ROLE OF A WARM AND WET TRANSPORT CONVEYOR OF ASIAN SUMMER MONSOON IN A BEIJING HEAVY RAINSTORM ON JULY 21, 2012

Abstract:

A heavy rainstorm named Beijing “7.21” heavy rainstorm hit Beijing on 21 to 22 July 2012, which is recorded as the most severe rainstorm since 1951. The daily precipitation amount in many stations in Beijing has broken the history record. Based on the NCAR/NCEP reanalysis data and precipitation observation，the large-scale conditions which caused the “7.21” heavy rainstorm are investigated, with the emphasis on the relationship between it and an equatorial convergence zone, Asian summer monsoon as well as the tropical cyclone over the ocean from the Philippines to the South China Sea (SCS). The results indicated that a great deal of southerly warm and wet moisture carried by northward migrating Asian summer monsoon provided plenty of moisture supplying for the “7.21” heavy rainstorm. When the warm and wet moisture met with the strong cold temperature advection induced by cold troughs or vortexes, an obviously unstable stratification formed, thus leading to the occurrence of heavy precipitation. Without this kind of intense moisture transport, the rainstorm only relying on the role of the cold air from mid- and higher- latitudes could not reach the record-breaking intensity. Further research suggested that the northward movement of an Asian monsoonal warm and wet moisture transport conveyor (MWWTC) was closely related with the active phase of a 30-60 day intra-seasonal oscillation of the Asian summer monsoon. During this time, the monsoon surge triggered and maintained the northward movement of the MWWTC. In addition, compared with another heavy rainstorm named “63.8” heavy rainstorm, which occurred over the Huaihe River Basin in the mid-August 1963 and seriously affected North China, a similar MWWTC was also observed. It was just the intense interaction of the MWWTC with strong cold air from the north that caused this severe rain storm.