scholarly journals Characteristics of mesoscale-convective-system-produced extreme rainfall over southeastern South Korea: 7 July 2009

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 927-939 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jong-Hoon Jeong ◽  
Dong-In Lee ◽  
Chung-Chieh Wang ◽  
In-Seong Han
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
Metropolitan Area ◽  
Heavy Rainfall ◽  
Deep Convection ◽  
Mesoscale Convective System ◽  
Extreme Rainfall ◽  
Cold Pool ◽  
Convective System ◽  
Frontal Surface ◽  
Mesoscale Convective

Abstract. An extreme-rainfall-producing mesoscale convective system (MCS) associated with the Changma front in southeastern South Korea was investigated using observational data. This event recorded historic rainfall and led to devastating flash floods and landslides in the Busan metropolitan area on 7 July 2009. The aim of the present study is to analyse the influences for the synoptic and mesoscale environment, and the reasons that the quasi-stationary MCS causes extreme rainfall. Synoptic and mesoscale analyses indicate that the MCS and heavy rainfall occurred in association with a stationary front which resembled a warm front in structure. A strong southwesterly low-level jet (LLJ) transported warm and humid air and supplied the moisture toward the front, and the air rose upwards above the frontal surface. As the moist air was conditionally unstable, repeated upstream initiation of deep convection by back-building occurred at the coastline, while old cells moved downstream parallel to the convective line with training effect. Because the motion of convective cells nearly opposed the backward propagation, the system as a whole moved slowly. The back-building behaviour was linked to the convectively generated cold pool and its outflow boundary, which played a role in the propagation and maintenance of the rainfall system. As a result, the quasi-stationary MCS caused a prolonged duration of heavy rainfall, leading to extreme rainfall over the Busan metropolitan area.

scholarly journals Dominant processes of extreme rainfall-producing mesoscale convective system over southeastern Korea: 7 July 2009 case

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (10) ◽  
pp. 6459-6489
Author(s):  
J.-H. Jeong ◽  
D.-I. Lee ◽  
C.-C. Wang ◽  
I.-S. Han
Keyword(s):  
Metropolitan Area ◽  
Heavy Rainfall ◽  
Deep Convection ◽  
Mesoscale Convective System ◽  
Extreme Rainfall ◽  
Cold Pool ◽  
Convective System ◽  
Frontal Surface ◽  
Mesoscale Convective ◽  
Outflow Boundary

Abstract. An extreme rainfall-producing mesoscale convective system (MCS) associated with the Changma front in southeastern Korea was investigated using observational data. This event recorded historic rainfall and led to devastating flash floods and landslides in the Busan metropolitan area on 7 July 2009. The aim of the present study is to analyze and better understand the synoptic and mesoscale environment, and the behavior of quasi-stationary MCS causing extreme rainfall. Synoptic and mesoscale analyses indicate that the MCS and heavy rainfall occurred association with a stationary front which resembled a warm front in structure. A strong southwesterly low-level jet (LLJ) transported warm and humid air and supplied the moisture toward the front, and the air rose upwards above the frontal surface. As the moist air was conditionally unstable, repeated upstream initiation of deep convection by back-building occurred at the coastline, while old cells moved downstream parallel to the convective line with training effect. Because the motion of convective cells nearly opposed the backward propagation, the system as a whole moved slowly. The back-building behavior was linked to the convectively produced cold pool and its outflow boundary, which played an essential role in the propagation and maintenance of the rainfall system. As a result, the quasi-stationary MCS caused a prolonged duration of heavy rainfall, leading to extreme rainfall over the Busan metropolitan area.

scholarly journals Impact of the Cold Pool on Mesoscale Convective System–Produced Extreme Rainfall over Southeastern South Korea: 7 July 2009

2016 ◽  
Vol 144 (10) ◽  
pp. 3985-4006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jong-Hoon Jeong ◽  
Dong-In Lee ◽  
Chung-Chieh Wang
Keyword(s):  
South Korea ◽  
Mesoscale Convective System ◽  
Leading Edge ◽  
Extreme Rainfall ◽  
Cold Pool ◽  
Convective System ◽  
Precipitation Pattern ◽  
Extreme Rainfall Event ◽  
Simulated Precipitation ◽  
Mesoscale Convective

In this study, an extreme rainfall-producing quasi-stationary mesoscale convective system (MCS) associated with the Changma front in southeastern South Korea is investigated using numerical simulations and sensitivity tests. A record-breaking rainfall amount was recorded in response to repeated initiation of new cells (i.e., back-building) over the same area for several hours. The aim of this study is to realistically simulate and analyze this extreme rainfall event to better understand an impact of the cold pool that leads to the quasi-stationary MCS over southeastern South Korea by using a convection-allowing-resolution (2 km) nonhydrostatic atmospheric model. The control experiment (CNTL) was successfully performed, yielding the quasi-stationary, back-building MCS at approximately the correct location and time. In the CNTL run, diabatic cooling due to evaporation of raindrops was responsible for the formation of the cold pool. The development of the cold pool was responsible for the deceleration of the propagating convective line, which played a role in the stalling of the MCS over southeastern South Korea. Moreover, new convective cells were repeatedly initiated in the region where an oncoming warm inflow met the leading edge of the cold pool and was uplifted. In an experiment without evaporative cooling (NOEVA), the simulated precipitation pattern was shifted to the northeast because the MCS became nonstationary without the cold pool. The cold pool had an essential role in the stationarity of the MCS, which resulted in extreme rainfall over the Busan metropolitan area.

scholarly journals Effects of Under-Resolved Convective Dynamics on the Evolution of a Squall Line

2019 ◽  
Vol 148 (1) ◽  
pp. 289-311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Varble ◽  
Hugh Morrison ◽  
Edward Zipser
Keyword(s):  
Early Stage ◽  
Deep Convection ◽  
Mesoscale Convective System ◽  
Squall Line ◽  
Cold Pool ◽  
Convective System ◽  
Stratiform Region ◽  
Mesoscale Convective ◽  
Upper Level ◽  
Resolution Simulation

Abstract Simulations of a squall line observed on 20 May 2011 during the Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E) using 750- and 250-m horizontal grid spacing are performed. The higher-resolution simulation has less upshear-tilted deep convection and a more elevated rear inflow jet than the coarser-resolution simulation in better agreement with radar observations. A stronger cold pool eventually develops in the 250-m run; however, the more elevated rear inflow counteracts the cold pool circulation to produce more upright convective cores relative to the 750-m run. The differing structure in the 750-m run produces excessive midlevel front-to-rear detrainment, reinforcing excessive latent cooling and rear inflow descent at the rear of the stratiform region in a positive feedback. The contrasting mesoscale circulations are connected to early stage deep convective draft differences in the two simulations. Convective downdraft condensate mass, latent cooling, and downward motion all increase with downdraft area similarly in both simulations. However, the 750-m run has a relatively greater number of wide and fewer narrow downdrafts than the 250-m run averaged to the same 750-m grid, a consequence of downdrafts being under-resolved in the 750-m run. Under-resolved downdrafts in the 750-m run are associated with under-resolved updrafts and transport mid–upper-level zonal momentum downward to low levels too efficiently in the early stage deep convection. These results imply that under-resolved convective drafts in simulations may vertically transport air too efficiently and too far vertically, potentially biasing buoyancy and momentum distributions that impact mesoscale convective system evolution.

An Orography-Associated Extreme Rainfall Event during TiMREX: Initiation, Storm Evolution, and Maintenance

2012 ◽  
Vol 140 (8) ◽  
pp. 2555-2574 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weixin Xu ◽  
Edward J. Zipser ◽  
Yi-Leng Chen ◽  
Chuntao Liu ◽  
Yu-Chieng Liou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mesoscale Convective System ◽  
Extreme Rainfall ◽  
Cold Pool ◽  
Convective System ◽  
Extreme Rainfall Event ◽  
Long Duration ◽  
Mesoscale System ◽  
Mesoscale Convective ◽  
Storm Evolution ◽  
Temperature Depression

Abstract This study investigates a long-duration mesoscale system with extremely heavy rainfall over southwest Taiwan during the Terrain-influenced Monsoon Rainfall Experiment (TiMREX). This mesoscale convective system develops offshore and stays quasi-stationary over the upstream ocean and southwest coast of Taiwan. New convection keeps developing upstream offshore but decays or dies after moving into the island, dropping the heaviest rain over the upstream ocean and coastal regions. Warm, moist, unstable conditions and a low-level jet (LLJ) are found only over the upstream ocean, while the island of Taiwan is under the control of a weak cold pool. The LLJ is lifted upward at the boundary between the cold pool and LLJ. Most convective clusters supporting the long-lived rainy mesoscale system are initiated and develop along that boundary. The initiation and maintenance is thought to be a “back-building–quasi-stationary” process. The cold pool forms from previous persistent precipitation with a temperature depression of 2°–4°C in the lowest 500 m, while the high terrain in Taiwan is thought to trap the cold pool from spreading or moving. As a result, the orography of Taiwan is “extended” to the upstream ocean and plays an indirect effect on the long-duration mesoscale system.

scholarly journals Wave Disturbances and Their Role in the Maintenance, Structure, and Evolution of a Mesoscale Convection System

2019 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shushi Zhang ◽  
David B. Parsons ◽  
Yuan Wang
Keyword(s):  
Great Plains ◽  
Wave Energy ◽  
Deep Convection ◽  
Inversion Layer ◽  
Mesoscale Convective System ◽  
Vertical Shear ◽  
Cold Pool ◽  
Convective System ◽  
Convective Initiation ◽  
Mesoscale Convective

Abstract This study investigates a nocturnal mesoscale convective system (MCS) observed during the Plains Elevated Convection At Night (PECAN) field campaign. A series of wavelike features were observed ahead of this MCS with extensive convective initiation (CI) taking place in the wake of one of these disturbances. Simulations with the WRF-ARW Model were utilized to understand the dynamics of these disturbances and their impact on the MCS. In these simulations, an “elevated bore” formed within an inversion layer aloft in response to the layer being lifted by air flowing up and over the cold pool. As the bore propagated ahead of the MCS, the lifting created an environment more conducive to deep convection allowing the MCS to discretely propagate due to CI in the bore’s wake. The Scorer parameter was somewhat favorable for trapping of this wave energy, although aspects of the environment evolved to be consistent with the expectations for an n = 2 mode deep tropospheric gravity wave. A bore within an inversion layer aloft is reminiscent of disturbances predicted by two-layer hydraulic theory, contrasting with recent studies that suggest bores are frequently initiated by the interaction between the flow within stable nocturnal boundary layer and convectively generated cold pools. Idealized simulations that expand upon this two-layer approach with orography and a well-mixed layer below the inversion suggest that elevated bores provide a possible mechanism for daytime squall lines to remove the capping inversion often found over the Great Plains, particularly in synoptically disturbed environments where vertical shear could create a favorable trapping of wave energy.

Mesoscale Processes Contributing to Extreme Rainfall in a Midlatitude Warm-Season Flash Flood

2008 ◽  
Vol 136 (10) ◽  
pp. 3964-3986 ◽  
Author(s):  
Russ S. Schumacher ◽  
Richard H. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Gravity Wave ◽  
Flash Flood ◽  
Warm Season ◽  
Mesoscale Convective System ◽  
Extreme Rainfall ◽  
Cold Pool ◽  
Convective System ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Mesoscale Convective ◽  
Moist Environment

Observations and numerical simulations are used to investigate the atmospheric processes that led to extreme rainfall and resultant destructive flash flooding in eastern Missouri on 6–7 May 2000. In this event, a quasi-stationary mesoscale convective system (MCS) developed near a preexisting mesoscale convective vortex (MCV) in a very moist environment that included a strong low-level jet (LLJ). This nocturnal MCS produced in excess of 300 mm of rain in a small area to the southwest of St. Louis, Missouri. Operational model forecasts and simulations using a convective parameterization scheme failed to produce the observed rainfall totals for this event. However, convection-permitting simulations using the Weather Research and Forecasting Model were successful in reproducing the quasi-stationary organization and evolution of this MCS. In both observations and simulations, scattered elevated convective cells were repeatedly initiated 50–75 km upstream before merging into the mature MCS and contributing to the heavy rainfall. Lifting provided by the interaction between the LLJ and the MCV assisted in initiating and maintaining the convection. Simulations indicate that the MCS was long lived despite the lack of a convectively generated cold pool at the surface. Instead, a nearly stationary low-level gravity wave helped to organize the convection into a quasi-linear system that was conducive to extreme local rainfall amounts. Idealized simulations of convection in a similar environment show that such a low-level gravity wave is a response to diabatic heating and that the vertical wind profile featuring a strong reversal of the wind shear with height is responsible for keeping the wave nearly stationary. In addition, the convective system acted to reintensify the midlevel MCV and also caused a distinct surface low pressure center to develop in both the observed and simulated system.

The Analysis and Prediction of Microphysical States and Polarimetric Radar Variables in a Mesoscale Convective System Using Double-Moment Microphysics, Multinetwork Radar Data, and the Ensemble Kalman Filter

2014 ◽  
Vol 142 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryan J. Putnam ◽  
Ming Xue ◽  
Youngsun Jung ◽  
Nathan Snook ◽  
Guifu Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Kalman Filter ◽  
Ensemble Kalman Filter ◽  
Mesoscale Convective System ◽  
Radar Data ◽  
Cold Pool ◽  
Convective System ◽  
Polarimetric Radar ◽  
Microphysics Scheme ◽  
Mesoscale Convective ◽  
Double Moment

Abstract Doppler radar data are assimilated with an ensemble Kalman Filter (EnKF) in combination with a double-moment (DM) microphysics scheme in order to improve the analysis and forecast of microphysical states and precipitation structures within a mesoscale convective system (MCS) that passed over western Oklahoma on 8–9 May 2007. Reflectivity and radial velocity data from five operational Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) S-band radars as well as four experimental Collaborative and Adaptive Sensing of the Atmosphere (CASA) X-band radars are assimilated over a 1-h period using either single-moment (SM) or DM microphysics schemes within the forecast ensemble. Three-hour deterministic forecasts are initialized from the final ensemble mean analyses using a SM or DM scheme, respectively. Polarimetric radar variables are simulated from the analyses and compared with polarimetric WSR-88D observations for verification. EnKF assimilation of radar data using a multimoment microphysics scheme for an MCS case has not previously been documented in the literature. The use of DM microphysics during data assimilation improves simulated polarimetric variables through differentiation of particle size distributions (PSDs) within the stratiform and convective regions. The DM forecast initiated from the DM analysis shows significant qualitative improvement over the assimilation and forecast using SM microphysics in terms of the location and structure of the MCS precipitation. Quantitative precipitation forecasting skills are also improved in the DM forecast. Better handling of the PSDs by the DM scheme is believed to be responsible for the improved prediction of the surface cold pool, a stronger leading convective line, and improved areal extent of stratiform precipitation.

Convection-Permitting Simulations of the Environment Supporting Widespread Turbulence within the Upper-Level Outflow of a Mesoscale Convective System

2009 ◽  
Vol 137 (6) ◽  
pp. 1972-1990 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stanley B. Trier ◽  
Robert D. Sharman
Keyword(s):  
Deep Convection ◽  
Potential Temperature ◽  
Mesoscale Convective System ◽  
Forecast Model ◽  
Static Stability ◽  
Vertical Shear ◽  
Convective System ◽  
Mesoscale Convective ◽  
Northern Edge ◽  
Upper Level

Abstract Widespread moderate turbulence was recorded on three specially equipped commercial airline flights over northern Kansas near the northern edge of the extensive cirrus anvil of a nocturnal mesoscale convective system (MCS) on 17 June 2005. A noteworthy aspect of the turbulence was its location several hundred kilometers from the active deep convection (i.e., large reflectivity) regions of the MCS. Herein, the MCS life cycle and the turbulence environment in its upper-level outflow are studied using Rapid Update Cycle (RUC) analyses and cloud-permitting simulations with the Weather Research and Forecast Model (WRF). It is demonstrated that strong vertical shear beneath the MCS outflow jet is critical to providing an environment that could support dynamic (e.g., shearing type) instabilities conducive to turbulence. Comparison of a control simulation to one in which the temperature tendency due to latent heating was eliminated indicates that strong vertical shear and corresponding reductions in the local Richardson number (Ri) to ∼0.25 at the northern edge of the anvil were almost entirely a consequence of the MCS-induced westerly outflow jet. The large vertical shear is found to decrease Ri both directly, and by contributing to reductions in static stability near the northern anvil edge through differential advection of (equivalent) potential temperature gradients, which are in turn influenced by adiabatic cooling associated with the mesoscale updraft located upstream within the anvil. On the south side of the MCS, the vertical shear associated with easterly outflow was significantly offset by environmental westerly shear, which resulted in larger Ri and less widespread model turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) than at the northern anvil edge.

scholarly journals Warm-Core Formation in Tropical Storm Humberto (2001)

2012 ◽  
Vol 140 (4) ◽  
pp. 1177-1190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Klaus Dolling ◽  
Gary M. Barnes
Keyword(s):  
Energy Content ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Deep Convection ◽  
Lower Troposphere ◽  
Mesoscale Convective System ◽  
Tropical Storm ◽  
Central Pressure ◽  
Convective System ◽  
Warm Core ◽  
Mesoscale Convective

At 0600 UTC 22 September 2001, Humberto was a tropical depression with a minimum central pressure of 1010 hPa. Twelve hours later, when the first global positioning system dropwindsondes (GPS sondes) were jettisoned, Humberto’s minimum central pressure was 1000 hPa and it had attained tropical storm strength. Thirty GPS sondes, radar from the WP-3D, and in situ aircraft measurements are utilized to observe thermodynamic structures in Humberto and their relationship to stratiform and convective elements during the early stage of the formation of an eye. The analysis of Tropical Storm Humberto offers a new view of the pre-wind-induced surface heat exchange (pre-WISHE) stage of tropical cyclone evolution. Humberto contained a mesoscale convective vortex (MCV) similar to observations of other developing tropical systems. The MCV advects the exhaust from deep convection in the form of an anvil cyclonically over the low-level circulation center. On the trailing edge of the anvil an area of mesoscale descent induces dry adiabatic warming in the lower troposphere. The nascent warm core at low levels causes the initial drop in pressure at the surface and acts to cap the boundary layer (BL). As BL air flows into the nascent eye, the energy content increases until the energy is released from under the cap on the down shear side of the warm core in the form of vigorous cumulonimbi, which become the nascent eyewall. This series of events show one possible path in which a mesoscale convective system may evolve into a warm-cored structure and intensify into a hurricane.

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