Deep Convective Clouds over the Northern Pacific and Their Relationship with Oceanic Cyclones

Based on combined CloudSat/CALIPSO detections, the seasonal occurrence of deep convective clouds （DCCs） over the midlatitude North Pacific （NP） and cyclonic activity in winter were compared. In winter, DCCs are more frequent over the central NP, from approximately 30~N to 45~N, than over other regions. The high frequencies are roughly equal to those occurring in this region in summer. Most of these DCCs have cloud tops above a 12 km altitude, and the highest top is approximately 15 km. These wintertime marine DCCs commonly occur during surface circulation conditions of low pressure, high temperature, strong meridional wind, and high relative humidity. Further, the maximum probability of DCCs, according to the high correlation coefficient, was found in the region 10^-20~ east and 5^-10~ south of the center of the cyclones. The potential relationship between DCCs and cyclones regarding their relative locations and circulation conditions was also identified by a case study. Deep clouds were generated in the warm conveyor belt by strong updrafts from baroclinic flows. The updrafts intensified when latent heat was released during the adjustment of the cyclone circulation current. This indicates that the dynamics of cyclones are the primary energy source for DCCs over the NP in winter.

Analysis of Airplane Precipitation Operation on Embedded Convective Clouds in Hunan Province

Based on NCEP 1°×1° reanalysis data, ground encryption houdy precipitation, FY-2E stationary satellite and Doppler radar data, the structural characteristics of precipitation clouds in Hunan Province and the effects of airplane precipitation operation were analyzed. The results show that under the effects of low-pressure system and southwest monsoon, Hunan was rich in water vapor, which was beneficial to the maintaining of precipitation clouds. During the process of the artificial precipitation operation over Hunan Province, convection developed vigorously, and precipita- tion was strong in the south of the province; embedded convective clouds were dominant and precipitation was weak in the east of the province. Cloud optical thickness correlated with ground precipitation positively. After catalyzing, echo at high altitudes responded firstly, and the echo intensi- ty increased gradually; the response of low-altitude echo lagged behind that of high-altitude echo. It shows that catalysis could lead to increase of upper precipitation particles in size and quantity. As time goes on, upper precipitation particles descended to low altitudes, so that echo intensity in- creased at low altitudes. It is clearly seen that catalysis could lead to increase of echo intensity and prolong the lifetime of target clouds to improve the area of strong echo zone, showing obvious positive catalytic effect. At the same time, houdy average precipitation in the affected region tended to increase stably and was obviously more than that of the contrast region where hourly average precipitation reduced gradually with time. The changing trend of hourly average precipitation in the affected region correlated positively with the response of radar echo.

A Review of Cloud-Resolving Model Studies of Convective Processes

Convective processes affect large-scale environments through cloud-radiation interaction, cloud micro- physical processes, and surface rainfall processes. Over the last three decades, cloud-resolving models （CRMs） have demonstrated to be capable of simulating convective-radiative responses to an imposed large-scale forcing. The CRM-produced cloud and radiative properties have been utilized to study the convective- related processes and their ensemble effects on large-scale circulations. This review the recent progress on the understanding of convective processes with the use of CRM simulations, including precipitation processes; cloud microphysical and radiative processes; dynamical processes; precipitation efficiency; diurnal variations of tropical oceanic convection; local-scale atmosphere-ocean coupling processes; and tropical convective-radiative equilibrium states. Two different ongoing applications of CRMs to general circulation models （GCMs） are discussed： replacing convection and cloud schemes for studying the interaction between cloud systems and large-scale circulation, and improving the schemes for climate simulations.

Effect of Merging of the Convective Cloud Clusters on Occurrence of Heavy Rainfall

Sun et al., (1983) have given some favourable environmental conditions and have shown that there are four common features in convective rainstorms. In this paper, an important process of evolution of cloud systems was revealed when heavy rainfall occurred based on the diagnostic analysis of heavy rainfall cases. When the different cloud systems merge into a large one, the mesoscale heavy rainfall occurs and enhances. In other words, the process of evolution of cloud systems emphasized in this paper is the process of interaction between two cloud systems when the heavy rainfall occurs. The favourable environmental condition is also investigated.

Numerical Simulation of Microphysics in Meso-β-Scale Convective Cloud System Associated with a Mesoscale Convective Complex

Numerical simulation of meso-β-scale convective cloud systems associated with a PRE-STORM MCC case has been carried out using a 2-D version of the CSU Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS) nonhydrostatic model with parameterized microphysics. It is found that the predicted meso-r-scale convective phenomena arc basically unsteady under the situation of strong shear at low-levels, while the meso-β-scale convective system is maintained up to 3 hours or more. The meso -β- scale cloud system exhibits characteristics of a multi-celled convective storm in which the meso-r-scale convective cells have lifetime of about 30 min. Pressure perturbation depicts a meso-low after a half hour in the low levels. As the cloud system evolves, the meso-low intensifies and extends to the upshear side and covers the entire domain in the mid-lower levels with the peak values of 5-8 hPa. Temperature perturbation depicts a warm region in the middle levels through the entire simulation period. The meso-r-scale warm cores with peak values of 4-8 ℃ are associated with strong convective cells. The cloud top evaporation causes a stronger cold layer around the cloud top levels.Simulation of microphysics exhibits that graupel is primarily concentrated in the strong convective cells forming the main source of convective rainfall after one hour of simulation time. Aggregates are mainly located in the stratiform region and decaying convective cells which produce the stratiform rainfall. Riming of the ice crystals is the predominant precipitation formation mechanism in the convection region, whereas aggregation of ice crystals is the predominant one in the stratiform region, which is consistent with observations. Sensitivity experiments of ice-phase mierophysical processes show that the microphysical structures of the convective cloud system can be simulated better with the diagnosed aggregation collection efficiencies.

Observational Evidence of High Ice Concentration in a Shallow Convective Cloud Embedded in Stratiform Cloud over North China

In this study we observed the microphysical properties, including the vertical and horizontal distributions of ice particles,liquid water content and ice habit, in different regions of a slightly supercooled stratiform cloud. Using aircraft instrument and radar data, the cloud top temperature was recorded as higher than -15℃, behind a cold front, on 9 September 2015 in North China. During the flight sampling, the high ice number concentration area was located in the supercooled part of a shallow convective cloud embedded in a stratiform cloud, where the ambient temperature was around -3℃. In this area,the maximum number concentrations of particles with diameter greater than 100 μm and 500 μm（N_（100） and N_（500）） exceeded 300 L-（-1） and 30 L-（-1）, respectively, and were related to large supercooled water droplets with diameter greater than 24 μm derived from cloud–aerosol spectrometer probe measurements. The ice particles types in this region were predominantly columnar, needle, graupel, and some freezing drops, suggesting that the occurrence of high ice number concentrations was likely related to the Hallett–Mossop mechanism, although many other ice multiplication processes cannot be totally ruled out.The maximum ice number concentration obtained during the first penetration was around two to three orders of magnitude larger than that predicted by the Demott and Fletcher schemes when assuming the cloud top temperature was around-15℃.During the second penetration conducted within the stratiform cloud, N_（100） and N_（500） decreased by a factor of five to ten, and the presence of columnar and needle-like crystals became very rare.

Comparison of Aerosol Effects on Simulated Spring and Summer Hailstorm Clouds

Numerical simulations are carried out to investigate the effect of cloud condensation nuclei（CCN） concentrations on microphysical processes and precipitation characteristics of hailstorms. Two hailstorm cases are simulated, a spring case and a summer case, in a semiarid region of northern China, with the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System. The results are used to investigate the differences and similarities of the CCN effects between spring and summer hailstorms. The similarities are：（1） The total hydrometeor mixing ratio decreases, while the total ice-phase mixing ratio enhances, with increasing CCN concentration;（2） Enhancement of the CCN concentration results in the production of a greater amount of small-sized hydrometeor particles, but a lessening of large-sized hydrometeor particles;（3） As the CCN concentration increases, the supercooled cloud water and rainwater make a lesser contribution to hail, while the ice-phase hydrometeors take on active roles in the growth of hail;（4） When the CCN concentration increases, the amount of total precipitation lessens,while the role played by liquid-phase rainfall in the amount of total precipitation reduces, relatively, compared to that of icephase precipitation. The differences between the two storms include：（1） An increase in the CCN concentration tends to reduce pristine ice mixing ratios in the spring case but enhance them in the summer case;（2） Ice-phase hydrometeor particles contribute more to hail growth in the spring case, while liquid water contributes more in the summer case;（3） An increase in the CCN concentration has different effects on surface hail precipitation in different seasons.

Analysis of a Local Rainstorm in Central Inner Mongolia

Based on conventional observation data,satellite cloud image data and new generation Doppler radar data,the local rainstorm weather situation and physical quantities in Ulanqab City from 08:00 to 20:00 on June 24,2019 were analyzed by means of synoptic methods.The results show that the local rainstorm was caused by the forward trough system and the convergence of warm and cold air,and triggered by the low-level jet and the surface convergence line.The splitting and merging of cloud clusters in satellite cloud images and strong radar echoes had a good guiding effect on short-term heavy precipitation.

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.

Ensemble Cloud Model Application in Simulating the Catastrophic Heavy Rainfall Event

An attempt has been made in the present research to simulate a deadly flash-flood event over the City of Skopje,Macedonia on 6 August 2016.A cloud model ensemble forecast method is developed to simulate a super-cell storm’s initiation and evolutionary features.Sounding data are generated using an ensemble approach,that utilizes a triple-nested WRF model.A three-dimensional(3-D)convective cloud model(CCM)with a very fine horizontal grid resolution of 250-m is initialized,using the initial representative sounding data,derived from the WRF 1-km forecast outputs.CCM is configured and run with an open lateral boundary conditions LBC,allowing explicit simulation of convective scale processes.This preliminary study showed that the ensemble approach has some advantages in the generation of the initial data and the model initialization.The applied method minimizes the uncertainties and provides a more qualitative-quantitative assessment of super-cell storm initiation,cell structure,evolutionary properties,and intensity.A high-resolution 3-D run is capable to resolve detailed aspects of convection,including high-intensity convective precipitation.The results are significant not only from the aspect of the cloud model’s ability to provide a qualitative-quantitative assessment of intense precipitation but also for a deeper understanding of the essence of storm development,its vortex dynamics,and the meaning of micro-physical processes for the production and release of large amounts of precipitation that were the cause of the catastrophic flood in an urban area.After a series of experiments and verification,such a system could be a reliable tool in weather services for very short-range forecasting(now-casting)and early warning of weather disasters.