Onset of the South American Monsoons
Grant
Overview
abstract
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Although the seasonal evolution of high cloudiness and associated circulation features are well documented for South America, it has proven difficult to elucidate the precise mechanisms for the onset of the wet season in this part of the world. The main objectives of this work are to improve our understanding of 1) the mechanisms for wet season onset, and 2) the predictability of wet season onset and precipitation in tropical South America. The hypothesis is that detailed observation of regional differences in the vertical structure and horizontal organization of convection during the wet season onset will improve our understanding of key onset mechanisms, which in turn allows us to understand the sources and limits of predictability of SAMS onset using a general circulation model. Our approach will be to integrate observational (TRMM satellite data, GPCP precipitation, and NCEP reanalysis), and general circulation model datasets (tier-2 simulations of the NSIPP GCM) to study the predictability of the convection and large-scale circulations of the atmosphere during monsoon onset. This project addresses the objectives of the NOAA CPPA research area of American Monsoon Monitoring and Prediction. Specifically we will address the variability and predictability of the onset of the South American Monsoon System on intraseasonal-to-interannual timescales.
date/time interval
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September 2007 - August 2011
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