@phdthesis{RamezaniZiarani2020,
  author    = {Ramezani Ziarani, Maryam},
  title     = {Characterization of atmospheric processes related to hydro-meteorological extreme events over the south-central Andes},
  doi       = {10.25932/publishup-47175},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-471755},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {i, 88},
  year      = {2020},
  abstract  = {The significant environmental and socioeconomic consequences of hydrometeorological extreme events, such as extreme rainfall, are constituted as a most important motivation for analyzing these events in the south-central Andes of NW Argentina. The steep topographic and climatic gradients and their interactions frequently lead to the formation of deep convective storms and consequently trigger extreme rainfall generation. In this dissertation, I focus on identifying the dominant climatic variables and atmospheric conditions and their spatiotemporal variability leading to deep convection and extreme rainfall in the south-central Andes. This dissertation first examines the significant contribution of temperature on atmospheric humidity (dew-point temperature, Td) and on convection (convective available potential energy, CAPE) for deep convective storms and hence, extreme rainfall along the topographic and climatic gradients. It was found that both climatic variables play an important role in extreme rainfall generation. However, their contributions differ depending on topographic and climatic sub-regions, as well as rainfall percentiles. Second, this dissertation explores if (near real-time) the measurements conducted by the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) on integrated water vapor (IWV) provide reliable data for explaining atmospheric humidity. I argue that GNSS-IWV, in conjunction with other atmospheric stability parameters such as CAPE, is able to decipher the extreme rainfall in the eastern central Andes. In my work, I rely on a multivariable regression analysis described by a theoretical relationship and fitting function analysis. Third, this dissertation identifies the local impact of convection on extreme rainfall in the eastern Andes. Relying on a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) it was found that during the existence of moist and warm air, extreme rainfall is observed more often during local night hours. The analysis includes the mechanisms for this observation. Exploring the atmospheric conditions and climatic variables leading to extreme rainfall is one of the main findings of this dissertation. The conditions and variables are a prerequisite for understanding the dynamics of extreme rainfall and predicting these events in the eastern Andes.},
  language  = {en}
}