Understanding the Weather Types and Rainfall and Its Relation with Erosion

A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433). This special issue belongs to the section "Meteorology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (10 May 2020) | Viewed by 10943

Special Issue Editor

Department of Applied Physics, University of Leon, Leon, Spain
Interests: rainfall characterization; measurements of rainfall; rainfall simulators; disdrometers; splash erosion; karstification; impacts of water on construction; fluid dynamics engineering; erosion; weather types
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Currently, the study of weather types has many applications, from its classical application in meteorological studies about current events or future scenarios to other more novelty uses, like description of the dispersion of pollutants, the evolution of forest fires or, more recently, their influence on soil erosion. The improvement of geographic information systems allow us to use available high-quality satellite images to assess erosion by crossing field data of erosion under different atmospheric conditions. However, despite the emerging capacities and clear interest in automating the erosive capacity of the rain, and the promising findings that have been made, it has not yet been possible to properly model erosion. This Special Issue of Atmosphere focuses on how synoptic weather types could be applied to rainfall and erosion. We seek research studies that examine and compare the different classifications of weather types and its applications to erosion. All the classifications are welcomed, using maps or objective criteria like the correlation method, the method of sum of squares, the cluster analysis, and the principal component analysis (PCA). Classic automated methods like Lamb´s which use the characterization of different indices associated with the direction and vorticity of the geostrophic flow of daily circulation will also be welcomed, always focusing on their applications to erosive impacts. We invite manuscripts incorporating field data from natural, burned, sensitive or restored areas. We also wish to include studies that examine uses of weather types in these studies, how to develop or adapt classifications of weather types to different regions, and studies that compare regions or studies which highlight the gaps that science needs to develop in this topic.

Dr. María Fernández-Raga
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • Synoptic weather types
  • Erosion
  • Rainfall characterization
  • Runoff

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 3751 KiB  
Article
Relationship of Weather Types on the Seasonal and Spatial Variability of Rainfall, Runoff, and Sediment Yield in the Western Mediterranean Basin
by D. Peña-Angulo, E. Nadal-Romero, J.C. González-Hidalgo, J. Albaladejo, V. Andreu, H. Bahri, S. Bernal, M. Biddoccu, R. Bienes, J. Campo, M.A. Campo-Bescós, A. Canatário-Duarte, Y. Cantón, J. Casali, V. Castillo, E. Cavallo, A. Cerdà, P. Cid, N. Cortesi, G. Desir, E. Díaz-Pereira, T. Espigares, J. Estrany, J. Farguell, M. Fernández-Raga, C.S. Ferreira, V. Ferro, F. Gallart, R. Giménez, E. Gimeno, J.A. Gómez, A. Gómez-Gutiérrez, H. Gómez-Macpherson, O. González-Pelayo, O. Kairis, G.P. Karatzas, S. Keesstra, S. Klotz, C. Kosmas, N. Lana-Renault, T. Lasanta, J. Latron, R. Lázaro, Y. Le Bissonnais, C. Le Bouteiller, F. Licciardello, J.A. López-Tarazón, A. Lucía, V.M. Marín-Moreno, C. Marín, M.J. Marqués, J. Martínez-Fernández, M. Martínez-Mena, L. Mateos, N. Mathys, L. Merino-Martín, M. Moreno-de las Heras, N. Moustakas, J.M. Nicolau, V. Pampalone, D. Raclot, M.L. Rodríguez-Blanco, J. Rodrigo-Comino, A. Romero-Díaz, J.D. Ruiz-Sinoga, J.L. Rubio, S. Schnabel, J.M. Senciales-González, A. Solé-Benet, E.V. Taguas, M.T. Taboada-Castro, M.M. Taboada-Castro, F. Todisco, X. Úbeda, E.A. Varouchakis, L. Wittenberg, A. Zabaleta and M. Zornadd Show full author list remove Hide full author list
Atmosphere 2020, 11(6), 609; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos11060609 - 09 Jun 2020
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 5805
Abstract
Rainfall is the key factor to understand soil erosion processes, mechanisms, and rates. Most research was conducted to determine rainfall characteristics and their relationship with soil erosion (erosivity) but there is little information about how atmospheric patterns control soil losses, and this is [...] Read more.
Rainfall is the key factor to understand soil erosion processes, mechanisms, and rates. Most research was conducted to determine rainfall characteristics and their relationship with soil erosion (erosivity) but there is little information about how atmospheric patterns control soil losses, and this is important to enable sustainable environmental planning and risk prevention. We investigated the temporal and spatial variability of the relationships of rainfall, runoff, and sediment yield with atmospheric patterns (weather types, WTs) in the western Mediterranean basin. For this purpose, we analyzed a large database of rainfall events collected between 1985 and 2015 in 46 experimental plots and catchments with the aim to: (i) evaluate seasonal differences in the contribution of rainfall, runoff, and sediment yield produced by the WTs; and (ii) to analyze the seasonal efficiency of the different WTs (relation frequency and magnitude) related to rainfall, runoff, and sediment yield. The results indicate two different temporal patterns: the first weather type exhibits (during the cold period: autumn and winter) westerly flows that produce the highest rainfall, runoff, and sediment yield values throughout the territory; the second weather type exhibits easterly flows that predominate during the warm period (spring and summer) and it is located on the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian Peninsula. However, the cyclonic situations present high frequency throughout the whole year with a large influence extended around the western Mediterranean basin. Contrary, the anticyclonic situations, despite of its high frequency, do not contribute significantly to the total rainfall, runoff, and sediment (showing the lowest efficiency) because of atmospheric stability that currently characterize this atmospheric pattern. Our approach helps to better understand the relationship of WTs on the seasonal and spatial variability of rainfall, runoff and sediment yield with a regional scale based on the large dataset and number of soil erosion experimental stations. Full article
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14 pages, 3154 KiB  
Article
Impacts of Weather Types on Soil Erosion Rates in Vineyards at “Celler Del Roure” Experimental Research in Eastern Spain
by Jesús Rodrigo-Comino, José María Senciales-González, Enric Terol, Gaspar Mora-Navarro, Yeboah Gyasi-Agyei and Artemi Cerdà
Atmosphere 2020, 11(6), 551; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos11060551 - 26 May 2020
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2811
Abstract
To understand soil erosion processes, it is vital to know how the weather types and atmospheric situations, and their distribution throughout the year, affect the soil erosion rates. This will allow for the development of efficient land management practices to mitigate water-induced soil [...] Read more.
To understand soil erosion processes, it is vital to know how the weather types and atmospheric situations, and their distribution throughout the year, affect the soil erosion rates. This will allow for the development of efficient land management practices to mitigate water-induced soil losses. Vineyards are one of the cultivated areas susceptible to high soil erosion rates. However, there is a lack of studies that link weather types and atmospheric conditions to soil erosion responses in viticultural areas. Thus, the main aim of this research is to assess the impacts of weather types and atmospheric conditions on soil erosion processes in a conventional vineyard with tillage in eastern Spain. To achieve this goal, rainfall events from 2006 to 2017 were monitored and the associated runoff and soil loss were collected from experimental plots. Our results showed that the highest volume of runoff and soil erosion is linked to rainfall associated with the eastern winds that accounted for 59.7% of runoff and 63.9% of soil loss, while cold drops in the atmospheric situation classifications emerged as the highest contributor of 40.9% in runoff and 44.1% in soil loss. This paper provides new insights into the development of soil erosion control measures that help to mitigate the negative impact of extreme rainfall and runoff considering atmospheric conditions. Full article
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15 pages, 2912 KiB  
Article
The Role of Weather Types in Assessing the Rainfall Key Factors for Erosion in Two Different Climatic Regions
by María Fernández-Raga, Roberto Fraile, Covadonga Palencia, Elena Marcos, Ana María Castañón and Amaya Castro
Atmosphere 2020, 11(5), 443; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos11050443 - 28 Apr 2020
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1973
Abstract
This paper compares two different geographical sites, Aveiro and León, from different climatic regions, oceanic and continental, but which share the same type of weather (according to Lamb’s classification). The analysis was carried out over one year, and has revealed that rainfall in [...] Read more.
This paper compares two different geographical sites, Aveiro and León, from different climatic regions, oceanic and continental, but which share the same type of weather (according to Lamb’s classification). The analysis was carried out over one year, and has revealed that rainfall in Aveiro is heavier and more abundant, with a higher number of raindrops and a longer duration of rain events (on average, 10 min longer than in Leon). Mean raindrop size is 0.45 mm in Aveiro and slightly smaller (0.37 mm) in Leon; in addition, the kinetic energy and linear momentum values in Aveiro are three times higher than those in Leon. A comparison of raindrop size distributions by weather type has shown that for both locations westerly weather presented a higher probability of rainfall, and the gamma distribution parameters for each weather type were independent of the study zone. When the analysis is done for the characteristics of rain related with erosion, the westerly cyclonic weather types (cyclonic west (CW) and cyclonic south-westerly (CSW)) are among the most energetic ones in both locations. However, comparing their five weather types with higher kinetic energy, in Aveiro a westerly component implies higher kinetic energy, while in Leon a southerly component involves more energy in the rain. Full article
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