Atmospheric rivers are long narrow bands of large integrated water vapor transport in the troposphere. At
land fall they are usually associated with extreme conditions in terms of wind and precipitation. In recent
years there has been a growing interest in atmospheric rivers, concerning their regional impacts on water
availability, the modulation by climate variability and their representation in weather and forecast models. Airsea
interaction processes are major modulators by two aspects of describing and understanding atmospheric
rivers, (i) in the source area over the large oceans and by (ii) coastal processes at land fall. How atmospheric
rivers interact with surface conditions and coastal features is to a large extent unknown. By using
measurements taken by the applicant and collaborators specific air-sea and air-sea land interaction features
of importance for atmospheric rivers, the source area and at land fall will be investigated. By developing
parameterizations and implementing them in regional (WRF-Wavewatch-NEMO) and global (EC-Earth)
coupled modelling systems, predictive and climatological description of atmospheric rivers will be significantly
expanded. The ultimate goal of the project is to quantify the importance of air-sea interaction on atmospheric
rivers for better prediction of extreme events in the coastal zone.