Abstract
Over the last six to seven decades, there has been a substantial increase in atmospheric research to better understand the dynamics and evolution of atmospheric blocking events. It is well known that atmospheric blocking serves as a catalyst for increasing the frequency of atmospheric flow regime stagnation and forecast unpredictability. This study built upon the results of previous work by expanding upon the findings of various climatologies and case studies. This work analyzes specific trends observed in association with atmospheric blocking predominantly across the central and eastern Pacific Ocean. Such trends include the relationship between the size, duration, and onset position of atmospheric blocking events and the frequency, duration, and intensity of heavy rainfall events across the central United States. A strong focus is placed on examining the duration and spatial extent of atmospheric blocking which has been found to influence the intensity of heavy rainfall events. The goal is to further bridge the gap between the location and duration of blocking highs and the intensity, duration, and frequency of heavy rainfall events which occur downstream of such blocking events.
Highlights
Since the onset of the remote sensing era, there have been many advances in the analysis and forecasting of atmospheric blocking which is known to have a noticeable influence on the occurrence frequency and evolution of high-impact weather events such as cold waves [1] or the Russian heat wave of 2010 [2,3,4]
The data integrated into this study from this blocking archive included the following parameters: block intensity (BI), block duration (BD), block size (BS), blocking onset lead-time (BOLT), and longitude at block onset (LABO)
When examining the BD parameter, the duration of El Nino and La Nina year blocking events associated with heavy rain persisted longer than their climatological counterparts, while the Neutral year blocking events persistence of eight days is similar to Pacific Region block persistence [17] (Table 2)
Summary
Since the onset of the remote sensing era, there have been many advances in the analysis and forecasting of atmospheric blocking which is known to have a noticeable influence on the occurrence frequency and evolution of high-impact weather events such as cold waves [1] or the Russian heat wave of 2010 [2,3,4]. The work of [5] began this research by working to understand the climatological behavior of blocking and speculated that atmospheric blocking events and their dynamics may be likened to a mechanical analogue Researchers such as [6, 7] further elaborated upon the work of Rex (1950) through elaborating upon how atmospheric blocking events are generated through the interaction of transient, synopticscale perturbations with the planetary-scale environment. In this context, blocking may be understood as resonance between the planetary waves to synoptic-scale perturbations (e.g., [7]) which act as sources of energy and vorticity. Through garnering an improved understanding of the link between atmospheric blocking and heavy rainfall events in our region, the atmospheric research community will be able to generate a more efficient “roadmap” for improving the anticipation of heavy rain events
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