2016 Vol. 22, No. 4

AN ANALYSIS OF DISTRIBUTION AND MESOSCALE STRUCTURE OF PRECIPITATION ABOUT LANDFALL TROPICAL CYCLONE KOPPU (0915)
AN Cheng, YUAN Jin-nan, MENG Wei-guang, ZHANG Yan-xia, JIANG De-hai
2016, 22(4): 445-454. doi: 10.16555/j.1006-8775.2016.04.001
Abstract:
Observation from automatic weather stations, radars and TRMM satellites are employed to investigate the precipitation distribution of tropical cyclone (TC) Koppu (0915) that made landfall on Guangdong province in 2009. The results show that the precipitation of landfall TC Koppu is featured by significant asymmetry and mesoscale structure, and occurs mainly to the left of its moving path. By examining the sea surface temperature (SST), water vapor flux, Q vector, vertical wind shear of environment etc., it is found out that the distribution of SST, water vapor convergence, low-level convective ascending and vertical wind shear facilitates the TC precipitation to take place to the left of the TC moving path. The mesoscale structure separated by Barnes band-pass filter presents that the precipitation of landfall KOPPU has some organized mesoscale spiral structures, which is around the TC center and composed of the form of belts or blocks. The heavy local rainfall of landfall TC Koppu is primarily associated with the rainfall due to mesoscale spiral structure.
EFFECT OF DRY COLD AIR ACTIVITY ON THE OFFSHORE RAPID INTENSIFICATION OF SUPER TYPHOON SAOMAI (2006): A NUMERICAL SIMULATION RESEARCH
YU Yu-bin, ZHAO Da-jun, CHEN Lian-shou
2016, 22(4): 455-465. doi: 10.16555/j.1006-8775.2016.04.002
Abstract:
Employing the mesoscale WRF (Weather Research and Forecast) model, Super Typhoon Saomai (2006) is simulated. The variation of track and intensity and its offshore rapid intensification process are well demonstrated by the model, and the temperature and humidity patterns associated with the dry cold air activity and their impact on and mechanism of the offshore rapid intensification of Saomai are mainly studied in this paper. The results indicate that high-resolution water vapor imagery can visually reveal the development, evolution, interaction as well as the mutual complementation of the dry cold air activity accompanied with the development of Saomai. The offshore rapid intensification phenomenon of Saomai is closely related to the dry cold air which originates from the upper- and mid- troposphere. Besides, the dry cold air from the upper troposphere is stronger than that from the mid-troposphere. Saomai intensifies as the dry cold air from the northwest moves toward its circulation but weakens when the dry cold air from the southwest is drawn into the storm. Dry cold airflows and their cold advection effect caused by the downward motion across the isentropic surface are favorable to the development of Saomai. The dry cold air always moves along an isentropic surface from the upper troposphere to the mid-troposphere around the typhoon circulation and contributes to Saomai’s abrupt intensity change.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE SEASONAL TRANSITION OF EAST ASIAN MONSOON CIRCULATION AND ASIAN-PACIFIC THERMAL FIELD AND POSSIBLE MECHANISMS
HUANG Jiao-wen, HE Jin-hai, XU Hai-ming, JIN Qi-hua
2016, 22(4): 466-478. doi: 10.16555/j.1006-8775.2016.04.003
Abstract:
The NCEP/NCAR reanalysis, CMAP rainfall and Hadley Centre sea surface temperature (SST) datasets are used to investigate the relationship between the seasonal transition of East Asian monsoon and Asian-Pacific thermal contrast, together with the possible causes. Based on the 250 hPa air temperature over two selected key areas, the Asian-Pacific thermal difference (APTD) index is calculated. Results show that the APTD index is highly consistent with the Asian-Pacific Oscillation (APO) index defined by Zhao et al., in terms of different key areas in different seasons. Moreover, the time point of the seasonal transition of the Asian-Pacific thermal contrast can be well determined by the APTD index, indicative of seasonal variation in East Asian atmospheric circulation from winter to summer. The transition characteristic of the circulation can be summarized as follows. The continental cold high at lower tropospheric level moves eastward to the East China Sea and decreases rapidly in intensity, while the low-level northerlies turn to southerlies. At middle tropospheric level, the East Asia major trough is reduced and moves eastward. Furthermore, the subtropical high strengthens and appears near Philippines. The South Asia high shifts from the east of Philippines to the west of Indochina Peninsula, and the prevailing southerlies change into northerlies in upper troposphere. Meanwhile, both the westerly and easterly jets both jump to the north. The seasonal transition of atmospheric circulation is closely related to the thermal contrast, and the possible mechanism can be concluded as follows. Under the background of the APTD seasonal transition, the southerly wind appears firstly at lower troposphere, which triggers the ascending motion via changing vertical shear of meridional winds. The resultant latent heating accelerates the transition of heating pattern from winter to summer. The summer heating pattern can further promote the adjustment of circulation, which favors the formation and strengthening of the low-level southerly and upper-level northerly winds. As a result, the meridional circulation of the East Asian subtropical monsoon is established through a positive feedback between the circulation and thermal fields. Moreover, the time point of this seasonal transition has a significant positive correlation with the SST anomalies over the tropical central-eastern Pacific Ocean, providing a basis for the short-term climate prediction.
INITIATION MECHANISMS FOR A SUCCESSIVE MJO EVENT AND A PRIMARY MJO EVENT DURING BOREAL WINTER OF 2000-2001
FENG Jing, Tim LI
2016, 22(4): 479-496. doi: 10.16555/j.1006-8775.2016.04.004
Abstract:
Observed outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) and ERA-Interim reanalysis data were analyzed to reveal the initiation processes associated with a successive and a primary MJO event during 2000-2001. It was found that the initiation of the successive event was caused by anomalous ascending motion induced by low-level horizontal temperature advection. The anomalous ascending motion, together with horizontal moisture advection, moistened lower troposphere and led to an unstable stratification and triggered convection. The initiation of the primary MJO event, on the other hand, was caused by the accumulation of anomalous moisture associated with three low-frequency modes, a convectively coupled Kelvin wave (CCKW), an westward-propagating equatorial Rossby wave (ER) and a weak planetary-scale MJO mode. It is the merging of the low-level specific humidity anomalies of the three modes that led to the rapid setup of large-scale convectively unstable stratification and favored the development of the eastward-propagating planetary-scale MJO mode.
A CASE STUDY OF NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF SEA FOG ON THE SOUTHERN CHINA COAST
HUANG Hui-jun, ZHAN Guo-wei, LIU Chun-xia, TU Jing, MAO Wei-kang
2016, 22(4): 497-507. doi: 10.16555/j.1006-8775.2016.04.005
Abstract:
This study uses numerical simulations to examine a case of sea fog that was observed from 20 to 22 March 2011 on the southern China coast. The observation dataset includes observatory data, cloud-top temperature from MODIS, GPS sonde, and data from the Integrated Observation Platform for Marine Meteorology (IOPMM). The simulations are based on the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model with four distinct parameter settings. Both the observations and simulations focus on the characteristics of the fog extent, boundary layer structure, and meteorological elements near the air-sea interface. Our main results are as follows: (1) The extent of mesoscale sea fog can be well simulated when the sea surface temperature has at least 0.5×0.5 horizontal resolution. (2) To accurately model the vertical structure of the sea fog, particularly the surface-based inversion, vertical levels must be added in the boundary layer. (3) When these model conditions are met, the simulations faithfully reproduce the measured downward shortwave radiation, downward longwave radiation, and surface sensible heat flux during the sea fog period.
OBSERVATIONAL STUDY ON THE PRE-TROPICAL CYCLONE SQUALL LINE OF 8 AUGUST 2007 OVER THE COAST OF SOUTH CHINA
ZHENG Teng-fei, HUANG Jian, WAN Qi-lin, LIU Xian-tong, YU Xin
2016, 22(4): 508-521. doi: 10.16555/j.1006-8775.2016.04.006
Abstract:
A squall line in front of the tropical cyclone Pabuk occurred in the west of the Pearl River Delta to Zhanjiang on August 8th, 2007 when the storm approached South China. The development, structure and environmental conditions for this squall line were investigated in this study, with particular attention paid to the possible connection of this squall line with Pabuk. The observational data employed in this study are from soundings, Doppler weather radars and wind profile radars. The following six major conclusions are drawn by our observational analyses. (1) This squall line developed gradually from individual convective cells, and land breeze may be responsible for the onset of the squall line. (2) The path and intensity of the squall line were modulated by the environmental conditions. The squall line propagated along the coastline, and it was stronger on the landing side of the coastline compared with the surrounding in-land regions and oceanic regions. (3) The typical characteristics of tropical squall lines were seen in this squall line, including the cold-pool intensity, vertical structure and the wake flow stratiform precipitation at its developing and mature phases. (4) The environmental conditions of this squall line resemble those of tropical squall lines in terms of deep moist air and low convection condensation level. They also resemble mid-latitude squall lines in terms of the convective instable energy and vertical wind shear in the lower troposphere. (5) Two roles were played by the strong wind around Pabuk. On the one hand, it made the atmosphere more unstable via suppressed shallow convection and increased solar radiation. On the other hand, it enhanced the land-sea thermal contrast and therefore strengthened the sea breeze and the resultant water vapor transport. The sinking temperature inversion prevented the occurrence of low-layer weak convection and accumulated convection instability energy for the development of the strong convection.
IMPROVED FORECASTING OF COLD AIR OUTBREAKS OVER SOUTHERN CHINA THROUGH OROGRAPHIC GRAVITY WAVE DRAG PARAMETERIZATION
ZHONG Shui-xin, CHEN Zi-tong, WANG Gang, MENG Wei-guang, HUANG Rong
2016, 22(4): 522-534. doi: 10.16555/j.1006-8775.2016.04.007
Abstract:
The parameterization of gravity wave drag induced by sub-grid scale orography (GWDO), which has been used in the regional model based on the Global/Regional Assimilation and Prediction System for Tropical Mesoscale Model (GRAPES_TMM), is extended to include the effect of mountain flow blocking drag (MBD). The extended scheme is evaluated against non-GWDO parameterization, including a cold air outbreak over southern China and a monthly verification in February 2012. The experiment results show that the GWDO and MBD parameterization both improves the forecasting of the cold air outbreaks over southern China, as well as alleviations of system bias of GRAPES_TMM. (1) The extended scheme alleviates the strong southerly wind and high surface temperature simulation during the cold air outbreak, especially over northern Guangxi and Guangdong (NGG) province, where local high surface temperature simulation reduces nearly 5 degree. (2) The MBD parameterization improves southerly wind simulations over NGG, as well as surface temperature forecasts improvement over Guangxi, Guizhou province and southern Yunnan-Guizhou plateau (YUP), and low level southerly wind simulation improvement over intertidal zone over south China. (3) The formation of MBD is mainly locates the mountain area (Wuyi, Daba mountain, east of YUP) and coastal area. The MBD over plateau, which is mainly formed at the west of 105°E, is stronger and thicker than that over Nanling mountain. (4) The improvement of GWDO and MBD parameterization is stable in model physics. MBD parameterization demonstrates more overall improvements in the forecasts than GWDO, and the larger of the model forecast error is, the greater improvements of MBD contribute to. Overall, the extended GWDO scheme successfully improves the simulations of meteorological elements forecasting during cold air outbreaks.
A PRELIMINARY STUDY ON THE QUALITY CONTROL METHOD FOR GUANGDONG GPS/PWV DATA AND ITS EFFECTS ON PRECIPITATION FORECASTS IN ITS ANNUALLY FIRST RAINING SEASON
LI Hao-rui, DING Wei-yu, XUE Ji-shan, GAO Yu-dong, ZHANG Xu-bin, HUANG Hua-dong
2016, 22(4): 535-543. doi: 10.16555/j.1006-8775.2016.04.008
Abstract:
We first analyzed GPS precipitable water vapor (GPS/PWV) available from a ground-based GPS observation network in Guangdong from 1 August 2009 to 27 August 2012 and then developed a method of quality control before GPS/PWV data is assimilated into the GRAPES 3DVAR system. This method can reject the outliers effectively. After establishing the criterion for quality control, we did three numerical experiments to investigate the impact on the precipitation forecast with and without the quality-controlled GPS/PWV data before they are assimilated into the system. In the numerical experiments, two precipitation cases (on 6 to 7 May, 2010 and 27 to 28 April, 2012 respectively) that occurred in the annually first raining season of Guangdong were selected. The results indicated that after quality control, only the GPS/PWV data that deviates little from the NCEP/PWV data can be assimilated into the system, has reasonable adjustment of the initial water vapor above Guangdong, and eventually improves the intensity and location of 24-h precipitation forecast significantly.
ON USE OF LHN METHOD TO ASSIMILATE THE INTENSIFIED SURFACE PRECIPITATIONS FOR GRAPES_MESO MODEL INITIALIZATION
WU Ya-li, CHEN De-hui
2016, 22(4): 544-558. doi: 10.16555/j.1006-8775.2016.04.009
Abstract:
The quantitative precipitation forecast (QPF) in very-short range (0-12 hours) has been investigated in this paper by using a convective-scale (3km) GRAPES_Meso model. At first, a latent heat nudging (LHN) scheme to assimilate the hourly intensified surface precipitation data was set up to enhance the initialization of GRAPES_Meso integration. And then based on the LHN scheme, a convective-scale prediction system was built up in considering the initial “triggering” uncertainties by means of multi-scale initial analysis (MSIA), such as the three-dimensional variational data assimilation (3DVAR), the traditional LHN method (VAR0LHN3), the cycling LHN method (CYCLING), the spatial filtering (SS) and the temporal filtering (DFI) LHN methods. Furthermore, the probability matching (PM) method was used to generate the QPF in very-short range by combining the precipitation forecasts of the five runs. The experiments for one month were carried out to validate the MSIA and PM method for QPF in very-short range. The numerical simulation results showed that: (1) in comparison with the control run, the CYCLING run could generate the smaller-scale initial moist increments and was better for reducing the spin-up time and triggering the convection in a very-short time; (2) the DFI runs could generate the initial analysis fields with relatively larger-scale initial increments and trigger the weaker convections at the beginning time (0-3h) of integration, but enhance them at latter time (6-12h); (3) by combining the five runs with different convection triggering features, the PM method could significantly improve the QPF in very-short range in comparison to any single run. Therefore, the QPF with a small size of combining members proposed here is quite prospective in operation for its lower computation cost and better performance.
INVERSION OF TEMPERATURE FROM AMSU-A AND ITS APPLICATION ON WARM-CORE OF TROPICAL DEPRESSION OVER THE SOUTH CHINA SEA
YUAN Jin-nan, MENG Wei-guang, ZHANG Yan-xia, JIANG De-hai, LI Chun-hui, MAO Wei-kang, HUANG Hui-jun
2016, 22(4): 559-567. doi: 10.16555/j.1006-8775.2016.04.010
Abstract:
The linear regression and horizontally stepwise correction are conducted on the observational data from AMSU-A L1B of NOAA polar orbit satellite to invert a 40-layers (from 1,000 hPa to 0.1 hPa) dataset of atmospheric temperature with a horizontal resolution of 0.5 °×0.5 ° after the correction of satellite antenna pattern and limb adjustment. Case study shows that the inversion data of temperature can reveal the detail structure of warm core in tropical cyclone. We choose two categories of tropical depressions (TDs) over the South China Sea, including the non-developing TDs and developing TDs. Both of them are developed downward from the middle and upper level to the lower level. Comparison between the evolutions of warm core in the two categories of TDs indicates that the warm core is developed downward from the middle and upper troposphere to the sea surface in all the downward-developing TDs. The difference is that in the group of further developing TDs, the warm core in the upper troposphere is intensified suddenly when it is extending to the sea surface. The warm core in the upper and lower troposphere is strengthened in a meantime. But the similar feature is not observed in the non-developing TDs. Then it may be helpful to judge the TD development by monitoring the change in its warm-core structure.
SPATIO-TEMPORAL CHARACTERISTICS OF NO2 IN PRD URBAN GROUP AND THE ANTHROPOGENIC INFLUENCES ANALYSIS BASED ON OMI REMOTE SENSING DATA
LIU Xian-tong, ZHENG Teng-fei, WAN Qi-lin, TAN Hao-bo, DENG Xue-jiao, LI Fei, DENG Tao
2016, 22(4): 568-577. doi: 10.16555/j.1006-8775.2016.04.011
Abstract:
Spatio-temporal distribution characteristics and variation trends of tropospheric NO2 in Pearl River Delta (PRD) urban group and its adjacent areas were analyze from 2005 to 2013 based on remote sensing data from ozone monitoring instrument (OMI) satellite, and further explored the impact of human activities on NO2. Compared with the ground observation data, the OMI NO2 remote sensing data displayed high reliability. Due to active industrial production, high car ownership, great energy and power consumption, the average tropospheric NO2 concentration (7.4×1015 molec/cm2) of PRD region is about 3 times of the adjacent areas. At the same time, the regional high pollution NO2 in PRD region as a whole, the urban group effect is remarkable. Sinusoidal model can well fit the periodic variation of the NO2 in PRD and adjacent areas. NO2 concentration was highest in winter while lowest in summer. The concentration of NO2 in PRD region is decreasing in recent 9 years, which has a significantly negative correlation with the second industry output and car ownership. This suggests that the nitrogen oxide emissions governance in PRD region had achieved initial results. The concentration of NO2 increased significantly in the eastern and northern Guangdong Province, there are good positive correlations with the second industrial outputs and car ownerships, it is thus clear that industrial emissions and automobile exhausts are important sources of NO2 in these regions. The concentration of NO2 in western Guangdong area is stable.
APPLICATION EXPERIMENT OF ASSIMILATING RADAR-RETRIEVED WATER VAPOR IN SHORT-RANGE FORECAST OF RAINFALL IN THE ANNUALLY FIRST RAINY SEASON OVER SOUTH CHINA
ZHANG Cheng-zhong, CHEN Zi-tong, WAN Qi-lin, LIN Zhen-min, HUANG Yan-yan, DAI Guang-feng, DING Wei-yu
2016, 22(4): 578-588. doi: 10.16555/j.1006-8775.2016.04.012
Abstract:
A scheme of assimilating radar-retrieved water vapor is adopted to improve the quality of NWP initial field for improvement of the accuracy of short-range precipitation prediction. To reveal the impact of the assimilation of radar-retrieved water vapor on short-term precipitation forecast, three parallel experiments, cold start, hot start and hot start plus the assimilation of radar-retrieved water vapor, are designed to simulate the 31 days of May, 2013 with a fine numerical model for South China. Furthermore, a case of heavy rain that occurred from 8―9 May 2013 over the region from the southwest of Guangdong province to Pearl River Delta is analyzed in detail. Results show that the cold start experiment is not conducive to precipitation 12 hours ahead; the hot start experiment is able to reproduce well the first 6 hours of precipitation, but badly for subsequent prediction; the experiment of assimilating radar-retrieved water vapor is not only able to simulate well the precipitation 6 hours ahead, but also able to correctly predict the evolution of rain bands from 6 to 12 hours in advance.