THE GATE SQUALL LINE OF 9－10 AUGUST 1974

A tropical squall line that passed over the ship array of the Global Atmospheric Research Programme’s Atlantic Tropical Experiment (GATE) on 9－10 August 1974 is analyzed. This squall line was similar to squall systems that passed over the GATE ship array on four other days. It began as a purely convective cloud line, then developed an associated stratiform cloud and precipitation area. The stratiform rain built up to a maxi-mum amount over a period of 8 h, then gradually diminished over a 6 h period. This stratiform rain is esti-mated to have accounted for 32% of the squall system’s total precipitation. As in other GATE squall lines, the upper-level cloud shield from which the stratiform rain fell, was advected slowly forward of the line during the system’s lifetime, the leading line of corrective clouds consisted of transient smaller-scale convective elements, which lent the line an irregular shape and pulsatory movement, and the stratiform portion of the system was characterized by the development of a mid-level mesoscale vortex similar to that seen in other GATE eases.     

An Investigation into the Relationship between Surface Rain Rate and Rain Depth over Southeast Asia

The relationship between surface rain rate and depth of rain system(rain depth) over Southeast Asia is examined using 10-yr Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission(TRMM) precipitation radar(PR) measurements.Results show that,in general,a large surface rain rate is associated with a deep precipitating system,but a deep rain system may not always correspond with a large surface rain rate.This feature has a regional characteristic.Convective rain develops more frequently over land than over the ocean,while stratiform rain can extend to higher altitudes over the ocean than over land.A light surface rain rate has the largest probability to occur,regardless of rain depth.A convective rain system is more likely associated with a stronger surface rain rate than a stratiform rain system.Results show that precipitation systems involve complex microphysical processes.Rain depth is just one characteristic of precipitation.A linear relationship between surface rain rate and rain depth does not exist.Both deep convective and stratiform rain systems have reflectivity profiles that can be divided into three sections.The main difference in their profiles is at higher levels,from 4.5 km up to 19 km.For shallow stratiform rain systems,a two-section reflectivity profile mainly exists,while for convective systems a three-section profile is more common.     

NUMERICAL SIMULATION STUDY OF CLOUD INTERACTION AND FORMATION MECHANISM OF HEAVY RAIN IN MIXED CONVECTIVE-STRATIFORM CLOUD

Using the numerical model of mixed convective-stratiform clouds(MCS)in the paper(Hong1997)and the averaged stratification of torrential rain processes,the evolution processes,interaction of the two kinds of clouds,structure and the precipitation features in the MCS toproduce heavy rain are simulated and studied,and the physical reasons of producing torrential rainare analysed.The results indicate that the stratiform cloud surrounding the convective cloudbecomes weakened and dissipates in the developing and enhancing of the convective cloud,and therainfall rate and water content in the stratiform cloud increase as the distance from the convectivecloud becomes larger.The numerical experiments find out that the stratiform cloud provides abenificial developing environment for the convective cloud,i.e.,the saturated environment and theconvergence field in the stratiform cloud help to lengthen the life cycle of the convective cloud,produce sustained rainfall with high intensity and intermittent precipitation with ultra-highintensity.These and the ice phase microphysical processes are the main factors for the torrentialrain formation and the MCS is a very effective precipitation system.     

Convective and Stratiform Cloud Rainfall Estimation from Geostationary Satellite Data

The Bayes Decision (BD) method was used to distinguish the corrective and stratiform components of cloud sys-tems from GMS-4 satellite data. A technique originally developed by Adler and Negri (1988, hereafter abbreviated AN) was improved for estimating the convective and stratiform cloud precipitation areas and rates of cloud systems from GMS satellite imagery. It has been applied to a tropical cyclonic cloud cluster observed over east coast area of China on September 23, 1992, which brought about flood disaster in that region. Overlaid 6-hour surface rainfall ob-servations show that the rainfall areas and amounts match with results from improved AN technique. The successful application of the Adler and Negri’s technique to convective and stratiform clouds provides encouragement for the use of this method over large region of mid-latitude China where radar data are not fully covered.     

Convective Scale Structure and Evolution of a Squall Line Observed by C-Band Dual Doppler Radar in an Arid Region of Northwestern China

A long-lived and loosely organized squall line moved rapidly across Urumqi, the capital city of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China on 26 June 2005, generating hail and strong winds. The squall line was observed by a dual Doppler radar system in a field experiment conducted in 2004 and 2005 by the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences and the local meteorological bureau in northwestern China. The 3D wind fields within the squall line were retrieved through dual Doppler analyses and a variational Doppler radar analysis system (VDRAS). The formation and structure of the squall line as well as the genesis and evolution of embedded convective cells were investigated. During its life period, the squall line consisted of six storm cells extending about 100 km in length, and produced hail of about 25 mm in diameter and strong surface winds up to 11 m s^-1. Radar observations revealed a broad region of stratiform rain in a meso-β cyclone, with the squall line located to the west of this. Two meso-γ scale vortices were found within the squall line. Compared to typical squall lines in moist regions, such as Guangdong Province and Shanghai, which tend to be around 300--400 km in length, have echo tops of 17--19 km, and produce maximum surface winds of about 25 m s^-1 and temperature variations of about 8^oC this squall line system had weaker maximum reflectivity (55 dBZ), a lower echo top (13 km) and smaller extension (about 100 km), relatively little stratiform rainfall preceding the convective line, and a similar moving speed and temperature variation at the surface.     

DIURNAL CYCLES OF CONVECTIVE AND STRATIFORM PRECIPITATION OVER NORTH CHINA DURING SUMMER

The diurnal cycles of precipitation over north China during summer in four strong rainfall years are examined using two-dimensional cloud-resolving modeling data. The diurnal signals are analyzed in terms of precipitation budget, fractional rainfall coverage and rain intensity over convective and stratiform rainfall area. The analysis of precipitation budget shows that the diurnal cycles of convective and stratiform precipitation mainly correspond respectively to those of water vapor convergence and transport of hydrometeor from convective rainfall area to stratiform rainfall area in 1964, 1994 and 1995, whereas they mainly correspond to those of water vapor convergence in 2013. The diurnal cycles of convective and stratiform precipitation are mainly associated with those of rain intensity in 1964, 1994 and 1995. In 2013, the diurnal cycle of stratiform precipitation is mainly related to that of fractional rainfall coverage over stratiform rainfall area. The multiple peaks of convective precipitation mainly correspond to the rain intensity maxima associated with strong water vapor convergence.     

IMPACTS OF TWO TROPICAL CYCLONES EXPERIENCING EXTRATROPICAL TRANSITION DURING NORTHWARD PROGRESSION ON THE RAINFALL OF LIAODONG PENINSULA

Both of Typhoon Winnie (9711) and Matsa (0509) underwent an extratropical transition (ET) process when they moved northward after landfall and affected Liaodong Peninsula. However, Matsa produced half as much rainfall as Winnie, although it struck Liaodong Peninsula directly while Winnie passed through the Bohai Sea. The relations between the ET processes and the precipitation over Liaodong Peninsula are examined. The result shows that the precipitation difference between Winnie and Matsa was closely related to the interactions between the westerly systems and typhoons during their ET processes. Winnie was captured by the upper westerly trough and then coupled with it when moving to the mid-latitudes, and the positive anomaly of moist potential vorticity (MPV) was transported downward from the upper troposphere over the remnant circulation of the tropical cyclone (TC). It was favorable to the interaction between tropical warm and wet air and westerly cold air, causing convective cloud clusters to form and develop. The rain belt composed of several meso-β cloud clusters over the Liaodong Peninsula, resulting in heavy rainfall. On the other hand, Matsa did not couple with any upper trough during its ET process and the positive anomaly of MPV in the upper troposphere and its downward transfer were weak. Only one meso-β cloud cluster occurred in Matsa’s rain belt during its ET process that tended to lessen rainfall over Liaodong Peninsula.     

INHOMOGENEOUS FEATURES IN ME1-YU FRONTAL CLOUD SYSTEM

The structure of radar echo in stratiform cloud which was found in mei-yu frontal cloud system is generally inhomogeneous, especially in the structure of bright band echoes. The inhomogeneous structure of warm region in stratiform cloud and the shower feature of precipitation are closely related to the inhomogeneous structure of bright band and convective cells embedded in stratiform cloud.During Summer time the mei-yu cloud system is an important precipitating system in the southern part of China. To study its structure is of great significance for weather forecast and understanding the physical processes of cloud and precipitation. Therefore, we have observed mei-yu frontal cloud system by use of 711 type radar (3 cm) and airplane at Tunxi, Anhui Province since 1979. It was found that the structure of stratiform cloud, especially the structure of its warm region appears to be inhomogeneous1),2). This is a significant feature of cloud structure in mei-yu frontal cloud system. In this paper, we shall fu     

EVALUATION OF CONVECTIVE-STRATIFORM RAINFALL SEPARATION SCHEMES BY PRECIPITATION AND CLOUD STATISTICS

In this study,two convective-stratiform rainfall partitioning schemes are evaluated using precipitation and cloud statistics for different rainfall types categorized by applying surface rainfall equation on grid-scale data from a two-dimensional cloud-resolving model simulation.One scheme is based on surface rainfall intensity whereas the other is based on cloud content information.The model is largely forced by the large-scale vertical velocity derived from the Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment(TOGA COARE).The results reveal that over 40% of convective rainfall is associated with water vapor divergence,which primarily comes from the rainfall type with local atmospheric drying and water hydrometeor loss/convergence,caused by precipitation and evaporation of rain.More than 40% of stratiform rainfall is related to water vapor convergence,which largely comes from the rainfall type with local atmospheric moistening and hydrometeor loss/convergence attributable to water clouds through precipitation and the evaporation of rain and ice clouds through the conversion from ice hydrometeor to water hydrometeor.This implies that the separation methods based on surface rainfall and cloud content may not clearly separate convective and stratiform rainfall.     

Cloud Seedability Study with a Dual-Model System

In this research,a novel dual-model system,one-dimensional stratiform cold cloud model(1DSC) coupled to Weather Research and Forecast(WRF) model(WRF-1DSC for short),was employed to investigate the effects of cloud seeding by silver iodide(AgI) on rain enhancement.Driven by changing environmental conditions extracted from the WRF model,WRF-1DSC could be used to assess the cloud seeding effects quantitatively.The employment of WRF-1DSC,in place of a one-dimensional two-moment cloud seeding model applied to a three-dimensional mesoscale cloud-resolving model,was found to result in massive reduction of computational resources.Numerical experiments with WRF-1DSC were conducted for a real stratiform precipitation event observed on 4-5 July 2004,in Northeast China.A good agreement between the observed and modeled cloud system ensured the ability of WRF-1DSC to simulate the observed precipitation process efficiently.Sensitivity tests were performed with different seeding times,locations,and amounts.Experimental results showed that the optimum seeding effect(defined as the percentage of rain enhancement or rain enhancement rate) could be achieved through proper seeding at locations of maximum cloud water content when the updraft was strong.The optimum seeding effect was found to increase by 5.61% when the cloud was seeded at 5.5 km above ground level around 2300 UTC 4 July 2004,with the maximum AgI mixing ratio(X s) equaling 15 ng kg 1.On the other hand,for an overseeded cloud,a significant reduction occurred in the accumulated precipitation(-12.42%) as X s reached 100 ng kg 1.This study demonstrates the potential of WRF1DSC in determining the optimal AgI seeding strategy in practical operations of precipitation enhancement.     

A Modeling Study of Surface Rainfall Processes Associated with a Torrential Rainfall Event over Hubei, China, during July 2007

The surface rainfall processes associated with the torrential rainfall event over Hubei,China,during July 2007 were investigated using a two-dimensional cloud-resolving model.The model integrated the large-scale vertical velocity and zonal wind data from National Centers for Environmental Prediction(NCEP)/Global Data Assimilation System(GDAS) for 5 days.The time and model domain mean surface rain rate was used to identify the onset,mature,and decay periods of rainfall.During the onset period,the descending motion data imposed in the lower troposphere led to a large contribution of stratiform rainfall to the model domain mean surface rainfall.The local atmospheric drying and transport of rain from convective regions mainly contributes to the stratiform rainfall.During the mature periods,the ascending motion data integrated into the model was so strong that water vapor convergence was the dominant process for both convective and stratiform rainfall.Both convective and stratiform rainfalls made important contributions to the model domain mean surface rainfall.During the decay period,descending motion data input into the model prevailed,making stratiform rainfall dominant.Stratiform rainfall was mainly caused by the water vapor convergence over raining stratiform regions.     

Role of Downward Momentum Transport in the Formation of Severe Surface Winds

The Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model was used to investigate the role of downward momentum transport in the formation of severe surface winds for a squall line on 3-4 June 2009 across regions of the Henan and Shandong Provinces of China. The results show that there was a strong westerly jet belt with a wind speed greater than 30 m s 1 and a thickness of 5 km at an altitude of 11-16 km. The jet belt was accelerated, and it descended while the squall line convective system occurred. It was found that the appearance of strong negative perturbation pressure accompanied by the squall line caused the acceleration of the upper-level westerly jet and increased the horizontal wind speed by a maximum of 18%. Meanwhile, the negative buoyancy due to the loading, melting, and evaporation of cloud hydrometeors induced the downward momentum transport from the upper levels. The downward momentum transport contributed approximately 70% and the surface cold pool 30% to the formation of severe surface winds.     

EFFECTS OF STRATIFORM CLOUD ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF CUMULUS CLOUD AND ITS PRECIPITATION

Based on the two-dimensional slab-symmetric model of cumulus clouds established by the authors,thedevelopment of the cumulus cloud and its precipitation in environments with and without the stratiform cloudpresent has been simulated numerically in almost the same atmospheric stratification.Results show that thepresence of the stratiform cloud has a significant effect on the development of the cumulus cloud and theincreae of its precipitation.The rainfall may increase by scveral to tens of times.It is believed that theconvective-stratiform mixed cloud system may be important for producing heavy to torrential rain.This isin good agreement with what has been observed in the Meiyu frontal cloud system in recent investigations     

An Analysis of Thermally-Related Surface Rainfall Budgets Associated with Convective and Stratiform Rainfall

Both water vapor and heat processes play key roles in producing surface rainfall.While the water vapor effects of sea surface temperature and cloud radiative and microphysical processes on surface rainfall have been investigated in previous studies,the thermal effects on rainfall are analyzed in this study using a series of two-dimensional equilibrium cloud-resolving model experiments forced by zonally-uniform,constant,large-scale zonal wind and zero large-scale vertical velocity.The analysis of thermally-related surface rainfall budget reveals that the model domain mean surface rain rate is primarily associated with the mean infrared cooling rate.Convective rainfall and transport of hydrometeor concentration from convective regions to raining stratiform regions corresponds to the heat divergence over convective regions,whereas stratiform rainfall corresponds to the transport of hydrometeor concentration from convective regions and heat divergence over raining stratiform regions.The heat divergence over convective regions is mainly balanced by the heat convergence over rainfall-free regions,which is,in turn,offset by the radiative cooling over rainfall-free regions.The sensitivity experiments of rainfall to the effects of sea surface temperature and cloud radiative and microphysical processes show that the sea surface temperature and cloud processes affect convective rainfall through the changes in infrared cooling rate over rainfall-free regions and transport rate of heat from convective regions to rainfall-free regions.     

Differences between Convective and Stratiform Precipitation Budgets in a Torrential Rainfall Event

Differences in rainfall budgets between convective and stratiform regions of a torrential rainfall event were investigated using high-resolution simulation data produced by the Weather Research and Forecasting(WRF) model. The convective and stratiform regions were reasonably separated by the radar-based convective–stratiform partitioning method, and the threedimensional WRF-based precipitation equation combining water vapor and hydrometeor budgets was further used to analyze the rainfall budgets. The results showed that the magnitude of precipitation budget processes in the convective region was one order larger than that in the stratiform region. In convective/stratiform updraft regions, precipitation was mainly from the contribution of moisture-related processes, with a small negative contribution from cloud-related processes. In convective/stratiform downdraft regions, cloud-related processes played positive roles in precipitation, while moisture-related processes made a negative contribution. Moisture flux convergence played a dominant role in the moisture-related processes in convective or stratiform updraft regions, which was closely related to large-scale dynamics. Differences in cloud-related processes between convective and stratiform regions were more complex compared with those in moisture-related processes.Both liquid-and ice-phase microphysical processes were strong in convective/stratiform updraft regions, and ice-phase processes were dominant in convective/stratiform downdraft regions. There was strong net latent heating within almost the whole troposphere in updraft regions, especially in the convective updraft region, while the net latent heating(cooling) mainly existed above(below) the zero-layer in convective/stratiform downdraft regions.     

Numerical Simulations of Impacts of Urbanization on Heavy Rainfall in Beijing Using Different Land-Use Data

A summer strong convective precipitation event on 10 July 2004 over Beijing is numerically simulated in this paper, and the impact of urban heat island (UHI) on summer convective rain is investigated. The analysis reveals that a mesoscale convective cloud cluster system leads to this heavy rainfall event, suggesting the supply of moisture by the large scale circulation before the initiation of precipitation, a generally weaker UHI of 2-3℃existed in the urban area. Much like a sea breeze, the anomalously warm urban air created relatively low pressure, inducing the inflow of cooler rural air towards the urban center, which is favorable to the ascending motion and the formation of convective precipitation over the urban area. In addition, the numerical simulation of the strong convective precipitation event suggests that the simulated result of precipitation using the 2002 LANDSAT-7 land-use data with 30-m resolution is much better than that using the 1992-1993 USGS land-use data with 1-km resolution, whether in the magnitude of rainfall or in the location of precipitation. The simulation confirms to some extent that the UHI has a significant role in causing extreme rainfall event.     

A STUDY ON THE PRECIPITATION CHARACTERISTICS OVER THE SOUTH CHINA SEA BEFORE AND AFTER THE MONSOON ONSET

This paper presents a study on the temporal and spatial variations of the precipitation over the area of the South China Sea (SCS) during the monsoon onset period. The data used are from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) observations between April and June over the nine years from 1998 to 2006. This study focuses on the central and northern part of South China Sea (110-120°E, 10-20°N). Based on the observations, the 27th pentad is selected as the occurrence time of the SCS monsoon onset. The conclusions are as follows. (1) After the monsoon onset, the specific area, defined as the ratio of the number of pixels with certain type of precipitation to the number of total pixels, extends significantly for both convective and stratiform rain, with the latter having a larger magnitude. The specific rainfall, defined as the ratio of the amount of certain type of precipitation to the total amount of precipitation, decreases for convective rain and increases for stratiform rain. (2) Results also show significant increase in heavy rain and decrease in light rain after the monsoon onset. (3) Changes are also observed in the rainfall horizontal distributions over the SCS before and after the monsoon onset, manifested by the relocation of precipitation minima for both convective and stratiform rain. (4) After the monsoon onset, the variability in characteristics of precipitation vertical structure increases significantly, leading to more latent heat release and consequently deeper convection. Meanwhile, the bright-band altitude of stratiform precipitation is also elevated.     

Statistical Characteristics of Raindrop Size Distribution in the Tibetan Plateau and Southern China

The characteristics of raindrop size distribution(DSD) over the Tibetan Plateau and southern China are studied in this paper, using the DSD data from April to August 2014 collected by HSC-PS32 disdrometers in Nagqu and Yangjiang, comprising a total of 9430 and 6366 1-min raindrop spectra, respectively. The raindrop spectra, characteristics of parameter variations with rainfall rate, and the relationships between reflectivity factor(Z) and rainfall rate(R) are analyzed, as well as their DSD changes with precipitation type and rainfall rate. The results show that the average raindrop spectra appear to be one-peak curves, the number concentration for larger drops increase significantly with rainfall rate, and its value over southern China is much higher, especially in convective rain. Standardized Gamma distributions better describe DSD for larger drops, especially for convective rain in southern China. All three Gamma parameters for stratiform precipitation over the Tibetan Plateau are much higher, while its shape parameter(μ) and mass-weighted mean diameter(D_m), for convective precipitation, are less. In terms of parameter variation with rainfall rate, the normalized intercept parameter(N_w) over the Tibetan Plateau for stratiform rain increases with rainfall rate, which is opposite to the situation in convective rain. The μover the Tibetan Plateau for stratiform and convective precipitation types decreases with an increase in rainfall rate, which is opposite to the case for D m variation. In Z–R relationships, like "Z = AR~b", the coefficient A over the Tibetan Plateau is smaller, while its b is higher, when the rain type transfers from stratiform to convective ones. Furthermore, with an increase in rainfall rate, parameters A and b over southern China increase gradually, while A over the Tibetan Plateau decreases substantially, which differs from the findings of previous studies. In terms of geographic location and climate over the Tibetan Plateau and southern China, the precipitation in the pre-flood seasons is dominated by strong convective rain, while weak convective rain occurs frequently in northern Tibet with lower humidity and higher altitude.     

Assimilation of Doppler Radar Observations with an Ensemble Square Root Filter：A Squall Line Case Study

The effectiveness of using an Ensemble Square Root Filter（EnSRF） to assimilate real Doppler radar observations on convective scale is investigated by applying the technique to a case of squall line on 12July 2005 in midwest Shandong Province using the Weather Research and Forecasting（WRF） model.The experimental results show that：（1） The EnSRF system has the potential to initiate a squall line accurately by assimilation of real Doppler radar data.The convective-scale information has been added into the WRF model through radar data assimilation and thus the analyzed fields are improved noticeably.The model spin-up time has been shortened,and the precipitation forecast is improved accordingly.（2） Compared with the control run,the deterministic forecast initiated with the ensemble mean analysis of EnSRF produces more accurate prediction of microphysical fields.The predicted wind and thermal fields are reasonable and in accordance with the characteristics of convective storms.（3） The propagation direction of the squall line from the ensemble mean analysis is consistent with that of the observation,but the propagation speed is larger than the observed.The effective forecast period for this squall line is about 5-6 h,probably because of the nonlinear development of the convective storm.     

Improving the Analyses and Forecasts of a Tropical Squall Line Using Upper Tropospheric Infrared Satellite Observations

The advent of modern geostationary satellite infrared radiance observations has noticeably improved numerical weather forecasts and analyses.However,compared to midlatitude weather systems and tropical cyclones,research into using infrared radiance observations for numerically predicting and analyzing tropical mesoscale convective systems remain mostly fallow.Since tropical mesoscale convective systems play a crucial role in regional and global weather,this deficit should be addressed.This study is the first of its kind to examine the potential impacts of assimilating all-sky upper tropospheric infrared radiance observations on the prediction of a tropical squall line.Even though these all-sky infrared radiance observations are not directly affected by lower-tropospheric winds,the high-frequency assimilation of these all-sky infrared radiance observations improved the analyses of the tropical squall line’s outflow position.Aside from that,the assimilation of all-sky infrared radiance observations improved the analyses and prediction of the squall line’s cloud field.Finally,reducing the frequency of assimilating these all-sky infrared radiance observations weakened these improvements to the analyzed outflow position,as well as the analyses and predictions of cloud fields.