DIAGNOSTIC ANALYSIS ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF RAINFALL ASSOCIATED WITH TYPHOON"MOLAVE"(0906)

This work examines the mechanism of rainfall associated with typhoon Molave(0906)in Guangdong province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonamous Region with rainfall observations,radar mosaics from China National Meteorological Center and the final analysis data of National Center of Environmental Prediction(FNL/NCEP,USA).The result shows that the mechanism is different for the rainfall in the these areas.The rainfall in eastern Guangdong is mainly associated with a convective line to the front-right of the typhoon.The convective line is about 200 km away from the typhoon center.The rainfall in western Guangdong and Guangxi appear ahead of or to the left of the typhoon and is very close to the typhoon center.Both rainfall moves forward with the typhoon anticlockwise.It was also found that the rainfall occurred in the boundary between unstable and low-level convergent areas and closer to the convergent area.The unstable area is located in the downstream of rainfall and ahead of the convective line.It is an important factor to the development and convection.Strong frontogenesis is observed in the backward or upstream convective area of rainfall and is thus an important lifting condition for the formation of rainfall.When the low-level convergent area moves to the unstable area ahead of it,the unstable energy is left behind and as a result the convection is strengthened.

A numerical simulation of latent heating within Typhoon Molave

The weather research and forecasting（WRF） model is a new generation mesoscale numerical model with a fine grid resolution（2 km）, making it ideal to simulate the macro-and micro-physical processes and latent heating within Typhoon Molave（2009）. Simulations based on a single-moment, six-class microphysical scheme are shown to be reasonable, following verification of results for the typhoon track, wind intensity, precipitation pattern, as well as inner-core thermodynamic and dynamic structures. After calculating latent heating rate, it is concluded that the total latent heat is mainly derived from condensation below the zero degree isotherm, and from deposition above this isotherm. It is revealed that cloud microphysical processes related to graupel are the most important contributors to the total latent heat. Other important latent heat contributors in the simulated Typhoon Molave are condensation of cloud water, deposition of cloud ice, deposition of snow, initiation of cloud ice crystals, deposition of graupel, accretion of cloud water by graupel, evaporation of cloud water and rainwater,sublimation of snow, sublimation of graupel, melting of graupel, and sublimation of cloud ice. In essence, the simulated latent heat profile is similar to ones recorded by the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission, although specific values differ slightly.

Lightning Activity and Precipitation Characteristics of Typhoon Molave(2009) Around Its Landfall

Cloud-to-ground （CG） lightning data,storm intensity and track data,and the data from a Doppler radar and the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission （TRMM） satellite,are used to analyze the temporal and spatial characteristics of lightning activity in Typhoon Molave （0906） during different periods of its landfall （pre-landfall,landfall,and post-landfall）.Parameters retrieved from the radar and the satellite are used to compare precipitation structures of the inner and outer rainbands of the typhoon,and to investigate possible causes of the different lightning characteristics.The results indicate that lightning activity was stronger in the outer rainbands than in the eyewall and inner rainbands.Lightning mainly occurred to the left （rather than ＂right＂ as in previous studies of US cases） of the moving typhoon,indicating a significant spatial asymmetry.The maximum lightning frequency in the tropical cyclone （TC） eyewall region was ahead of that in the whole TC region,and the outbreaks of eyewall lightning might indicate deepening of the cyclone.Stronger lightning in the outer rainbands is found to be associated with stronger updraft,higher concentrations of rain droplets and large ice particles at elevated mixed-phase levels,and the higher and broader convective clouds in the outer rainbands.Due to the contribution of large cloud nuclei,lightning intensity in the outer rainbands has a strong positive correlation with radar reflectivity.The ratio of positive CG lightning in the outer rainbands reached its maximum 1 h prior to occurrence of the maximum typhoon intensity at 2000 Beijing Time （BT） 18 July 2009.During the pre-landfall period （0300 BT 18 July-0050 BT 19 July）,the typhoon gradually weakened,but strong lightning still appeared.After the typhoon made landfall at 0050 BT 19 July,CG lightning density rapidly decreased,but the ratio of positive lightning increased.Notably,after the landfall of the outer rainbands at 2325 BT 18 July （approximately 1.5 h prior to the landfall of the TC）,significantly higher ice particle density derived from the TRMM data was observed in the outer rainbands,which,together with strengthened convection resulted from the local surface roughness effect,might have caused the enhanced lightning in the outer rainbands around the landfall of Molave.