Laboratory for
Climatology and Remote Sensing

Abstract:

As part of an interdisciplinary research programme, the spatial and temporal variability of precipitation in southern Ecuador has been investigated since January 2002. The study site is located at the northern margin of the Podocarpus National Park in the vicinity of Loja, about 500 km south of Quito, at altitudes ranging from 1800 to 3200 m.a.s.l. Due to its low density, the conventional rainfall station network fails to register the highly variable spatial distribution of rain, whereas contributions by fog are not accounted at all. Hence, for the first time in a tropical montane forest setting, a weather radar was used, covering a radius of 60 km and reaching from the Amazon Basin to the coastal plains of the region. Furthermore, a network of sampling stations supplies data about the altitudinal gradient of fog and rainwater inputs. The precipitation distribution in the study area proves to be far more variable than previously thought and is strongly coupled to the orographic characteristics and the special topographical setting of the landscape. Maxima in precipitation occur especially in the eastern parts of the radar range on slopes exposed to advected moisture from the Amazon Basin, whereas the highest crests of the Andes receive less precipitation. The study area has two cloud condensation levels, occurring at 1500–2000 and 2500–3500 m.a.s.l., respectively. At 1800–2000 m.a.s.l., fog is estimated to contribute an additional input of 5% of conventionally measured rainfall, increasing to about 35% at the highest measurement station (3200 m.a.s.l.). In contrast to some other tropical mountains, there seems to be no maximum zone of water input, although the gradient remains positive up to the highest altitudes. The unusual precipitation distribution is thought to reflect the contrasting climatological influences operating in the study area.

Abstract:

The formation, dynamics and spatial distribution of heavy precipitation during the 1991/92 El Nin˜o in Ecuador and northern Peru were examined by means of Meteosat-3 imagery, NOAA-AVHRR-based multichannel sea surface temperatures (MCSST) and additional meteorological observations. The Convective and Stratiform Technique (CST) was used for rain retrieval by means of Meteosat IR data and a cross-correlation approach was applied to Meteosat image sequences to derive cloud motion winds (CMW) which are essential for the analysis of circulation patterns leading to severe precipitation. From an analysis of 45 days with severe precipitation it is proven that three mechanisms were responsible for the formation of heavy rains. Each mechanism reveals a speci? c localized impact. (1) The most frequent mechanism (frequency of ~61%) represents an extended land–sea breeze system. During such weather conditions, predominantly locally con? ned precipitation patterns occured. Areas a? ected by the sea wind front during the day were the coastal plains up to the 1000m contour line on the western Andean slope. Local maxima in the frequency of cloudiness leading to precipitation could be found at isolated peaks of a lower coastal cordillera. At night the highest frequency of precipitation was found over the warm water surface of the Gulf of Guayaquil, mainly due to its coastal shape which signi? cantly favours convergence of the nocturnal land breeze. (2) Convection, initiated in the coastal plain and on the western Andean slopes during the afternoon, was signi? cantly intensi? ed by an entrainment of remainders of cirrus shields from the Amazon basin. These cloud fragments spilled over the Andes with well-developed trades in the mid/upper troposphere which blew in the opposite direction to the daily sea/up-slope breeze. The spill over points were characterized by areas of deep convection on the western Andean slopes and were frequently valley axes perpendicular to the mountain chain as well as the Andean depression in southern Ecuador. (3) During the main El Nin˜o phase (March– April ), heavy and persistent precipitation was extended over wide areas of the coastal plain showing neither a distinct diurnal cycle nor preferential areas. Deep convection was frequently organized in mesoscale convective complexes (MCC) and was spatially correlated with MCSST > 27ß . The extensive instability of the troposphere during these weather conditions was marked by convective cloud streets and an intensi? cation of the meridional Hadley circulation o? the coast of southern Ecuador and Peru.