center and the NERN, which show that inclusion of the NERN data in their analysis leads to considerable changes in the estimated rainfall in certain areas, will also be presented.
DE: 1833 Hydroclimatology
DE: 1834 Human impacts
DE: 3354 Precipitation (1854)
SC: Global Climate Change [GC]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005