The Development and Structure of an Oceanic Squall-Line System during the South China Sea Monsoon Experiment

A primary goal of the South China Sea Monsoon Experiment (SCSMEX), a major field campaign of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), is to define the initiation, structure, evolution, and dynamics of precipitation processes associated with the onset of the South China Sea (SCS) summer monsoon. In this study, dual-Doppler and dual-polarimetric radar analysis techniques are used to investigate the development and structure of a squall-line system observed on 24 May 1998. The focus is the linkage between the airflow and the microphysical fields through the system. The squall-line system, including three distinct lines, persisted from 1200 UTC 24 May to the following day. A detailed study was performed on the structure of the second and most intense line, lasting for over 10 h. Compared to tropical squall lines observed in other regions, this narrow squall-line system had some interesting features including 1) maximum reflectivity as high as 55 dBZ; 2) relatively little stratiform rainfall that preceded instead of trailed the convective line; and 3) a broad vertical velocity maximum in the rear part of the system, rather than a narrow ribbon of vertical velocity maximum near the leading edge. Polarimetric radar–inferred microphysical (e.g., hydrometeor type, amount, and size) and rainfall properties are placed in the context of the mesoscale morphology and dual-Doppler-derived kinematics for this squall-line system. A comparison is made between results from this study for SCSMEX and the previous studies for the TRMM Large-Scale Biosphere–Atmosphere experiment (LBA). It was found that precipitation over the SCS monsoon region during the summer monsoon onset was similar to the precipitation over the Amazon monsoon region during the westerly regime of the TRMM–LBA, which has previously been found to be closer to typical conditions over tropical oceans. Both of these cases showed lower rain rates and rainwater contents, smaller raindrops, and significantly lower ice water contents between 5 and 8 km than the precipitation over the Amazon during the easterly regime of the TRMM–LBA with more tropical continental characteristics.