A bow echo is a type of mesoscale convective phenomenon that often induces extreme weather and appears with strong reflectivity on radar images. A strong bow echo that developed from a supercell was observed over Fosh...A bow echo is a type of mesoscale convective phenomenon that often induces extreme weather and appears with strong reflectivity on radar images. A strong bow echo that developed from a supercell was observed over Foshan City in southern China on 17 April 2011. The intense gusty winds and showers caused huge losses of property and severely affected human lives. This paper presents an analysis of this strong meso- n-scale convective system based on Doppler radar observations. The isolated bow echo exhibited a horizontal scale of about 80 km in terms of reflectivity above 40 dBZ, and a life span of 8 hours. The system originated from the merging of a couple of weakly organized cells in a shear line, and developed into an arch shape as it moved through the shear zone. Sufficient surface moisture supply ensured the convective instability and development of the bow echo. The low-altitude winds retrieved from single Doppler radar observations showed an obvious rear-inflow jet along the notch area. Different from the conventional definition, no book- end anticyclone was observed throughout the life cycle. Very strong slantwise updrafts and downdrafts were recognizable from the retrieved winds, even though the spatial scale of the bow echo was small. Strong winds and induced damage on the surface are considered to have been caused by the mid-level rear-inflow jet and intense convective downdrafts.展开更多
基金supported by the National Basic Research Program of China(Grant No.2012CB417204)National Natural Science Foundation of China projects(Grant Nos.41175095 and 40875065)partly by the National Key Technology R&D Program(Grant No.2012BAC22B01)
文摘A bow echo is a type of mesoscale convective phenomenon that often induces extreme weather and appears with strong reflectivity on radar images. A strong bow echo that developed from a supercell was observed over Foshan City in southern China on 17 April 2011. The intense gusty winds and showers caused huge losses of property and severely affected human lives. This paper presents an analysis of this strong meso- n-scale convective system based on Doppler radar observations. The isolated bow echo exhibited a horizontal scale of about 80 km in terms of reflectivity above 40 dBZ, and a life span of 8 hours. The system originated from the merging of a couple of weakly organized cells in a shear line, and developed into an arch shape as it moved through the shear zone. Sufficient surface moisture supply ensured the convective instability and development of the bow echo. The low-altitude winds retrieved from single Doppler radar observations showed an obvious rear-inflow jet along the notch area. Different from the conventional definition, no book- end anticyclone was observed throughout the life cycle. Very strong slantwise updrafts and downdrafts were recognizable from the retrieved winds, even though the spatial scale of the bow echo was small. Strong winds and induced damage on the surface are considered to have been caused by the mid-level rear-inflow jet and intense convective downdrafts.
