The Antalya 5 December 2002 storm: observations and model simulations

In the frame of this work, the storm that occurred on 5 December 2002 in Antalya, located on the southwestern Mediterranean Sea coast of Turkey, is analyzed. More than 230 mm of 24-h-accumulated rainfall have been reported during the event that produced floods in the area. The analysis is based on the results of model simulations with the fifth-generation Pennsylvania State University-NCAR Mesoscale Model (MM5). Observational data provided by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) sensors (including the Lightning Imaging Sensor and TRMM Microwave Imager), Special Sensor Microwave Imager (SSM/I), Meteosat-7, and Met Office Arrival Time Difference (ATD) lightning network are used for both the comparison with the model results and also for the characterization of the storm. The synergetic use of all of this information was crucial for the description of the event. The maximum of precipitation was associated with the warm and moist air masses driven by a low-level jet over the area and impinging over the orographic barriers. The improvement of representation of the humidity field in the model initial conditions, through a simple technique of humidity adjustment based on satellite rainfall estimates, resulted in an improvement of the prediction of the timing and quantity of the precipitation maxima during the event.