Transport of Atmospheric Moisture during Three Extreme Rainfall Events over the Mackenzie River Basin

Abstract

Lagrangian trajectories were computed for three extreme summer rainfall events (with rainfall exceeding 100 mm) over the southern Mackenzie River basin to test the hypothesis that the low-level moisture feeding these rainstorms can be traced back to the Gulf of Mexico. The three-dimensional trajectories were computed using the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory model (HYSPLIT). For all three events, parcel trajectories were identified that originated near the Gulf of Mexico and terminated over the southern Mackenzie River basin. Specifically, the transport of low-level moisture was found to occur along either quasi-continuous or stepwise trajectories. The time required to complete the journey varied between 6 and 10 days. Closer examination of the data suggests that, for the three cases in question, the transport of modified Gulf of Mexico moisture to high latitudes was realized when the northward extension of the Great Plains low-level jet to the Dakotas occurred in synch with rapid cyclogenesis over Alberta, Canada. In this way, modified low-level moisture from the Gulf of Mexico arrived over the northern Great Plains at the same time as a strong southerly flow developed over the Dakotas and Saskatchewan, Canada, in advance of the deepening cutoff low over Alberta. This moist air was then transported northward over Saskatchewan and finally westward over the southern Mackenzie River basin, where strong ascent occurred.