Quantifying the Impact of Remote Land Moisture Teleconnections to Heat Extremes in the Central United States

Remote land regions that provide a substantial portion of moisture and/or precipitation to another area can be thought of as land surface moisture teleconnections. Long-distance land surface teleconnections can provide a substantial amount of moisture to downwind regions, though our understanding of what these teleconnections are, and how these moisture sources contribute to downwind heat extremes is limited. Here we use a version of the Community Earth System Model (CESM1.2 with the Community Atmosphere Model CAM5 and the Community Land Model CLM5) with online numerical water tracers to identify land surface moisture teleconnections and their contribution to heat extremes, including heat index values, via radiative fluxes and humidity levels in the Central United States for the 1985 – 2015 time period. Using self-organizing maps, we identify the atmospheric and ET features associated with different “flavors” of heat extremes. Knowledge of regions where moisture teleconnections drive fluctuations in heat indices could aide in the prediction of heat waves and help with crop management practices.