Evaluation of TMPA satellite-based research and real-time rainfall estimates during six tropical-related heavy rainfall events over Louisiana, USA

This study focuses on the evaluation of 3-hourly 0.25° × 0.25° satellite-based rainfall estimates produced by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA). The evaluation is performed during six heavy rainfall events that were generated by tropical storms passing over Louisiana, United States. Two surface-based rainfall datasets from gauge and radar observations are used as a ground reference for evaluating the real-time (RT) version of the TMPA product and the post-real-time bias adjusted research version. The evaluation analysis is performed at the native temporal and spatial scales of the TMPA products, 3-hourly and 0.25° × 0.25°. Several graphical and statistical techniques are applied to characterize the deviation of the TMPA estimates from the reference datasets. Both versions of the TMPA products track reasonably well the temporal evolution and fluctuations of surface rainfall during the analyzed storms with moderate to high correlation values of 0.5–0.8. The TMPA estimates reported reasonable levels of rainfall detection especially when light rainfall rates are excluded. On a storm scale, the TMPA products are characterized by varying degrees of bias which was mostly within ± 25% and ± 50% for the research and RT products, respectively. Analysis of the error distribution indicated that, on average, the TMPA products tend to overestimate small rain rates and underestimate large rain rates. Compared to the real-time estimates, the research product shows significant improvement in the overall and conditional bias, and in the correlation coefficients, with slight deterioration in the probability of detecting rainfall occurrences. A fair agreement in terms of reproducing the tail of the distribution of rain rates (i.e., probability of surface rainfall exceeding certain thresholds) was observed especially for the RT estimates. Despite the apparent differences with surface rainfall estimates, the results reported in this study highlight the TMPA potential as a valuable resource of high-resolution rainfall information over many areas in the world that lack capabilities for monitoring landfalling tropical storms.     

Estimating actual rainfall from satellite rainfall products

The lack of uncertainty measures in operational satellite rainfall (SR) products leads to a situation where users of the SR products know that there are significant errors in the products, but they have no quantitative information about the distribution of these errors. The authors propose a semiparametric model to characterize the conditional distribution of actual rainfall (AR) given measures from SR products. The model consists of two components: a conditional gamma density given each SR, and a smooth functional relationship between the gamma parameters and SR. The model is developed for monthly rainfall, estimated from a satellite with sampling frequency once a day, averaged over an area of 512 × 512 km² in the Mississippi River basin. The conditional distribution results are more informative than deterministic SR products since the whole conditional distribution enables users to take appropriate actions according to their own risk assessments and cost/benefit analyses.     

The ENSO’s Effect on Eastern China Rainfall in the Following Early Summer

ENSO’s effect on the rainfall in eastern China in the following early summer is investigated by using station precipitation data and the ERA-40 reanalysis data from 1958 to 2002. In June, after the El Nino peak, the precipitation is significantly enhanced in the Yangtze River valley while suppressed in the Huaihe River-Yellow River valleys. This relationship between ENSO and the rainfall in eastern China is established possibly through two teleconnections: One is related to the western North Pacific (WNP) ...     

A Study on a Heavy Rainfall Event Triggered by an Inverted Typhoon Trough in Shandong Province

A heavy rainfall event that occurred in Shandong Province in 26 28 August 2004 was caused mainly by Typhoon Acre and cold air activities related to a westerly trough. The event was triggered by an inverted typhoon trough, which was closely associated with the intensification of the low-level southeasterly flow and the northward transport of heat and momentum in the periphery of the typhoon low. A numerical simulation of this event is performed using the nonhydrostatic mesoscale model MM5 with two-way interactive and triply-nested grids, and the structure of the inverted typhoon trough is studied. Furthermore, the formation and development mechanism of the inverted typhoon trough and a mesoscale vortex are discussed through a vorticity budget analysis. The results show that the heavy rainfall was induced by the strong convergence between the strong and weak winds within the inverted typhoon trough. Dynamic effects of the low-level jet and the diabatic heating of precipitation played an important role in the development of the inverted typhoon trough and the formation of the mesoscale vortex. The vorticity budget analysis suggests that the divergence term in the low troposphere, the horizontal advection term, and the convection term in the middle troposphere were main contributors to positive vorticity. Nonetheless, at the same pressure level, the effect of the divergence term and that of the adveetion term were opposite to each other. In the middle troposphere, the vertical transport term made a positive contribution while the tilting term made a negative contribution, and the total vorticity tendency was the net result of their counteractions. It is found that the change tendency of the relative vorticity was not uniform horizontally. A strong positive vorticity tendency occurred in the southeast of the mesoscale vortex, which is why the heavy rainfall was concentrated there. The increase of positive vorticity in the low （upper） troposphere was caused by horizontal convergence （upward transport of vorticity from the lower troposphere）. Therefore, the development of the inverted typhoon trough and the formation of the mesoscale vortex were mainly attributed to the vorticity generated in the low troposphere, and also the vertical transport of vorticity from the low and middle troposphere.     

喀什地区1961—2005年降水变化特征

选用喀什地区1961－2005年45a的逐月降水量资料,分析了喀什地区平原和山区年降水量的分布特征。结果表明：喀什地区平原和山区年降水量年际变化均表明了在周期波动中有增加的趋势,且具有一定的长期性;平原和山区降水量的年际变化的同步性在不同年代表现不同;喀什地区各季降水变率大体表现为平原地区大,山区小的趋势。     

黄河三花区间天气雷达测雨技术应用研究

采用改进窗概率配对方法以及自适应卡尔曼滤波和变分联合的方法分别对郑州和三门峡两部新一代多普勒天气雷达观测资料以及地面自动雨量站资料进行了降水反演和评估,并实现了两部雷达降水反演的拼图.评估结果表明在雷达测雨中,利用改进窗概率配对方法确定的Z-R关系反演的雷达测雨精度要优于目前国内业务雷达采用的经验关系式,而且经过自适应卡尔曼滤波和变分联合处理之后,既保持了雷达观测降水的空间分布特征,也显著提高了雷达测雨的精度.     

滑坡频度-降雨量的分形关系

降雨-滑坡关系是对降雨引发的滑坡进行预报的一个重要基础。本文根据中国浙江省1990～2003年期间有明确日期和坐标记录的1414个滑坡数据和基本覆盖浙江全部陆地区域的1257个雨量站记录的日降雨量数据,研究了滑坡频度-降雨关系。研究结果表明,降雨引发滑坡的频度与降雨量之间遵循分形的幂指数关系,并且在两个尺度的降雨量范围内具有不同的标度指数。按照幂指数关系拟合的两条滑坡累计频度-降雨关系线交点(拐点)处的降雨量(Rin)指出了引发75%左右滑坡的累计降雨阀值的上边界(以THCR表示)。对1d、4d、6d和11d这4个累计降雨时段的研究表明,引发75%左右滑坡的累计降雨阀值分别为205mm(1d)、273mm(4d)、294mm(6d)、315mm(11d)。     

中长期预报在邢台海河流域的应用

在分析子牙河水系海河流域降雨径流的基础上,应用回归统计法,通过优选因子进行预报。西台峪站位于邢台临城县境内,属半干旱、半湿润山丘区,年降水主要集中在6—9月,其河流特性为暴涨暴落。通过优选因子建立预报方程。因子的选取我们从物理成因和数理统计等各方面来考察各个影响因素,挑选出具有明确物理意义的预报因子,并把其应用到实际工作中去。探讨了中长期预报在半干旱、半湿润地区的适用性,对计算成果分析遇到的问题提出了一些解决方法。     

气象因子对洪湖有机氯农药大气沉降的影响

对洪湖进行了为期一年(2005年2月-2006年2月)的大气沉降采样,采用被动大气采样方法对大气沉降中的有机氯农药进行了分析,得到该年通过大气沉降向洪湖输入有机氯农药9.77 kg,其中大气颗粒态沉降量为2.74 kg,湿沉降量为7.03kg。大气沉降中六六六(HCHs)和滴滴涕(DDTs)的沉降量最大。将所获气象数据和各季度有机氯农药大气沉降量进行了相关性分析,结果表明:①气象因子对湿沉降的相关性较大气颗粒态沉降的明显,其中降雨量、平均温度、平均风速与湿沉降量的相关系数最高;②风速、温度、日照对有机氯农药在气相溶解态和大气颗粒态分配影响强烈,而温度是决定有机氯农药在大气中以何种形式沉降的主要因素;③由于降雨的前锋时段具备有效的强沉降能力,使得连续性降雨频次对大气沉降影响强烈。     

近30年我国南方区域持续性暴雨过程的分类研究

利用中国站点日降水资料对1981~2011年我国南方地区区域持续性暴雨(PHREs)进行了分类研究。按照区域内至少连续5 d或5 d以上有不小于10个格点[分辨率0.25o(纬度)×0.25o(经度)]出现大于等于50 mm降水且相邻两日雨带重合率不小于20%的标准,采用客观分析的方法分别挑选出我国江淮区域和华南区域PHREs。江淮区域非台风影响的PHREs 31例,集中发生在6月中旬到7月中旬,平均持续8.29 d,华南非台风影响的PHREs 34例,集中发生在6~7月,平均持续6.24 d,这两类事件的发生频次和强度均呈年代际增长。江淮区域受台风影响的PHREs 4例,集中发生在7月中下旬到8月初。华南受台风系统影响的PHREs 31例,集中发生在7~9月,此类事件的发生频次和系统强度在2000年以后均明显上升。采用场相关的客观分类方法对非台风影响的PHREs进行较为细致的分类,将江淮区域持续性暴雨事件分为A型(主雨带在长江以南)、B型(主雨带在长江以北)和C型(主雨带在长江沿江地区),将华南区域持续性暴雨事件分为E型(主雨带在云贵高原以东)和F型(主雨带位于云贵高原和广西),该分类将为下一步的机制研究提供帮助。