The Chiricahua Gap and the Role of Easterly Water Vapor Transport in Southeastern Arizona Monsoon Precipitation
Affiliation
Univ Arizona, Dept Hydrol & Atmospher SciIssue Date
2017-09
Metadata
Show full item recordPublisher
AMER METEOROLOGICAL SOCCitation
The Chiricahua Gap and the Role of Easterly Water Vapor Transport in Southeastern Arizona Monsoon Precipitation 2017, 18 (9):2511 Journal of HydrometeorologyJournal
Journal of HydrometeorologyRights
© 2017 American Meteorological Society.Collection Information
This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at repository@u.library.arizona.edu.Abstract
Between North America's Sierra Madre and Rocky Mountains exists a little-recognized terrain "gap.'' This study defines the gap, introduces the term "Chiricahua Gap,'' and documents the role of easterly transport of water vapor through the gap in modulating summer monsoon precipitation in southeastern Arizona. The gap is near the Arizona-New Mexico border north of Mexico and is approximately 250 km wide by 1 km deep. It is the lowest section along a 3000-km length of the Continental Divide from 168 to 45 degrees N and represents 80% of the total cross-sectional area below 2.5 km MSL open to horizontal water vapor transport in that region. This study uses reanalyses and unique upper-air observations in a case study and a 15-yr climatology to show that 72% (76%) of the top-quartile (decile) monsoon precipitation days in southeast Arizona during 2002-16 occurred in conditions with easterly water vapor transport through the Chiricahua Gap on the previous day.Note
6 month embargo; published online: 20 September 2017ISSN
1525-755X1525-7541
Version
Final published versionSponsors
Scripps Institution of Oceanography; University of Arizona Office for Research and DiscoveryAdditional Links
http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/10.1175/JHM-D-17-0031.1ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1175/JHM-D-17-0031.1