Torrential rains on the Spanish Mediterranean coast: Modeling the effects of the sea surface temperature

Torrential rains are a frequent meteorological risk in the Mediterranean Ba sin, and the work reported here is part of a long-term study that includes the analysis of the synoptic conditions involved in their genesis. This pap er studies the role of SST in torrential rain development. Two episodes wer e selected for simulation with the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System. Th ree runs of each were performed by progressively improving the SST input da ta sources: from monthly climatological averages, to data from the Internat ional Satellite Land Surface Climatology Project, to near-to-real-time data derived from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satell ite images. For the first episode, the maximum total precipitations calcula ted were 242, 301, and 496 mm, respectively, versus more than 550 mm measur ed. For the second event, the maxima were 316, 349, and 378 mm, respectivel y, versus more than 450 mm measured. The conclusion is that significant imp rovements in the modeling of peak precipitation can be expected when using SST derived from NOAA satellite data.