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    Original Research Papers

    Extreme rainfall events in southern Sweden: where does the moisture come from?

    Authors:

    Malin Gustafsson ,

    Department of Earth Sciences, University of Gothenburg, PO Box 460, 405 30 Gothenburg, SE
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    David Rayner,

    Department of Earth Sciences, University of Gothenburg, PO Box 460, 405 30 Gothenburg, SE
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    Deliang Chen

    Department of Earth Sciences, University of Gothenburg, PO Box 460, 405 30 Gothenburg, SE
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    Abstract

    The atmospheric transport of moisture leading to extreme summer precipitation events in southern Sweden was investigated using a Lagrangian trajectory model. Surprisingly, we found that the trajectories crossed continental Europe and the Baltic Sea before arriving over Sweden; they did not arrive directly from the North Sea. Such transport pathways were not seen for a control sample of non-extreme rainfall events. We then used a new source region identification technique to investigate the hypothesis that Europe and the Baltic are important sources of the moisture that is rained out in the extreme events. Although the results varied between events, we found that this is indeed the case. Our results establish the atmospheric transport patterns that are apparently a pre-requisite for extreme rainfall events to occur in southern Sweden, and further suggest regional moisture availability may also play a key role.

    How to Cite: Gustafsson, M., Rayner, D. and Chen, D., 2010. Extreme rainfall events in southern Sweden: where does the moisture come from?. Tellus A: Dynamic Meteorology and Oceanography, 62(5), pp.605–616. DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0870.2010.00456.x
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      Published on 01 Jan 2010
    Peer Reviewed
     CC BY 4.0
     Accepted on 11 Mar 2010            Submitted on 23 Sep 2009

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