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Selected Works of Robert Gillies
Article
An intensified seasonal transition in the Central U.S. that enhances summer drought
United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration: Publications
  • S.-Y. Simon Wang, Utah State University
  • Joseph Santanello, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
  • Hailan Wang, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland,
  • Daniel Barandiaran, Utah State University
  • Rachel T. Pinker, University of Maryland
  • Siegfried Schubert, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
  • Robert R. Gillies, Utah State University
  • Robert J. Oglesby, University of Nebraska–Lincoln
  • Kyle Hilburn, Remote Sensing Systems, Santa Rosa, California
  • Ayse Kilic, University of Nebraska–Lincoln
  • Paul Houser, George Mason University
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ORCID IDs

Ayse Kilic

Date of this Version
1-1-2015
Citation

Wang, S.-Y. S., et al. (2015), An intensified seasonal transition in the Central U.S. that enhances summer drought, J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 120, 8804–8816

Comments

U.S. Government Work

Abstract

In the long term, precipitation in the Central U.S. decreases by 25% during the seasonal transition from June to July. This precipitation decrease has intensified since 1979 and such intensification could have enhanced spring drought occurrences in the Central U.S., in which conditions quickly evolve from being abnormally dry to exceptionally dry. Various atmospheric and land reanalysis data sets were analyzed to examine the trend in the June–July seasonal transition. The intensified deficit in precipitation is accompanied by increased downward shortwave radiation flux, tropospheric subsidence, enhanced evaporative fraction, and elevated planetary boundary layer height, all of which can lead to surface drying. The change in tropospheric circulation was characterized by an anomalous ridge over the western U.S. and a trough on either side—a pattern known to suppress rainfall in the Central U.S. This trending pattern shows similarity with the progression of the 2012 record drought.

Citation Information
S.-Y. Simon Wang, Joseph Santanello, Hailan Wang, Daniel Barandiaran, et al.. "An intensified seasonal transition in the Central U.S. that enhances summer drought" (2015)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/robert-gillies/24/