Fenómenos críticos en datos de precipitación lluviosa intensa detectados con radar y microondas, en la zona de influencia del Fenómeno del Niño sobre el Ecuador, en el período 2009-2012

Abstract

The present work shows with high accuracy data, and under the influence of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) the presence of a continuous phase transition in heavy precipitation. Were used rainfall and water vapor satellite data from TRMM detected with radar and microwaves over the Central Pacific Ocean region known as Niño 3.4 (of 4.8 x 106 km2), with a spatial resolution of 5 km and every 1.6 seconds for four years (from 2009-2012). Characteristics such as scalability, universal exponents, system susceptibility and self-organized criticality were analyzed. The results shown a behavior consistent with the theory of continuous phase transition from a state of light rain heavy rain to another, passing through a critical value of water vapor, although a slight correction on the reported exponents was found. Finally, we conclude that this theory improves the understanding of the atmospheric system, usually studied from fluid dynamics; because of its nonlinearity, reflects its unpredictable nature, especially in the case of this complex events like heavy rain.