A Modeling Study on the Mechanism of Convective Initiation of a Squall Line over Northeastern China

High-resolution numerical simulation results of a squall line initiated along a convergence zone in northeast China on 26 June 2014 were presented in this study. The simulation was performed by a convection-permitting model with coarse and fine grids of 4 and 1.33 km, respectively, and the simulation results were validated against the observation. Results showed that the simulation adequately reproduced the life cycle of the squall line, which allowed detailed investigation of the mechanism of convective initiation in this case. The synoptic condition was favorable for convective initiation and the convection was triggered in a convergence zone, where a branch of dry and cold air and a branch of moist and warm air collided. The water vapor flux divergence was inhomogeneous and some cores of water vapor convergence existed in the convergence zone. These cores were the spots where water vapor converged intensely and the air there was forced to rise, creating favorable spots where the convection was initially triggered. A series of quasi-equally spaced vortices near the surface, which themselves were the result of horizontal shear instability, were accountable for the inhomogeneity of the surface water vapor flux divergence. These vortices rotated the moist air into their north and dry air into their south, thus creating more favorable spots for convective initiation in their north. After initiation, the updraft turned the horizontal vorticity into vertical vorticity in the mid-level. The vortices near the surface collaborated with the vorticity maxima in the mid-level and enhanced the development of convection by providing water vapor.

A Modeling Study on the Mechanism of Convective Initiation of a Squall Line over Northeastern China

High-resolution numerical simulation results of a squall line initiated along a convergence zone in northeast China on 26 June 2014 were presented in this study. The simulation was performed by a convection-permitting model with coarse and fine grids of 4 and 1.33 km, respectively, and the simulation results were validated against the observation. Results showed that the simulation adequately reproduced the life cycle of the squall line, which allowed detailed investigation of the mechanism of convective initiation in this case. The synoptic condition was favorable for convective initiation and the convection was triggered in a convergence zone, where a branch of dry and cold air and a branch of moist and warm air collided. The water vapor flux divergence was inhomogeneous and some cores of water vapor convergence existed in the convergence zone. These cores were the spots where water vapor converged intensely and the air there was forced to rise, creating favorable spots where the convection was initially triggered. A series of quasi-equally spaced vortices near the surface, which themselves were the result of horizontal shear instability, were accountable for the inhomogeneity of the surface water vapor flux divergence. These vortices rotated the moist air into their north and dry air into their south, thus creating more favorable spots for convective initiation in their north. After initiation, the updraft turned the horizontal vorticity into vertical vorticity in the mid-level. The vortices near the surface collaborated with the vorticity maxima in the mid-level and enhanced the development of convection by providing water vapor.