Orographic Effects on Precipitating Clouds

OROGRAPHIC EFFECTS ON PRECIPITATING CLOUDS Robert A. Houze Jr.1 Received 25 May 2011; revised 7 September 2011; accepted 8 September 2011; published 6 January 2012. [1] Precipitation over and near mountains is not caused by may rise easily over terrain, and a maximum of precipitating topography but, rather, occurs when storms of a type that cloud occurs over the first rise of terrain, and rainfall is max- can occur anywhere (deep convection, fronts, tropical imum on ridges and minimum in valleys. If the low‐level air cyclones) form near or move over complex terrain. Deep ahead of the system is stable, blocking or damming occurs. convective systems occurring near mountains are affected Shear between a blocked layer and unblocked moist air by channeling of airflow near mountains, capping of moist above favors turbulent overturning, which can accelerate boundary layers by flow subsiding from higher terrain, and precipitation fallout. In tropical cyclones, the tangential triggering to break the cap when low‐level flow encounters winds encountering a mountain range produce a gravity hills near the bases of major mountain ranges. Mesoscale wave response and greatly enhanced upslope flow. Depend- convective systems are triggered by nocturnal downslope ing on the height of the mountain, the maximum rain may flows and by diurnally triggered disturbances propagating occur on either the windward or leeward side. When the away from mountain ranges. The stratiform regions of capped boundary layer of the eye of a tropical cyclone mesoscale convective systems are enhanced by upslope flow passes over a mountain, the cap may be broken with intense when they move over mountains. In frontal cloud systems, convection resulting. the poleward flow of warm‐sector air ahead of the system Citation: Houze, R. A., Jr. (2012), Orographic effects on precipitating clouds, Rev. Geophys., 50, RG1001, doi:10.1029/2011RG000365. 1. INTRODUCTION mountainous regions [e.g., Houze et al., 2011]. In addition to mountains affecting when and where precipitation falls, [2] Atmospheric precipitation forming as a result of moist air flowing over and around hills and mountains is a major precipitation in turn affects the terrain itself, especially control on the global precipitation pattern. In a warming through erosion. Understanding the fundamental processes world, moist currents approaching and traversing mountains that occur when precipitation occurs near and over com- may be expected to adjust in location, strength, and intrinsic plex terrain is therefore prerequisite for understanding even instability, resulting in significant changes in the distribution longer term changes in the Earth system such as mountain over the Earth of precipitation and associated latent heating building and degradation that occurs on time scales of tens of the atmosphere. Because mountainous terrain is highly of thousands of years or more [e.g., Roe et al., 2003; Barros variable and detailed in its forms and locations relative to et al., 2004, 2006]. “ ” moisture sources, its effect on atmospheric precipitation [3] Traditionally, orographic precipitation is the term processes must not be oversimplified. In this review, we used to describe the rain and snow resulting from flow over identify the principal forms of precipitation near and over terrain. But this term imbues the terrain with causation, mountains and how the existence of the terrain influences which is misleading because on the time scale of the weather ’ the precipitation mechanisms. Grasping these fundamen- events producing precipitation, the Earth s topography is tal facts will facilitate evaluation of the performance of inactive and therefore cannot ever be the proximate cause of increasingly detailed models, which are being used both to atmospheric precipitation. Most precipitation in the atmo- assess changes in climate and to forecast hazardous con- sphere is instead attributable to one of three major categories ditions accompanying heavy precipitation in populated, of storms: convective clouds, frontal systems, or tropical cyclones. These storms exist for reasons fundamentally unrelated to underlying terrain: Convective storms draw 1Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, their energy from the vertical stratification of atmospheric Seattle, Washington, USA. temperature and water vapor, frontal systems draw their Copyright 2012 by the American Geophysical Union. Reviews of Geophysics, 50, RG1001 / 2012 1of47 8755‐1209/12/2011RG000365 Paper number 2011RG000365 RG1001 RG1001 Houze: OROGRAPHIC EFFECTS ON PRECIPITATION RG1001 energy from the horizontal variation of atmospheric tem- precipitating clouds occur near the less studied mountain perature, and tropical cyclones draw theirs from latent heat ranges in the tropics and subtropics as well as midlatitudes. stored in the upper ocean. Occasionally precipitation may While it is true that Lin et al. [2001] touched on environ- also be caused by wind blowing over rugged terrain apart mental aspects of precipitation enhancement over lower‐ from the occurrence of one of these three storm categories, and well as higher‐latitude mountains, a broad examination for example, moist trade winds blowing over the mountains and synthesis of the details of the dynamical and micro- of Hawaii. But most often what is called “orographic pre- physical processes in both unstable and stable flows over cipitation” is the alteration or reorganization of one of the terrain, i.e., a truly global synthesis of mountain effects on three major storm types when it encounters topographic precipitation, has up to now not been accomplished. features. [5] Since Roe’s [2005] review, the literature has further [4] Because of this, the title of this review uses the expanded and by now has begun to give us a picture of the somewhat more precise terminology “orographic effects on effects of hills and mountains on precipitation of all types, precipitating clouds.” The specific objective of the paper is including convective storms in lower latitudes and tropical to provide a comprehensive overview of all the known ways cyclones as well as midlatitude frontal systems. The goal of that the precipitation‐producing processes in the three major the present review is to bring these diverse emerging com- storm types are affected when they occur in regions of hills ponents of how flow over, around, and near complex orog- and mountains. When Smith’s [1979] classic review, “The raphy affects precipitation into a comprehensive summary of influence of mountains on the atmosphere,” and even later a type that will promote a better understanding of precipi- when the book Cloud Dynamics was written [see Houze, tation patterns over the globe. It is critical to understand 1993, chapter 12], relatively little was known about the precipitation on the global scale in order to determine the effects of topography on precipitating cloud systems. In the likely changes of precipitation patterns in a warming world. latter, this author had to resort to a few largely imagined The review is organized into four parts. Section 2 discusses conceptual drawings to illustrate the likely mechanisms of briefly the primary effects that hills and mountains have mountain effects on precipitating clouds. Since the early on precipitation mechanisms via microphysics, dynamics, 1990s, however, knowledge of the effects of flow over and thermodynamics. Section 3 summarizes generically the topography on precipitation has exploded. Field experi- ways in which airflow over and around complex terrain may ments, new specialized satellites, and increasingly sophis- affect precipitating clouds. Sections 4, 5, and 6 discuss how ticated numerical modeling have led to ∼100 papers on these processes operate to modify preexisting precipitating different aspects of this problem. Up to now, review papers cloud systems, namely, convective storms, midlatitude frontal have been limited in scope. For example, Barros and systems, and tropical cyclones, respectively. Section 7 sum- Lettenmaier [1994] reviewed early progress only on the marizes the review. modeling and prediction of certain types of precipitation over mountains and associated surface runoff. Lin et al. [2001] identified certain generic environmental conditions 2. FUNDAMENTAL FACTORS GOVERNING that favor especially heavy rainfall events over mountainous PRECIPITATION FALLOUT OVER HILLS regions. More recently, research has begun to focus on the AND MOUNTAINS mechanisms of precipitation enhancement by flow over com- [6] The size and shape of a hill or mountain has a pro- plex terrain. Smith [2006] reviewed from a theoretical stand- found effect on the ultimate distribution of precipitation on point how precipitation is affected by stable moist airflow the ground. The distribution of precipitation over and near a over mountains and how it may be formulated in idealized terrain feature of a given height and topographic shape is models; however, he did not delve into issues related to determined by a combination of microphysics of particle unstable flow over terrain. In a brief but somewhat more growth, the dynamical behavior of a fluid flow encountering holistic review of precipitation mechanisms over mountains, a terrain barrier, and the thermodynamics of moist air. The “ Roe [2005, p. 665] noted, Orographic precipitation is essentials of these behaviors are as follows. intrinsically a transient phenomenon. It tends to occur dur- ing the passage of a preexisting weather disturbance, and 2.1. Microphysical

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