North Atlantic Extratropical Cyclone Tracks and Lagrangian-Derived Moisture Uptake Dataset

Abstract

Extratropical cyclones (ETCs) are the focus of many open questions, spanning from weather to climate and from local to global scales. The relationship between moisture uptake and precipitation over different mesoscale ETC structures remains poorly understood. The availability of moisture parameters to the scientific community through tracer dispersion models benefits the representation of the processes involving moisture, the dynamics of ETCs and the understanding of the associated meteorological fields. In this study, we present a database for North Atlantic ETC tracks and a Lagrangian-Derived Moisture Uptake Dataset, both of which are derived from dynamically downscaled ERA5 reanalysis data. We provide moisture parameters such as the total moisture uptake and its vertical distribution by layer, and shapefiles of ETC structures, to facilitate further studies in this area. Our data have been thoroughly validated to ensure that the storm tracks and their characteristics are accurately represented in the model without distortion. Additionally, we conduct a series of experiments to demonstrate the rigour and quality of the methods employed to generate the data.