EFFECTS OF CONDENSATION HEATING AND SURFACE FLUXES ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SOUTH CHINA MESOSCALE CONVECTIVE SYSTEM (MCS)

A sensitive numerical simulation study is carried out to investigate the effects of condensation heating and surface fluxes on the development of a South China MCS that occurred during 23 –C 24 May 1998. The results reveal the following: (1) Condensation heating plays an important role in the development of MCS. In every different stage, without condensation heating, MCS precipitation is significantly reduced, and quickly dissipates. (2) Condensation heating demonstrates most importantly during the early development stages of MCS vortex; as the vortex develops stronger, the condensation heating effects reduces. (3) By affecting the MCS development processes, condensation heating also influences the formation of MCS mesoscale environment structure features such as low-level jet (mLLJ), upper-level divergence. (4) By changing the antecedent environmental circulation, the surface fluxes also play an important role in the development of MCS. Because of the surface heating, pressure declines over the heavy rainfall and MCS happening regions, which results in the intensification of southerly flows from the ocean along the South China coastline areas, and leads to the enhancement of horizontal convergence and increase of vapor amount in the lower layer. All of these make the atmosphere more unstable and more favorable for the convection.