Understanding Supercell Spatiotemporal and Environmental Patterns in Spain Using Two-Dimensional Radar, Atmospheric Reanalysis, and Citizen Science
Abstract
Supercell thunderstorms are often associated with severe weather conditions, such as tornadoes, hail, strong wind gusts, and heavy rainfall, bringing about potentially significant consequences to populations and assets. Despite potential impacts, a lack of publicly available data has hindered the analysis and characterization of supercell climatology in Spain. We address this problem through a volunteered, collaborative, public effort to develop a database on supercell events from January 2014 - December 2019. Using multiple inclusion criteria and validation steps, we identified 703 thunderstorms with supercell characteristics during the 6-year study period. With public participation, we were able to confirm 20.5% of the medium-high confidence supercells identified by two-dimensional radar images. Further analyses reveal a spatial distribution with a high degree of activity in the eastern half of Spain, primarily the Mediterranean and Northeastern regions. Our data and results show the value of citizen science and public participation and may serve as a foundation for more thorough and sophisticated climatological investigation. In addition, using ERA-5 reanalysis and dynamically downscaling with WRF-ARW to a 9km spatial resolution, we are able to generate sounding-derived parameters at the moment of formation of each supercell, allowing us to study particular severe weather cases and to improve our understanding of pre-convective environments conducive for supercell development in the different regions of Spain.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2020
- Bibcode:
- 2020AGUFMA122.0006M
- Keywords:
-
- 3314 Convective processes;
- ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES;
- 3329 Mesoscale meteorology;
- ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES;
- 3354 Precipitation;
- ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES;
- 4313 Extreme events;
- NATURAL HAZARDS