Articles | Volume 5, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-5-537-2024
https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-5-537-2024
Research article
 | 
19 Apr 2024
Research article |  | 19 Apr 2024

Warm conveyor belt characteristics and impacts along the life cycle of extratropical cyclones: case studies and climatological analysis based on ERA5

Katharina Heitmann, Michael Sprenger, Hanin Binder, Heini Wernli, and Hanna Joos

Related authors

psit 1.0: A System to Compress Lagrangian Flows
Alexander Pietak, Langwen Huang, Luigi Fusco, Michael Sprenger, Sebastian Schemm, and Torsten Hoefler
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-793,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-793, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Geoscientific Model Development (GMD).
Short summary
Insights from hailstorm track analysis in European climate change simulations
Killian P. Brennan, Iris Thurnherr, Michael Sprenger, and Heini Wernli
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-918,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-918, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences (NHESS).
Short summary
Synoptic perspective on the conversion and maintenance of local available potential energy in extratropical cyclones
Marc Federer, Lukas Papritz, Michael Sprenger, and Christian M. Grams
Weather Clim. Dynam., 6, 211–230, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-6-211-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-6-211-2025, 2025
Short summary
Frequency anomalies and characteristics of extratropical cyclones during extremely wet, dry, windy, and calm seasons in the extratropics
Hanin Binder and Heini Wernli
Weather Clim. Dynam., 6, 151–170, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-6-151-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-6-151-2025, 2025
Short summary
Exploring a high-level programming model for the NWP domain using ECMWF microphysics schemes
Stefano Ubbiali, Christian Kühnlein, Christoph Schär, Linda Schlemmer, Thomas C. Schulthess, Michael Staneker, and Heini Wernli
Geosci. Model Dev., 18, 529–546, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-529-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-18-529-2025, 2025
Short summary

Related subject area

Dynamical processes in midlatitudes
Quantifying the spread in sudden stratospheric warming wave forcing in CMIP6
Verónica Martínez-Andradas, Alvaro de la Cámara, Pablo Zurita-Gotor, François Lott, and Federico Serva
Weather Clim. Dynam., 6, 329–343, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-6-329-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-6-329-2025, 2025
Short summary
Synoptic perspective on the conversion and maintenance of local available potential energy in extratropical cyclones
Marc Federer, Lukas Papritz, Michael Sprenger, and Christian M. Grams
Weather Clim. Dynam., 6, 211–230, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-6-211-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-6-211-2025, 2025
Short summary
Frequency anomalies and characteristics of extratropical cyclones during extremely wet, dry, windy, and calm seasons in the extratropics
Hanin Binder and Heini Wernli
Weather Clim. Dynam., 6, 151–170, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-6-151-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-6-151-2025, 2025
Short summary
Two different perspectives on heatwaves within the Lagrangian framework
Amelie Mayer and Volkmar Wirth
Weather Clim. Dynam., 6, 131–150, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-6-131-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-6-131-2025, 2025
Short summary
From sea to sky: understanding the sea surface temperature impact on an atmospheric blocking event using sensitivity experiments with the ICOsahedral Nonhydrostatic (ICON) model
Svenja Christ, Marta Wenta, Christian M. Grams, and Annika Oertel
Weather Clim. Dynam., 6, 17–42, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-6-17-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-6-17-2025, 2025
Short summary

Cited articles

Bengtsson, L., Hodges, K. I., and Keenlyside, N.: Will extratropical storms intensify in a warmer climate?, J. Climate, 22, 2276–2301, https://doi.org/10.1175/2008JCLI2678.1, 2009. a
Besson, P., Fischer, L. J., Schemm, S., and Sprenger, M.: A global analysis of the dry-dynamic forcing during cyclone growth and propagation, Weather Clim. Dynam., 2, 991–1009, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-2-991-2021, 2021. a
Binder, H.: Warm conveyor belts: cloud structure and role for cyclone dynamics and extreme events, PhD Thesis, ETH Zurich, Zurich, https://doi.org/10.3929/ethz-b-000164982, 2017. a
Binder, H., Boettcher, M., Joos, H., and Wernli, H.: The role of warm conveyor belts for the intensification of extratropical cyclones in Northern Hemisphere winter, J. Atmos. Sci., 73, 3997–4020, https://doi.org/10.1175/JAS-D-15-0302.1, 2016. a, b, c, d, e, f, g
Binder, H., Boettcher, M., Joos, H., Sprenger, M., and Wernli, H.: Vertical cloud structure of warm conveyor belts – a comparison and evaluation of ERA5 reanalysis, CloudSat and CALIPSO data, Weather Clim. Dynam., 1, 577–595, https://doi.org/10.5194/wcd-1-577-2020, 2020. a
Download
Short summary
Warm conveyor belts (WCBs) are coherently ascending air streams that occur in extratropical cyclones where they form precipitation and often affect the large-scale flow. We quantified the key characteristics and impacts of WCBs and linked them to different phases in the cyclone life cycle and to different WCB branches. A climatology of these metrics revealed that WCBs are most intense during cyclone intensification and that the cyclonic and anticyclonic WCB branches show distinct differences.
Share