TRMM-retrieved Cloud Structure and Evolution of MCSs over the Northern South China Sea and Impacts of CAPE and Vertical Wind Shear

Cloud structure and evolution of Mesoscale Convective Systems （MCSs） retrieved from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Microwave Imager （TRMM TMI） and Precipitation Radar （PR） were investigated and compared with some pioneer studies based on soundings and models over the northern South China Sea （SCS）. The impacts of Convective Available Potential Energy （CAPE） and environmental vertical wind shear on MCSs were also explored. The main features of MCSs over the SCS were captured well by both TRMM PR and TMI. However, the PR-retrieved surface rainfall in May was less than that in June, and the reverse for TMI. TRMM-retrieved rainfall amounts were generally consistent with those estimated from sounding and models. However, rainfall amounts from sounding-based and PR-based estimates were relatively higher than those retrieved from TRMM-TMI data. The Weather Research and Forecasting （WRF） modeling simulation underestimated the maximum rain rate by 22% compared to that derived from TRMM-PR, and underestimated mean rainfall by 10.4% compared to the TRMM-TMI estimate, and by 12.5% compared to the sounding-based estimate. The warm microphysical processes modeled from both the WRF and the Goddard Cumulus Ensemble （GCE） models were quite close to those based on TMI, but the ice water contents in the models were relatively less compared to that derived from TMI. The CAPE and wind shear induced by the monsoon circulation were found to play critical roles in maintaining and developing the intense convective clouds over SCS. The latent heating rate increased more than twofold during the monsoon period and provided favorable conditions for the upward transportation of energy from the ocean, giving rise to the possibility of inducing large-scale interactions.

Non-similar collapse of singular isothermal spherical molecular cloud cores with nonzero initial velocities

Theoretically, stars formed from the collapse of cores in molecular clouds. Historically, the core had been assumed to be a singular isothermal sphere （SIS）, and the collapse had been investigated in a self-similar manner. When the rotation and magnetic fields lead to non-symmetric collapse, a spheroidal shape may occur. Here, the result of the centrifugal force and magnetic field gradient is assumed to be in the normal direction to the rotational axis, and its components are supposed to be a fraction β of the local gravitational force. In this research, a collapsing SIS core is considered to find the importance that the parameter β plays in the oblateness of the mass shells, which are the crests of the expansion waves. We apply the Adomian decomposition method to solve the system of nonlinear partial differential equations because the collapse does not occur in a spherically symmetric and self-similar man- ner. In this way, we obtain a semi-analytical relation for the mass infall rate M of the shells in the envelope. Near the rotational axis, M˙ decreases with the increase of the non-dimensional radius ξ, while a direct relation is observed between M˙ and ξ in the equatorial regions. Also, the values of M˙ in the polar regions are greater than their equatorial values, and this difference occurs more often at smaller values of ξ. Overall, the results show that before reaching the crest of the expansion wave, the visible shape of the molecular cloud cores can evolve into oblate spheroids. The ratio of major to minor axes of oblate cores increases when increasing the parameter β, and its value can approach the observed elongated shapes of cores in the maps of molecular clouds, such as those in Taurus and Perseus.

Radio Observations of Sgr B2

The 13C0 (J 1 - 0) map of the molecular cloud Sgr B2 reveals that the mass center of the molecular cloud nucleus does not coincide with that of compact HII regions which are likely to be the outcome of a shock on the cloud. We find evidence of cloud contraction probably resulting from cloud-cloud collision at subsonic speed.