Seasonal extreme rainfall variability over India and its association with surface air temperature

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - Spatial variability in catchment processes is crucial for hydrologic and water resources planning and management. The spatial density of ground-based rain...     

Precipitation climatology over India: validation with observations and reanalysis datasets and spatial trends

Changing rainfall patterns have significant effect on water resources, agriculture output in many countries, especially the country like India where the economy depends on rain-fed agriculture. Rainfall over India has large spatial as well as temporal variability. To understand the variability in rainfall, spatial–temporal analyses of rainfall have been studied by using 107 (1901–2007) years of daily gridded India Meteorological Department (IMD) rainfall datasets. Further, the validation of IMD precipitation data is carried out with different observational and different reanalysis datasets during the period from 1989 to 2007. The Global Precipitation Climatology Project data shows similar features as that of IMD with high degree of comparison, whereas Asian Precipitation-Highly-Resolved Observational Data Integration Towards Evaluation data show similar features but with large differences, especially over northwest, west coast and western Himalayas. Spatially, large deviation is observed in the interior peninsula during the monsoon season with National Aeronautics Space Administration-Modern Era Retrospective-analysis for Research and Applications (NASA-MERRA), pre-monsoon with Japanese 25 years Re Analysis (JRA-25), and post-monsoon with climate forecast system reanalysis (CFSR) reanalysis datasets. Among the reanalysis datasets, European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Interim Re-Analysis (ERA-Interim) shows good comparison followed by CFSR, NASA-MERRA, and JRA-25. Further, for the first time, with high resolution and long-term IMD data, the spatial distribution of trends is estimated using robust regression analysis technique on the annual and seasonal rainfall data with respect to different regions of India. Significant positive and negative trends are noticed in the whole time series of data during the monsoon season. The northeast and west coast of the Indian region shows significant positive trends and negative trends over western Himalayas and north central Indian region.     

Northeast monsoon rainfall variability over south peninsular India and its teleconnections

Rainfall over south peninsular India during the northeast (NE) monsoon season (Oct–Dec) shows significant interannual variation. In the present study, we relate the northeast monsoon rainfall (NEMR) over south peninsular India with the major oscillations like El Ni?o Southern Oscillation (ENSO), Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), and Equatorial Indian Ocean Oscillation (EQUINOO) in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. For establishing the teleconnections, sea surface temperature, outgoing long wave radiation, and circulation data have been used. The present study reveals that the positive phase of ENSO, IOD, and EQUINOO favor the NEMR to be normal or above normal over southern peninsular India. The study reveals that the variability of NEMR over south peninsula can be well explained by its relationship with positive phase of ENSO, IOD, and EQUINOO.     

南京一次雷雨的闪电特征与多尺度资料分析

为探究闪电与其他气象要素之间的关系及可预报性,本文利用探空资料、多普勒天气雷达资料、闪电定位仪资料、卫星云图资料和地面自动气象站资料,对2009年7月7日南京雷雨天气进行多尺度分析.结果表明:暴雨过程中负地闪始终占较大比例,正地闪的数目在雷暴消散阶段稍有增长;地闪频数与地面风速时序变化呈现很好的一致性;雷暴来临前风矢位温特征表明对流云发展高度较高,对流层顶的薄层超低温为强对流发生提供了热力不稳定的先兆信息,整层大气深厚的顺时针垂直切变及中低层偏南风为强对流天气提供了有利的动力和水汽条件,为雷暴潜势预报提供了依据;地闪分布与雷达回波顶高、强的风切变区域以及暴雨落区有明显对应关系;负地闪密集区位于雷达强回波核前方强度为40 ～45dBz区域处,对于回波的未来移向有指示作用.     

High-resolution climatology of lightning characteristics within Central Europe

A 6-year analysis (including data of 36 million strokes) of the spatial and temporal occurrence of lightning strokes in Germany and neighbouring areas is presented. The analysis on a high-resolution grid with spatial resolution of 1 km allows assessing the local risk of lightning and studying local effects, e.g. the influence of orography on the occurrence of thunderstorms. The analysis reveals spatial and temporal patterns: the highest number of lightning strokes occurs in the pre-alpine region of southern Germany, further local maxima exists in low mountain ranges. The lowest number of lightning strokes is present in areas of the North Sea and Baltic Sea. Despite a high year-to-year variability of lightning rates, on average a clear annual cycle (maximum June to August) and diurnal cycle (maximum in the afternoon) are present. In addition to this well-known annual and diurnal pattern, the analysis shows that those are intertwined: the diurnal cycle has an annual cycle, visible in the time of daily maximum which occurs later in the afternoon in summer compared to spring and autumn. Furthermore, the annual cycle of lightning is varying geographically, e.g. offshore and coastal regions show a lower amplitude of the annual cycle and a later maximum (autumn) compared to inland (mountainous) regions. In addition, the annual and diurnal cycles of lightning attributes are analysed. The analysis reveals rising height of inner-cloud lightning during the year with a maximum in late summer.     

一次夏季雷暴天气过程中闪电活动特征分析

利用探空资料、多普勒天气雷达和闪电定位仪数据,分析了2009年7月30日发生在南京地区一次雷暴天气过程的雷达及闪电数据时空演变特征。结果表明：对流有效位能Ecap比起K指数（IK）等对于对流潜势预报具有更明显的指示作用,0 ℃层和-10 ℃层高度的降低有利于雷暴云的雷电活动;整个过程以负闪为主导,闪电强度越大,闪电频数也越高,每次闪电峰值后,都对应一次谷值;闪电数据与多普勒天气雷达回波叠加后分析发现,回波的生消演变对应着闪电频数和强度的生消演变,负闪主要落在强回波中心区域,正闪零星分布于回波强度梯度较大的区域;雷达径向速度图像特征变化更能揭示闪电发生发展的机制,逆风区对应雷暴中心区域,不仅是强降水的中心区也是闪电的中心区,对逆风区的识别监测能够更好的指导雷暴预警报工作;利用雷达数据计算的云底动能施力参量,能够很好的描述支持闪电起电的热动力特征,云底动能施力对雷电增长的贡献有一段持续传输过程,该参量峰值比频闪峰值和强度峰值都约有0.5 h的提前量。     

Spatio-temporal variability and predictability of summer monsoon onset over the Philippines

The spatio-temporal variability of boreal summer monsoon onset over the Philippines is studied through the analysis of daily rainfall data across a network of 76 gauges for the period 1977 to 2004 and the pentad Merged Analysis of Precipitation from the US Climate Prediction Center from 1979 to 2006. The onset date is defined using a local agronomic definition, namely the first wet day of a 5-day period receiving at least 40 mm without any 15-day dry spell receiving <5 mm in the 30 days following the start of that period. The onset is found to occur rather abruptly across the western Philippines around mid-May on average and is associated with the set-up of a “classical” monsoonal circulation with low-level easterlies subsequently veering to southerly, and then southwesterly. The onset manifests itself merely as a seasonal increase of rainfall over the eastern Philippines, where rainfall occurs throughout most of the year. Interannual variability of the onset date is shown to consist of a spatially coherent large-scale component, rather similar over the western and eastern Philippines, with a moderate to high amount of local-scale (i.e. station scale) noise. In consequence, the large-scale signal can be easily retrieved from any sample of at least 5–6 stations across the network although the local-scale coherence and fingerprint of the large-scale signal of the onset date are found to be stronger over the central Philippines, roughly from Southern Luzon to Northern Mindanao. The seasonal predictability of local onset is analyzed through a cross-validated canonical correlation analysis using tropical Pacific and Indian Ocean sea surface temperature in March and the 850 hPa May wind field from dynamical forecast models as predictors. The regional-scale onset, defined as the average of standardized local-scale anomalies in onset date, shows good predictive skill (r ≈ 0.8). Moreover, most of the stations show weak to moderate skill (median skill = 0.28–0.43 depending on the scheme) with spatial averaging across stations typically increasing skill to >0.6.     

雷达、闪电资料在典型雷暴单体中的应用

用闪电定位资料和雷达回波资料进行分析,即从雷达产品的4个参数与地闪频数的关系进行相关分析,分析结果表明:(1)反射率因子的回波面积大小和强回波中心的移动与闪电发生的时间、地点有很好的一致性。(2)闪电发生前最大回波顶高有明显的增大,闪电发生的位置和最大回波顶高的位置有很好的对应关系。(3)地闪频数的变化与VIL(垂直累积液态含水量)最大值的变化并不完全对应,但VIL最大值下降到25 kg/m2以下时,可以考虑作为雷暴消散的一个因子。VIL大值区的移动以及VIL大值区面积的变化与地闪频数的整体变化是一致的。(4)雷达VWP产品的无数据区破坏的时间提前于闪电的发生和地闪频数的增长,其恢复滞后于闪电消失。     

Assessment of CORDEX-SA experiments in representing precipitation climatology of summer monsoon over India

The present work assesses the performance of 11 regional climate simulations in representing the precipitation patterns of summer monsoon over India for the period 1970–2005. These simulations have been carried out under Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment–South Asia (CORDEX-SA) project. The regional climate models (RCMs) have been inter-compared as well as evaluated against the observation to identify the common weaknesses and differences between them. For this, a number of statistical analysis has been carried out to compare the model precipitation field with the corresponding observation. Model uncertainty has been also evaluated through bias studies and analysis of the spread in the ensemble mean (hereafter, ensemble). The models which perform better than the rest are identified and studied to look for any improvement in the ensemble performance. These better performing experiments (best RCM experiments) are further assessed over the monsoon core region (MCR) of India. This has been done to understand how well the models perform in a spatially homogeneous zone of precipitation which is considered to be a representative region of Indian summer monsoon characteristics. Finally, an additional analysis has been done to quantify the skill of models based on two different metrics—performance and convergence including a combination of the two. The experiment with regional model RegCM4 forced with the global model GFDL-ESM2M shows the highest combined mean skill in capturing the seasonal mean precipitation. In general, a significant dry bias is found over a larger part of India in all the experiments which seems most pronounced over the central Indian region. Ensemble on an average tends to outperform many of the individual experiments with bias of smaller magnitude and an improved spatial correlation compared with the observation. Experiments which perform better over India improve the results but only slightly in terms of agreement among experiments and bias.     

Morphological classification pertaining to validate the climatology and category of thunderstorms over Kolkata,India

As the world's highest and largest plateau, the Qinghai–Xizang Plateau has experienced a greater warming than the Northern Hemisphere and global averages. This warming has been reported to exhibit an elevation-dependent pattern. However, the finding involved plenty of uncertainties caused by the spatially limited datasets and complex topography. Here, we explored an approach integrating satellite-derived LST data and ground records to generate a spatially continuous air temperature dataset for the plateau grasslands from 2003 to 2012, and then examined influences of elevation/topography on temperature change trends. The derived temperature dataset was validated to be closely correlated with field-station records. Based on the derived spatially continuous temperature datasets, we found an opposite change trend of annually average temperature between Qinghai and Xizang Province. The contrasted trend was obvious in daytime and more so in summer season. By analyzing the temperature trend in relation to elevation, we found an enhanced temperature change trend in higher elevation than in lower elevation for autumn nights and winter temperatures, while the temperature change trends for other seasons were more evident in lower elevation areas. The varying temperature change trends as regulated by elevation implies that temperate grasslands have experienced a more rapid temperature change than alpine grasslands during the past decade.     

闪电定位资料与目测雷暴日的对比分析

对比分析了2006—2008年4—8月江苏省气象局闪电定位系统数据和6个地面观测站雷暴数据,通过计算测站有雷暴记录同时闪电探测网有闪电记录的比例和有地闪记录同时有雷暴记录的比例,得出两种观测数据的一致性较好;同时以目测资料为准,借助雷达数据判别分析了闪电定位系统的漏测率和误测率,表明省气象局闪电定位系统探测数据有效。江苏省水体分布广泛,南北地形差异较大,闪电分布也不同,本文针对不同地形地貌利用两种观测数据计算了适用于各个地区的地闪密度公式。     

A comparison of lightning activity and convective indices over some monsoon-prone areas of China

Using 10-year lightning localization data observed by the TRMM (Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission) Lightning Imaging Sensor (LIS), the relationship between lightning activity and a series of convective indices was investigated over nine monsoon-prone areas of China in which high-impact weather (HIW) events are frequently observed.Two methods were used to verify and reconstruct LIS lightning data. First, LIS lightning flash data were verified by both surface thunderstorm reports and ground-based lightning detection data. Seasonal, monthly, and 5-day distributions of LIS observed lightning activity agree well with the surface reports and ground-based lightning observations. Second, due to LIS's low sampling frequency, a data reconstruction and compensation scheme for LIS lightning observations was designed using both LIS lightning seasonal diurnal cycles and surface thunderstorm reports. After data reconstruction, five lightning products were derived: daily mean and maximum LIS flash rate, daily mean and maximum LIS lightning cell rate, and number of lightning days per five day period.Then, a series of convective indices describing convection conditions were derived from radiosonde data according to atmospheric instability and convective potential analysis. Correlation analysis for each study region was done between 10-year lightning derived products and corresponding convective indices by 5-day periods. The correlation analysis results show that higher lightning flash rate and lightning probability are associated with more unstable air and smaller vertical wind shear in a nearly saturated lower layer in most of the study regions. But the correlation varies from region to region. The best correlation between lightning activity and convective indices was found in eastern and southern China, whereas the correlation is lowest in some inland or basin topography regions in which topographic effects are more significant. Moreover, ambient moisture plays a much more important role in the convective development of thunderstorms in southern China than other regions. Thunderstorm development mechanism differences among regions were also discussed.Based on the close relationship between lightning activity and convective indices, some regression equations for forecasting 5-day mean or maximum LIS lightning flash rate and lightning area (a thunderstorm cell) rate, and 5-day lightning days for the study regions were developed using convective indices as predictors. The verifications show that the convective index-based lightning forecast methods can provide a reasonable lightning outlook including probability and lightning flash rate forecasts for a 5-day period.     

雷暴单体合并进行中雷达回波参数演变及闪电活动的特征分析

雷暴单体合并是促使对流系统成长、增强、持久的重要因素,合并与灾害性天气有着密切的关系。针对23次合并样本（其中有闪电活动的样本10例）,利用多普勒雷达和Safir3000闪电定位系统的探测数据,基于雷达回波参数的构建与计算,分别以一次冰雹暴雨过程和一次强降水过程为例,对合并及雷暴系统的演变进行了物理过程分析,对所有样本特征进行了统计归纳。最后发现并验证了雷达回波参数F_V40up-6（即6 km以上对流单体大于40 dBz体积的变率）常常在合并进行中出现突然减小现象,简称为"突降";同时揭示了合并进行中闪电活动的特征。具体结论如下:（1）就合并最初开始位置而言,高度在5 km之下的样本最多,比例达86%。从合并用时看（即RHI图中30 dBz回波开始衔接至最强回波合为一体为止）,全都在6-36 min,其中用时在12 min以内的占56.5%;达到30 min的仅占16%。合并开始后,在97%的样本中,回波参数V₄₀（即大于40 dBz的总体积）、V_40up-6（即6 km以上大于40 dBz的总体积）出现增大;V₄₀增幅为7%-590%,V_40up-6增幅为3%-638%;V_40up-6最大值出现时刻距合并开始时刻12-18 min的,占总样本的60.1%;24-36 min的,占总样本的34.8%。（2）在雷暴单体合并进行中有"突降"现象的,占总样本的87%;其中又有77%的"突降"出现在距合并开始后的6-18 min内。（3）在10个闪电活动样本中,有9个样本在合并开始后,闪电频数出现了"跃增",甚至出现峰值;全部样本中参与放电的主正电荷区高度随着"突降"均有下降,降幅在1-4 km,而此时的闪电频数几乎没有变化。      

春季北太平洋风暴轴的年际与年代际变化特征及其与太平洋海温异常的关系

利用20世纪大气再分析资料和欧洲中心海温资料研究了春季西北太平洋风暴轴的年（代）际变化特征以及在不同年代际背景下风暴轴与太平洋海温关系的转变。结果表明,春季西北太平洋风暴轴主要存在两种空间变化模态,即反映其强度变化的第1模态和反映其南北位置变化的第2模态。年代际及以上时间尺度上,风暴轴强度、位置与太平洋海温的关系主要表现为大气对海洋的强迫作用。在不同年代际背景下,风暴轴与太平洋海温的关系则存在明显的年代际转变：1977年以后,风暴轴强度与太平洋海温的关系主要表现为大气对海洋的强迫作用,而在1977年之前则主要表现为海洋对大气的强迫作用,特别是同期冬季日本以东黑潮和黑潮延伸区海温异常的强迫作用;风暴轴南北位置与太平洋海温异常的关系,在1977年以后表现为大气对海洋的强迫作用,主要表现为对北太平洋中部海温的影响,但在1977年以前表现为海洋和大气的共同作用,风暴轴南北位置的变化还与同期的赤道中东太平洋海温异常有关,表明ENSO可能对风暴轴的位置变化存在影响。     

北京及其周边地区闪电活动的时空特征

利用具有总闪观测能力的SAFIR3000在2005-2007年对北京及周边地区(天津、唐山、廊坊等)的观测资料,分析了该地区云闪和地闪时空分布特征.结果表明:云闪高发时段在15:00-次日00:00,峰值在19:00,高发月份在6-8月,峰值在7月;云闪空间分布高值区在北京东北部、天津北部、承德西南部一带,约为30次/(km2·a);云闪平均高度(海拔高度)日变化差异不大,季节变化夏季最高,冬季最低;高度在9～10 km的云闪最多,占云闪总次数的10.97％.地闪高发时段、月份、地闪高值区(密度约为5次/(km2·a))与云闪基本相似,不同之处在于云闪日分布多为单峰,而地闪为双峰,云闪高值时段开始与结束时间均比地闪早;云闪空间分布高值区密度约为地闪的6倍.3 a平均正闪占地闪总数百分比为16.44％,夏季该百分比较低,春秋季较高,其月际变化与正闪次数月际变化相反.总闪时空分布特征和云闪更为相似,总闪高值区分布和卫星探测得到的基本一致.     

雷暴持续时间与地闪活动的预报方法研究

根据2007—2008年6—8月湖南地区地闪定位、天气背景及探空资料,利用天气学分型及数理统计等方法,对湖南夏季雷暴的天气背景、持续时间以及雷暴过程中地闪的活动进行分析,定义的地闪频数指数(Icgf)可以较好地区分地闪活动等级;利用逐步回归方法分别得到了雷暴持续时间及地闪频数指数的预报方程,且均通过的信度检验,并进一步提出了各地闪活动等级预报的诊断指标。     

Response of thunderstorm and lightning activity to solar modulation of atmospheric electrification

Summary The influence of thunderstorms on the atmospheric radio noise field strength (ARNFS) over Kalyani (West Bengal) at 27 kHz has been analyzed over a two-year period. The results show that the median noise level decreases during the winter and reaches a maximum during the monsoon months. A comparison of the seasonal occurrence of thunderstorm-days with ARNFS indicates that both of them have similar trend over time. However, the trend is more pronounced during daytime, indicating relationship between solar activity, thunderstorms and ARNFS. In this paper, we have attempted to investigate how tropical thunderstorm and lightning activity might be responsible for the solar modulation of atmospheric electrification. The influence of ionizing radiation on the electrical global circuit of the atmosphere is also critically analyzed.With 7 Figures     

舟山群岛雷电活动的特征分析

本文利用舟山市所属定海基准站、嵊泗基本站的气象观测资料,结合舟山群岛的地理特点,对雷电活动重要参量:如雷暴日数、闪电日数、雷暴时数、首次雷暴方向等进行统计分析,得出年雷电活动日数,逐月平均雷电活动日数,以及逐时雷暴时数等数据,并根据IEEE推荐的经验公式,计算地闪密度,发现舟山群岛每年7月雷电活动最为频繁,晚上20-21时达到全天雷电活动的最高峰,年平均雷暴日数明显小于大陆邻近地区等特征,所得结果对雷电预警有重要意义.最后,针对单纯利用气象观测资料分析雷电所存在的局限性,指出舟山群岛雷电特征的进一步研究方向.