Characterization of the error associated with satellite rainfall estimates is a necessary component of deterministic and probabilistic frameworks involving spaceborne passive and active microwave measurements for applications ranging from water budget studies to forecasting natural hazards related to extreme rainfall events. The authors focus here on the error structure of NASA’s Tropical Rainf...

The aim of this article is to explore ways of increasing agricultural productivity in Zimbabwe in the face of the increasingly uncertain climatic conditions. Agriculture has remained crucial to economic growth in Zimbabwe while it is mainly rain-fed. The total seasonal rainfall amounts are not indicating any significant trend (increasing or decreasing) with time. Changes are only noticed in the...

Many recent studies have been devoted to the investigation of the nonlinear dynamics of rainfall or streamflow series based on methods of dynamical systems theory. Although finding evidence for the existence of a low-dimensional deterministic component in rainfall or streamflow is of much interest, not much attention has been given to the nonlinear dependencies of the two and especially on how ...

Soil erosion and phosphorus (P) runoff can be severe in potato production systems in the Northeast USA, which are characterized by intensive tillage, minimal ground cover, low crop residue return, and steep slopes. We used rainfall simulators in the greenhouse and field to assess sediment and P movement associated with two conservation practices: straw mulching and application of polyacrylamide...

Central to tropical cyclogenesis is the changing behavior of moist convection as the cyclone evolves. Based on a cumulus ensemble model run in weak temperature gradient mode, we suggest that the mid-level vortex created by early-stage convection stabilizes the environment in way that favors further development. In particular, modeled convection occurring in the more stable environment produces ...

The dynamics associated with drought in the Sahel have attracted considerable attention in the recent literature. This paper evaluates Sahel precipitation using the paradigm of the atmospheric centers of action, that is, the extended semipermanent highs and lows that dominate regional circulations and are evident in sea level pressure patterns. We find that Sahel precipitation is significantly ...

To develop urban stormwater management effectively, characterization of urban runoff pollution between dissolved and particulate phases was studied by 12 rainfall events monitored for five typical urban catchments. The average event mean concentration (AEMC) of runoff pollutants in different phases was evaluated. The AEMC values of runoff pollutants in different phases from urban roads were hig...

Seed fatty acid (FA) composition, oil and protein (meal) was assessed on five canola (Brassica napus) varieties in 14 cropping environments in southern Australia, including several low rainfall drought-stressed environments. We modelled the relationship between seed quality attributes and growing season rainfall and temperature using a linear mixed model. Variance components for variety and yea...

Darrin J. Greenstein, Liesl L.Tiefenthaler, and Steven M. Bay ABSTRACT Stormwater runoff is an important source of toxic substances to the marine environment, but the effects of antecedent dry period, rainfall intensity, and duration on the toxicity of runoff are not well understood. In this study, simulated rainfall was applied to parking lots to examine the toxicity of runoff while controllin...

The “green” water footprint (GWF) of a product is often considered less important than the “blue” water footprint (BWF) as “green” water generally has a low, or even negligible, opportunity cost. However, when considering food, fibre and tree products, is not only a useful indicator of the total appropriation of a natural resource, but from a methodological perspective, blue water footprints ar...