Characteristics of an Explosive Cyclone over Northeast China Revealed by Satellite Water Vapor Imagery

In this paper,an explosive cyclone(EC)that occurred over Northeast China in the spring of 2016 is studied by using 6.7μm FY satellite water vapor(WV)imagery and NCEP(1°×1°)reanalysis data.Moreover,the evolutions of the upper-level jet stream(ULJ),the vertical motions,and the potential vorticity(PV)are analyzed in detail.Results show that different shapes of the WV image dark zones could reflect different stages of the EC.At the pre-explosion stage,a small dark zone and an S-shaped baroclinic leaf cloud can be found on the WV imagery.Then the dark zone expands and the leaf cloud grows into a comma-shaped cloud at the explosively developing stage.At the post-explosion stage,the dark zone brightens,and the spiral cloud forms.The whole process can be well described by the WV imagery.The dynamic dry band associated with the sinking motion and the ULJ can develop into the dry intrusion later,which is an important signal in forecasting the EC and should be paid attention to when analyzing the WV imagery.Furthermore,the mechanism is also analyzed in detail in this article.EC usually occurs in the left-exit region of the 200-h Pa jet and the region ahead of the 500-h Pa trough where there is significant positive vorticity advection(PVA).When the EC moves onto the sea surface,the decreased friction would favour the development of the EC.The upper-level PVA,the strong convergence at low level,and the divergence at high levels can maintain the strong updraft.Meanwhile,the high PV zone from the upper levels extends downward,approaching the cyclone.Together,they keep the cyclone deepening continuously.

GENERATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF MESOSCALE CLOUD ON HEAVY RAIN BELT ON THE PERIPHERY OF TYPHOON 9608 (Herb)

Typhoon-induced heavy rains are mostly studied from the viewpoint of upper-level westerly troughs. It is worthwhile to probe into a case where the rain is caused by tropical cyclone system, which is much heavier. During August 3 ~ 5, 1996, an unusually heavy rainstorm happened in the southwest of Hebei province. It was caused by 3 mesoscale convective cloud clusters on the periphery of a tropical cyclone other than the direct effects of a westerly trough. Generating in a weak baroclinic environment that is unstable with high energy, the cloud clusters were triggered off for development by unstable ageostrophic gravity waves in the low-level southeast jet stream on the periphery of the typhoon. There was a vertical circulation cell with horizontal scale close to 1000 km between the rainstorm area and westerly trough in northeast China. As shown in a computation of the Q vector of frontogenesis function, the circulation cell forms a mechanism of transforming energy between the area of interest and the westerly trough system farther away in northeast China. Study of water vapor chart indicates that high-latitude troughs in the northeast portion of the rain migrate to the southeast to enhance anti-cyclonic divergence in upper-level convection over the area of heavy rain and cause rain clusters, short-lived otherwise, to develop vigorously. It is acting as an amplifier in this case of unusually strong process of rain.