Statistical Characteristics of Convective Initiation in the Beijing-Tianjin Region Revealed by Six-Year Radar Data

Characteristics of convective initiation (CI) in the Beijing-Tianjin region during the warm season of2008-2013 are examined. A total of 38877 CI cases are identified by a thunderstorm identification, tracking, analysis, and nowcasting algorithm. CI cases are evaluated in the context of associated terrain, weather systems, and land cover properties. The spatial distribution of all CI cases shows that there are dense CI activities around the 200-m elevation, which means that convective storms are more easily triggered over foothills. From 1500-1800 to 0300-0600 BT (Beijing Time), the high-occurrence CI region tends to propagate southeastward (i.e., from mountains to plains, then to ocean). Among the four local weather systems, the Mongolian cold vortex has the highest CI frequency while the after-trough system has the lowest CI frequency. For the land cover relationships with CI, the urban land cover has the highest CI density and the forest-type land cover has the second highest CI density; these two types of land cover are more conducive to CI formation.