The Uncertainty of Mesoscale Numerical Prediction of Heavy Rain in South China and the Ensemble Simulations

1. IntroductionHeavy rain is a kind of severe natural calamitythat influences South China. After decades of years oftests and theoretical exploration by Chinese scientists,significant progresses have been achieved in its predic-tion and basic theoretical studies (Huang, 1986; Xue,1999; Zhou et al., 2003). Currently, the mesoscale nu-merical model has already been employed as one of themajor tools in the prediction and research on heavyrain in South China, promoting considerably the ac-curac…

The Uncertainty of Mesoscale Numerical Prediction of Heavy Rain in South China and the Ensemble Simulations

In the context of non-hydrostatic MM5 version we have explored the impact of convective parameteri- zation schemes on uncertainty in mesoscale numerical prediction of South China heavy rain and mesoscale heavy rainfall short-range ensemble simulation by using two kinds of physics perturbation methods through a heavy rain case occurring on June 8, 1998 in Guangdong and Fujian Provinces. The results show the physical process of impacts of convective schemes on heavy rainfall is that different latent heat of convective condensation produced by different convective schemes can make local temperature perturbation, leading to the difference of local vertical speed by the intrinsic dynamic and thermodynamic processes of atmosphere, and therefore, making difference of the timing, locations and strength of mesh scale and subgrid scale pre- cipitation later. New precipitations become the new source of latent heat and temperature perturbation, which finally make the dynamic and thermodynamic structures different in the simulations. Two kinds of methods are used to construct different model version stochastically. The first one is using different convec- tive parameterization and planetary boundary layer schemes, the second is adjusting different parameters of convective trigger functions in Grell scheme. The results indicate that the first ensemble simulations can provide more uncertainty information of location and strength of heavy rainfall than the second. The single determinate predictions of heavy rain are unstable; physics ensemble predictions can reflect the uncertainty of heavy rain, provide more useful guidance and have higher application value. Physics ensembles suggest that model errors should be taken into consideration in the heavy rainfall ensembles. Although the method of using different parameters in Grell scheme could not produce good results, how to construct the perturbation model or adjust the parameter in one scheme according to the physical meaning of the parameter still needs further investigation. The limitation of the current study is that it is based on a single case and more cases will be addressed in the future researches.