Extreme precipitation associated with atmospheric rivers over  West Antarctic ice shelves: insights from kilometre-scale  regional climate modelling

Gilbert, Ella; Pishniak, Denis; Torres, José Abraham; Orr, Andrew; Maclennan, Michelle; Wever, Nander; Verro, Kristiina

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-597-2025

Articles | Volume 19, issue 2

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-597-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-597-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 19, issue 2

Research article

|

11 Feb 2025

Research article |

| 11 Feb 2025

Extreme precipitation associated with atmospheric rivers over West Antarctic ice shelves: insights from kilometre-scale regional climate modelling

Ella Gilbert, Denis Pishniak, José Abraham Torres, Andrew Orr, Michelle Maclennan, Nander Wever, and Kristiina Verro

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-597-2025-supplement

Data sets

Kilometre-scale regional climate model simulations of two atmospheric river case studies in West Antarctica Ella Gilbert et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12697647

Visala WXT520 weather station data at the Cavity and Channel AMIGOS-III sites Ted Scambos https://doi.org/10.15784/601549

SNOWPACK simulations for Thwaites Cavity and Channel AMIGOS sites in West Antarctica Nander Wever https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7320237

ERA5 hourly data on single levels from 1940 to present H. Hersbach et al. https://doi.org/10.24381/cds.adbb2d47

GPM IMERG Final Precipitation L3 Half Hourly 0.1 degree x 0.1 degree V07 G. J. Huffman et al. https://doi.org/10.5067/GPM/IMERG/3B-HH/07

Short summary

We use three sophisticated climate models to examine extreme precipitation in a critical region of West Antarctica. We found that rainfall probably occurred during the two cases we examined and that it was generated by the interaction of air with steep topography. Our results show that kilometre-scale models are useful tools for exploring extreme precipitation in this region and that more observations of rainfall are needed.