ACP Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ACP 1680-7324 Copernicus GmbH Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/acp-11-13201-2011 Analyzing coastal precipitation using TRMM observations Heiblum R. H. 1 Koren I. 1 Altaratz O. 1 Department of Environmental Sciences, Weizmann Institute, Rehovot, Israel 21 12 2011 11 24 13201 13217 This is an open-access article ditributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. This article is available from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/11/13201/2011/acp-11-13201-2011.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/11/13201/2011/acp-11-13201-2011.pdf

The interaction between breezes and synoptic gradient winds, and surface friction increase in transition from sea to land can create persistent convergence zones nearby coastlines. The low level convergence of moist air promotes the dynamical and microphysical processes responsible for the formation of clouds and precipitation. <br><br> Our work focuses on the winter seasons of 1998–2011 in the Eastern Mediterranean. During the winter the Mediterranean sea is usually warmer than the adjacent land, resulting in frequent occurrence of land breeze that opposes the common synoptic winds. Using rain-rate vertical profiles from the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) satellite, we examined the spatial and temporal distribution of average hydrometeor mass in clouds as a function of the distance from coastlines. <br><br> Results show that coastlines in the Eastern Mediterranean are indeed favored areas for precipitation formation. The intra-seasonal and diurnal changes in the distribution of hydrometeor mass indicate that the land breeze may likely be the main responsible mechanism behind our results.

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