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The Diurnal Cycle of Precipitation in the Tropical Andes of Colombia

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The Diurnal Cycle of Precipitation in the Tropical Andes of Colombia 228 MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW VOLUME 133 The Diurnal Cycle of Precipitation in the Tropical Andes of Colombia GERMÁN POVEDA,OSCAR J. MESA,LUIS F. SALAZAR,PAOLA A. ARIAS,HERNÁN A. MORENO, SARA C. VIEIRA,PAULA A. AGUDELO,VLADIMIR G. TORO, AND J. FELIPE ALVAREZ Escuela de Geociencias y Medio Ambiente, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Medellín, Colombia (Manuscript received 9 October 2003, in final form 7 July 2004) ABSTRACT Using hourly records from 51 rain gauges, spanning between 22 and 28 yr, the authors study the diurnal cycle of precipitation over the tropical Andes of Colombia. Analyses are developed for the seasonal march of the diurnal cycle and its interannual variability during the two phases of El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Also, the diurnal cycle is analyzed at intra-annual time scales, associated with the westerly and easterly phases of the Madden–Julian oscillation, as well as higher-frequency variability (Ͻ10 days), mainly associated with tropical easterly wave activity during ENSO contrasting years. Five major general patterns are identified: (i) precipitation exhibits clear-cut diurnal (24 h) and semidiurnal (12 h) cycles; (ii) the minimum of daily precipitation is found during the morning hours (0900–1100 LST) regardless of season or location; (iii) a predominant afternoon peak is found over northeastern and western Colombia; (iv) over the western flank of the central Andes, precipitation maxima occur either near midnight, or during the after- noon, or both; and (v) a maximum of precipitation prevails near midnight amongst stations located on the eastern flank of the central Cordillera. The timing of diurnal maxima is highly variable in space for a fixed time, although a few coherent regions are found in small groups of rain gauges within the Cauca and Magdalena River valleys. Overall, the identified strong seasonal variability in the timing of rainfall maxima appears to exhibit no relationship with elevation on the Andes. The effects of both phases of ENSO are highly consistent spatially, as the amplitude of hourly and daily precipitation diminishes (increases) during El Niño (La Niña), but the phase remains unaltered for the entire dataset. We also found a generalized increase (decrease) in hourly and daily rainfall rates during the westerly (easterly) phase of the Madden– Julian oscillation, and a diminished (increased) high-frequency activity in July–October and February–April during El Niño (La Niña) years, associated, among others, with lower (higher) tropical easterly wave (4–6 day) activity over the Caribbean. 1. Introduction On seasonal time scales, it is well known that the displacement of the intertropical convergence zone Colombia is located in the northwestern corner of (ITCZ) exerts a strong control on the annual cycle of South America, exhibiting complex geographical, envi- Colombia’s hydroclimatology (Snow 1976; Mejía et al. ronmental, and hydroecological features in which the 1999; León et al. 2000; Poveda et al. 2004, submitted Andes plays a major role. In terms of precipitation manuscript to J. Hydrol. Eng.). Central and western amount and distribution, Snow (1976, p. 362) describes Colombia experience a bimodal annual cycle of precipi- the Andes as “a dry island in a sea of rain,” but the tation with distinct rainy seasons (April–May and Oc- atmospheric dynamics and precipitation variability as- tober–November), and “dry” (less rainy) seasons (De- sociated with the Andes are not well understood at a cember–February and June–August), which result from wide range of time–space scales. Improving our under- the double passage of the ITCZ over the region. A standing of the atmospheric dynamics and precipitation unimodal annual cycle (May–October) is witnessed variability is crucial under current environmental over the northern Caribbean coast of Colombia and the threats faced by the tropical Andes, identified as the Pacific flank of the southern isthmus, reflecting the most critical “hot spot” for biodiversity on earth (Myers northernmost position of the ITCZ over the continent et al. 2000). and eastern equatorial Pacific, respectively (Hastenrath 1990, 2002). A single peak is also evident over the east- ern piedmont of the eastern Andes. Moisture trans- Corresponding author address: Germán Poveda, Escuela de ported from the Amazon basin encounters the oro- Geociencias y Medio Ambiente, Facultad de Minas, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Cra 80 x Calle 65, M2-315 Medellín, Co- graphic barrier of the Andes, thus focusing and enhanc- lombia. ing deep convection and rainfall in the eastern flank of E-mail: [email protected] the Cordillera, with maximum rainfall occurring during © 2005 American Meteorological Society Unauthenticated | Downloaded 09/25/21 08:11 AM UTC MWR2853 JANUARY 2005 P OVEDA ET AL. 229 June–August. The meridional migration of the ITCZ is sity of the diurnal cycle. They also identified a rainfall highly intertwined with atmospheric circulation fea- maximum offshore in the Gulf of Panama that occurs tures over the Caribbean Sea, the easternmost Pacific during the morning hours around 0900 LST and a to- Ocean, and the Amazon River basin. The presence of pographically induced afternoon maximum in the the three branches of the Andes with elevations sur- mountains of Venezuela (near 5°N, 63°W) that occurs passing 5000 m, containing tropical glaciers, and includ- during May–September. Over the eastern slope of the ing diverse intra-Andean valleys in a predominant Andes, a nighttime maximum of precipitation has been south–north direction introduce strong local orographic identified (Garreaud and Wallace 1997; Negri et al. effects that induce atmospheric circulations and deep 1994). The diurnal march of convection in a small re- convection with heavy rainfall. Over the Pacific coast of gion of the Amazon was studied during the 1999 Tropi- Colombia, extreme precipitation rates are witnessed, cal Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Wet-Season including one of the rainiest regions on earth (Poveda Atmospheric Mesoscale Campaign of the Large-Scale and Mesa 2000). Other large-scale phenomena associ- Biosphere–Atmosphere Experiment (WETAMC/ ated with the seasonal hydroclimatological cycle over LBA) (Machado et al. 2002). The three-part study of the region include the low-level “Chorro del Occidente Mapes et al. (2003a,b) and Warner et al. (2003) reports Colombiano” (CHOCO) jet that flows onshore from observational and modeling results for the diurnal cycle the Pacific Ocean (Poveda and Mesa 2000) and the of precipitation over western Colombia and the neigh- associated development of mesoscale convective com- boring Pacific, using a short-period dataset (July– plexes, which in turn exhibit characteristic diurnal September 2000) that is based on the rain-rate satellite cycles (Velasco and Frisch 1987; Poveda and Mesa estimates of Negri et al. (2002a). Most of the aforemen- 2000; Mapes et al. 2003a). The interannual variability of tioned studies on the diurnal cycle of precipitation over the diurnal cycle is dominated by the effects of both the region are based upon short-term datasets derived phases of El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Such from satellite information that, though spatially distrib- effects are due to influences of sea surface tempera- uted, may induce estimation errors. For instance, Negri tures off the Pacific coast, but also to atmospheric tele- et al. (2002b), showed that 3 yr of rainfall data derived connections, which are enhanced by land surface– from the TRMM satellite are inadequate to describe atmosphere feedbacks (Poveda and Mesa 1997, 2000; the diurnal cycle of precipitation over areas smaller Poveda et al. 2001). At intraseasonal time scales, tropi- than 12°ϫ12° because of high spatial variability in sam- cal easterly waves are known to affect precipitation re- pling. gimes over different regions in Colombia in their west- We aim to study and characterize the long-term sea- ward propagation during the Northern Hemisphere sonal diurnal cycle of precipitation (section 3) and its summer–autumn (Martínez 1993). relationship with altitude on the Andes (section 4). We Previous studies regarding the diurnal cycle of rain- also aim to investigate the interannual variability of the fall for Colombia and tropical South America are diurnal cycle associated with both phases of ENSO scarce and limited to small datasets. Trojer (1959) iden- (section 5). In section 6, the intra-annual variability of tified a distinct effect of altitude on the diurnal cycle of the diurnal cycle is studied for the easterly and westerly precipitation maxima over the Cauca River valley, with phases of the Madden–Julian oscillation (30–60 days). an early-morning peak for stations located near the val- In addition, high-frequency variability (less than 10 ley floor, while those at higher elevations showed af- days) of two contrasting ENSO years is studied, using ternoon maxima. Snow (1976, p. 365) found different hourly data from rain gauges located throughout the diurnal-maxima characteristics at three localities lo- tropical Andes of Colombia. Conclusions are summa- cated on each of the branches of the Colombian Andes: rized in section 7. Quibdó (on the lowlands of the Pacific coast), showing a late-night and early-morning maximum; Chinchiná 2. Data and methods (central Andes), displaying an early-morning maxi- mum; and Bogotá (high plateau on the eastern Andes), The dataset consists of hourly precipitation rates at exhibiting an afternoon maximum. Other studies for 51 gauges, with records spanning between 22 and 28 yr. northern South America rely on precipitation estimates Percentages of missing data are generally less than 5%, derived from satellite data (Kousky 1980; Meisner and which was ignored for estimation purposes. The dataset Arkin 1987; Velasco and Frisch 1987; Hendon and was provided in paper logs by the Centro Nacional de Woodberry 1993; Janowiak et al. 1994; Negri et al. Investigaciones del Café (CENICAFE) and Empresas 1994, 2000; Garreaud and Wallace 1997; Imaoka and Públicas de Medellín (EPM), from which the digital Spencer 2000; Lin et al.
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