Ferran López Martí

• Medarbetarportalen (log in)

Atmospheric rivers are narrow corridors of high water vapour content. They transport water vapour from lower to mid and high latitudes, having a high importance for the global water cycle. These are often associated with extreme winds and precipitation which are a recurring natural hazard in Europe causing large socioeconomic damages.

This project aims to understand how air-sea interactions can modulate the occurrence and characteristics of atmospheric rivers in terms of both open-water processes in the source areas of the rivers and of coastal processes at landfall that can lead to extreme precipitation. An atmospheric-wave-ocean coupled modelling system UU-CM will be used to simulate different types of atmospheric rivers events coupled with extreme conditions. The UU-CM modelling system enables a high-quality description of the air-sea interactions processes permitting to study how they affect the occurrence and characteristics of atmospheric rivers, focusing on the moisture source regions, the intervening dynamics and the landfall. By doing so, several sensitivity experiments will be performed. Also, the simulations with the UU-CM model will be compared with convection-permitting simulations to evaluate the differences in water vapour transport and heat release within the cyclones and atmospheric rivers.

A better understanding of the life cycle of atmospheric rivers and the underlying processes involved will improve the predictability capacity of extreme precipitation due to atmospheric rivers. Hence, better comprehension of these phenomena will also increase the capacity to prevent their socioeconomic impacts in vulnerable areas.