A Multiscale Observational Case Study of a Pacific Atmospheric River Exhibiting Tropical–Extratropical Connections and a Mesoscale Frontal Wave

Abstract

A case study is presented of an atmospheric river (AR) that produced heavy precipitation in the U.S. Pacific Northwest during March 2005. The study documents several key ingredients from the planetary scale to the mesoscale that contributed to the extreme nature of this event. The multiscale analysis uses unique experimental data collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) P-3 aircraft operated from Hawaii, coastal wind profiler and global positioning system (GPS) meteorological stations in Oregon, and satellite and global reanalysis data. Moving from larger scales to smaller scales, the primary findings of this study are as follow: 1) phasing of several major planetary-scale phenomena influenced by tropical–extratropical interactions led to the direct entrainment of tropical water vapor into the AR near Hawaii, 2) dropsonde observations documented the northward advection of tropical water vapor into the subtropical extension of the midlatitude AR, and 3) a mesoscale frontal wave increased the duration of AR conditions at landfall in the Pacific Northwest.