Evolution Mechanism of a Severe Squall Line Triggered by the Coupling of a Sea Breeze Front and a Gust Front

In the present study, a severe squall line(SL) was analyzed by using intensive observational surface data and radar monitoring products. In this process, mesoscale convergence lines, such as the sea breeze front(SBF), gust front and dry line, served as the main triggering and strengthening factors. The transition from convection triggering to the formation of the initial shape was mainly affected by the convergence line of the SBF, which combined with thermal convection to form the main parts of the SL. In the later stage, the convergence line of the gust front merged with other convergence lines to form a series of strong convective cells. The SBF had good indicative significance in terms of severe convective weather warnings. The suitable conditions of heat, water vapor and vertical wind shear on the Shandong Peninsula were beneficial to the maintenance of the SL. Before SL occurrence, tropopause folding strengthened, which consequently enhanced the baroclinic property in the middle and upper troposphere. The high sensible heat flux at the surface easily produced a positive potential vorticity anomaly in the low layer, resulting in convective instability, which was conducive to the maintenance of these processes. In the system, when precipitation particles passed through the unsaturated air layer, they underwent strong evaporation, melting or sublimation, and the cooling effect formed negative buoyancy, which accelerated the sinking of the air and promoted the sustained development of the surface gale. Together with the development of lowlevel mesocyclones, the air pressure decreased rapidly, which was conducive to gale initiation.

Atypical Occlusion Process Caused by the Merger of a Sea-breeze Front and Gust Front

An atypical occlusion process that occurred in North China on 14 July 2011 is studied based on both observations and a real-data Weather Research and Forecasting （WRF） model simulation. The results show that this atypical occlusion process was significantly different from the traditional, synoptic-scale occlusion process that occurs within extratropical cyclones. It was caused by the merger of two cold-type mesoscale fronts. One of the fronts developed from the gust front of convective storms, while the other was a sea-breeze front. As the two fronts moved towards each other, the warm air between them was squeezed and separated from the surface. An atypical occluded front was formed when the two fronts merged, with the warm air forced aloft. This kind of occlusion is termed a ＂merger＂ process, different from the well-known ＂catch-up＂ and ＂wrap-up＂ processes. Moreover, local convection was found to be enhanced during the merger process, with severe convective weather produced in the merger area.

Role of the interaction between a gust front and a mesoscale air mass boundary in convection initiation:a case study

The local convection initiation(CI)mechanisms of a convective case that occurred on5 August 2017 in Cangzhou,northern China,were studied using Doppler radar and automatic weather station observational analysis,along with Variational Doppler Radar Analysis System assimilation analysis.During the convective process,a gust front appeared ahead of two existing convective systems,respectively.In the warm and moist environment ahead of the gust fronts in the south,there was a mesoscale air mass boundary.With the process of a gust front moving southward,approaching the mesoscale air mass boundary,the convergence intensified in the area between the gust front and the mesoscale air mass boundary.Finally,the strong convergent updraft exceeded the level of free convection and triggered the new convection.

A Deep Learning Approach for Forecasting Thunderstorm Gusts in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Region

Thunderstorm gusts are a common form of severe convective weather in the warm season in North China,and it is of great importance to correctly forecast them.At present,the forecasting of thunderstorm gusts is mainly based on traditional subjective methods,which fails to achieve high-resolution and high-frequency gridded forecasts based on multiple observation sources.In this paper,we propose a deep learning method called Thunderstorm Gusts TransU-net(TGTransUnet)to forecast thunderstorm gusts in North China based on multi-source gridded product data from the Institute of Urban Meteorology(IUM)with a lead time of 1 to 6 h.To determine the specific range of thunderstorm gusts,we combine three meteorological variables:radar reflectivity factor,lightning location,and 1-h maximum instantaneous wind speed from automatic weather stations(AWSs),and obtain a reasonable ground truth of thunderstorm gusts.Then,we transform the forecasting problem into an image-to-image problem in deep learning under the TG-TransUnet architecture,which is based on convolutional neural networks and a transformer.The analysis and forecast data of the enriched multi-source gridded comprehensive forecasting system for the period 2021–23 are then used as training,validation,and testing datasets.Finally,the performance of TG-TransUnet is compared with other methods.The results show that TG-TransUnet has the best prediction results at 1–6 h.The IUM is currently using this model to support the forecasting of thunderstorm gusts in North China.

Gust Front Statistical Characteristics and Automatic Identification Algorithm for CINRAD

Gust front is a kind of meso-and micro-scale weather phenomenon that often causes serious ground wind and wind shear. This paper presents an automatic gust front identification algorithm. Totally 879 radar volume-scan samples selected from 21 gust front weather processes that occurred in China between 2009 and 2012 are examined and analyzed. Gust front echo statistical features in reflectivity, velocity, and spectrum width fields are obtained. Based on these features, an algorithm is designed to recognize gust fronts and generate output products and quantitative indices. Then, 315 samples are used to verify the algorithm and 3 typical cases are analyzed. Major conclusions include： 1） for narrow band echoes intensity is between 5 and 30 dBZ, widths are between 2 and 10 km, maximum heights are less than 4 km （89.33%are lower than 3 km）, and the lengths are between 50 and 200 km. The narrow-band echo is higher than its surrounding echo. 2） Gust fronts present a convergence line or a wind shear in the velocity field;the frontal wind speed gradually decreases when the distance increases radially outward. Spectral widths of gust fronts are large, with 87.09% exceeding 4 m s-1 . 3） Using 315 gust front volume-scan samples to test the algorithm reveals that the algorithm is highly stable and has successfully recognized 277 samples. The algorithm also works for small-scale or weak gust fronts. 4） Radar data quality has certain impact on the algorithm.

An Algorithm for Automated Identification of Gust Fronts from Doppler Radar Data

Gust fronts are weak narrow-band echoes of increased reflectivity at the background levels in the low-elevation fields of Doppler radar. An automated approach to gust front detection that relies on the image features of radar observations is presented in this paper. The algorithm is not sensitive to the variations in reflectivity values and gust front widths. The approach includes the following steps. First, a novel local binary with dual-template(LBDT) algorithm is designed as the fundamental algorithm to identify the potential areas of narrow-band echoes. Second,based on the disadvantages of the LBDT algorithm, several modifications are made, including splitting the intersecting lines, connecting the fragments, and filtering the edges and radial interference noise. Third, an optical flow method is used to determine whether a weak narrow-band echo is a gust front according to the prior knowledge that a gust front usually propagates in front of the associated generating storm. The results of experiments show that the proposed method can automatically identify gust fronts with a high probability of detection and a low false alarm rate. The automatic identification of gust fronts is potentially useful for accurate short-term weather forecasting, particularly in the forecasting of storm winds.

Observation of a Straight-Line Wind Case Caused by a Gust Front and Its Associated Fine-Scale Structures

A straight-line wind case was observed in Tianjin on 13 June 2005,which was caused by a gust front from a squall line.Mesoscale analyses based on observations from in-situ surface stations,sounding,and in-situ radar as well as fine-scale analyses based on observation tower data were performed.The mesoscale characteristics of the gust front determined its shape and fine-scale internal structures.Based on the scale and wavelet analyses,the fine-scale structures within the gust front were distinguished from the classical mesoscale structures,and such fine-scale structures were associated with the distribution of straight-line wind zones.A series of cross-frontal fine-scale circulations at the lowest levels of the gust front was discovered,which caused a relatively weak wind zone within the frontal strong wind zone.The downdraft at the rear of the head region of the gust front was more intense than in the classical model,and similar to the microburst,a series of vertical vortices propagated from the rear region to the frontal region.In addition,strong tangential fine-scale instability was detected in the frontal region.Finally,a fine-scale gust front model with straight-line wind zones is presented.

Adaptive Wind Gust and Associated Gust-factor Model for the Gust-producing Weather over the Northern South China Sea

Wind gusts are common environmental hazards that can damage buildings,bridges,aircraft,and cruise ships and interrupt electric power distribution,air traffic,waterway transport and port operations.Accurately predicting peak wind gusts in numerical models is essential for saving lives and preventing economic losses.This study investigates the climatology of peak wind gusts and their associated gust factors(GFs)using observations in the coastal and open ocean of the northern South China Sea(NSCS),where severe gust-producing weather occurs throughout the year.The stratified climatology demonstrates that the peak wind gust and GF vary with seasons and particularly with weather types.Based on the inversely proportional relationship between the GF and mean wind speed(MWS),a variety of GF models are constructed through least squares regression analysis.Peak gust speed(PGS)forecasts are obtained through the GF models by multiplying the GFs by observed wind speeds rather than forecasted wind speeds.The errors are thus entirely due to the representation of the GF models.The GF models are improved with weather-adaptive GFs,as evaluated by the stratified MWS.Nevertheless,these weather-adaptive GF models show negative bias for predicting stronger PGSs due to insufficient data representation of the extreme wind gusts.The evaluation of the above models provides insight into maximizing the performance of GF models.This study further proposes a stratified process for forecasting peak wind gusts for routine operations.

廊坊市雷暴大风多普勒雷达特征指标预警应用分析

利用北京、天津和沧州多普勒天气雷达对2010—2019年廊坊市发生的29次雷暴大风天气过程中的阵风锋、径向速度大值区、垂直累积液态水含量(VIL)≥40 kg·m^(-2)等预警指标进行验证分析,结果表明:51.9%的站次出现了阵风锋,其中61.0%的雷暴大风出现在主体回波移动前方中部到右侧;17 m·s^(-1)以上大风速区作为预警指标,预警的平均提前量达47.2 min。100%的弓形回波雷暴大风出现前上游及可能影响区域存在≥17 m·s^(-1)的大风速区,以此发布预警可提前37.1 min;71.4%的雷暴大风站点上空或10 km范围内VIL≥40 kg·m^(-2),平均预警提前量最高,达到52.7 min;依据带状回波前侧或右前侧出现阵风锋发布预警的平均提前量为60.6 min。73.7%的块状回波雷暴大风天气上游及可能影响区域有≥17 m·s^(-1)的大风速区。结合上游及可能影响区域≥17 m·s^(-1)和≥20 m·s^(-1)大风速区、阵风锋、VIL≥40 kg·m^(-2)出现位置可以提前30~60 min发布雷暴大风预警信号,且可更加精准地预测灾害性大风的落区、出现时间和强度。

Understanding Simulated Causes of Damaging Surface Winds in a Derecho-Producing Mesoscale Convective System near the East China Coast Based on Convection-Permitting Simulations

A mesoscale convective system(MCS) occurred over the East China coastal provinces and the East China Sea on 30April 2021, producing damaging surface winds near the coastal city Nantong with observed speeds reaching 45 m s^(–1). A simulation using the Weather Research and Forecasting model with a 1.5-km grid spacing generally reproduces the development and subsequent organization of this convective system into an MCS, with an eastward protruding bow segment over the sea. In the simulation, an east-west-oriented high wind swath is generated behind the gust front of the MCS. Descending dry rear-to-front inflows behind the bow and trailing gust front are found to feed the downdrafts in the main precipitation regions. The inflows help to establish spreading cold outflows and enhance the downdrafts through evaporative cooling. Meanwhile, front-to-rear inflows from the south are present, associated with severely rearward-tilted updrafts initially forming over the gust front. Such inflows descend behind(north of) the gust front, significantly enhancing downdrafts and near-surface winds within the cold pool. Consistently, calculated trajectories show that these parcels that contribute to the derecho originate primarily from the region ahead(south) of the east-west-oriented gust front, and dry southwesterly flows in the low-to-middle levels contribute to strong downdrafts within the MCS. Moreover, momentum budget analyses reveal that a large westward-directed horizontal pressure gradient force within the simulated cold pool produced rapid flow acceleration towards Nantong. The analyses enrich the understanding of damaging wind characteristics over coastal East China and will prove helpful to operational forecasters.

多单体强风暴影响下的一次强降水超级单体演变特征分析

利用天津多普勒天气雷达资料、常规探测资料、地面自动站资料、ERA5再分析资料和VDRAS数据等,对2017年6月19日发生在冀东地区由多单体强风暴引领下的一次罕见的强降水超级单体风暴进行分析,重点探讨了超级单体风暴的演变特征和维持机制。结果表明,海风锋和多单体强风暴的阵风锋及其所围成的低层“舌”状高温、高湿区为超级单体风暴形成提供了较好的动力和热力条件,当对流单体移入“舌”区之后,快速发展为超级单体并一直沿着多单体强风暴的出流边界向东南方向移动。缓慢减弱的多单体强风暴所提供的相对“稳定”的阵风锋不仅为超级单体发展和维持提供了长时间的动力条件,而且还为其移动提供了引导作用,这对于强对流天气短时临近预警有很好的指示意义。在超级单体形成之初,受多单体强风暴冷池出流影响,近地面偏南风转为较强的偏东风,中尺度环境配置发生了明显改变,0~6 km垂直风切变增大到27 m·s^(-1)且0~3 km垂直风切变增大到17~19 m·s^(-1)是中气旋形成的主要原因;其次,辐合线上较强的垂直涡度平流也有利于中气旋形成和维持。此次超级单体中气旋始于低层,通过VDRAS数据得到的0~3 km低层垂直风切变始终维持在20 m·s^(-1)左右,斜压涡生作用明显,为超级单体的发展和维持提供了较大的、长时间的水平涡度输入。超级单体形成和发展成熟阶段,风暴相对螺旋度(SRH)在140~171 m^(2)·s^(-2),大部分时段在150 m^(2)·s^(-2)以上,而在超级单体形成之前和接近消散阶段,SRH明显小于150 m^(2)·s^(-2),表明SRH对于超级单体发生发展有较为明确的指示意义。此次过程冷池出流先于超级单体形成,使得入流区辐合抬升加强,有利于超级单体的发展和维持,另外超级单体中不断有单体从母暴中分裂并减弱东移,一定程度上削弱了超级单体的强烈发展,使得下沉出流不至于过强而造成阵风锋快速远离,冷池始终维持一定的强度,同时多单体强风暴的阵风锋又给超级单体提供了稳定的0~3 km的垂直风切变(始终维持在20 m·s^(-1)左右),造成了超级单体前端的风切变和冷池强度保持了长时间的平衡,最终使超级单体长时间维持“稳定态”。综上所述,中尺度环境提供的适当垂直风切变等与风暴发展保持平衡是超级单体长时间维持自组织状态的主要原因。

冷涡影响下杭州湾一次区域性极端大风的演变和机制分析

利用常规气象探空观测、地面自动气象站逐分钟观测、风廓线雷达以及多普勒天气雷达等多源观测资料,分析了2021年4月30日傍晚到夜间浙江北部和杭州湾沿海地区一次区域性极端大风的天气特征,重点探讨了对流系统移入杭州湾后的中尺度演变特征和大风增强的原因。结果表明,此次过程是典型的多尺度相互作用的结果,在高空深厚的东北冷涡影响下,配合中层西北急流和较强的地面暖低压促使飑线后部对流系统发展,形成雷暴大风天气。对流单体在经过杭州湾水系后明显增强,其阵风锋前侧有西南暖湿入流,后部冷池发展强盛,气压涌升,叠加地面环境风场和杭州湾水面的热动力条件,从而触发不稳定能量促使单体发展。系统经过杭州湾后辐散下沉出流明显增强,将中高层的动量更快地下传至地面,对于杭州湾南部风力增强效应显著。杭州湾光滑下垫面、喇叭口等特殊地形也是造成极端大风出现的原因之一。同时,逐分钟变温相比于极大风出现时间提前了约7~10 min,对于局地极端大风监测预警有一定的指示意义。

塔里木盆地东北缘一次强对流天气过程中的阵风锋特征

利用地面自动站逐小时观测、多普勒天气雷达及WRF模式高分辨率数值模拟,分析2016年7月塔里木盆地东北缘一次强对流天气过程中的阵风锋特征。结果表明:阵风锋前沿较强的辐合抬升运动不断触发多个对流单体,其中大部分单体与其后方的对流系统合并且进一步发展,使得强对流天气不断发展和维持。在对流系统快速发展阶段,阵风锋前沿水平风的垂直切变造成湿位涡的斜压分量显著增强,从而增强局地的条件对称不稳定,为对流系统的发展和维持提供了重要的不稳定能量。不稳定能量释放需要的锋生强迫作用主要是由阵风锋前方的辐合辐散项和倾斜项决定,而阵风锋前沿附近的水平形变项及其上方的非绝热加热项贡献相对较弱。

DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF GUST RESPONSEALLEVIATION CONTROL SYSTEM FOR HELICOPTERS

Gust response alleviation is very important for helicopters which have strong coupling and vibration. Gust disturbance not only influences the ride quality and the precision of the weapon delivery, but also affects to the structural fatigue load and the strength. The method of an optimal control law to suppress the gust disturbance for helicopters is presented. The optimization requires the minimization of the vertical overload at the pilot′s seat, the attitude variation and the control energy consumption under the gust disturbance. Based on the original control system, the new system can be easily realized by adding a vertical speed feedback passage. In order to develop the real-time operational flight control system, the optimized control law is written in C language. The hybrid simulations prove that the performance of gust response alleviation and the efficiency of digitalization are satisfactory.

一次阵风锋碰并作用触发短时强降水过程观测分析

对足够精细的观测资料做详尽的分析有助于澄清对流组织与增强的动力机制。本文利用机场跑道两端的分钟雨量资料、常规观测资料、加密自动站、ERA5再分析和S波段双偏振、X波段双偏振相控阵雷达资料,对2022年7月15日厦门机场出现的一次短时强降水天气进行了分析。结果表明:此次过程因阵风锋在传播过程中与地面辐合线交叉碰并而触发抬升,在500 hPa与850 hPa假相当位温差的负大值区和低层高温高湿的环境下激发出新的对流,给厦门机场带来罕见的短时强降水天气,期间分钟雨量最大达2.5 mm、跑道能见度降至400 m,两者呈反相关,但当分钟雨量大于1.6 mm时两者反相关性减弱,能见度谷值则晚于雨量峰值出现。观测分析表明,径向速度的气旋性切变与分钟雨量的变化趋势较为一致,两者有较好的对应关系。当2~5 km高度存在气旋性切变时雨量显著增加,当有两个高度层的切变强度达到2×10^(-3)s^(-1)以上时分钟雨量可达约2 mm,为本次短时强降水的组织特征。

A simulation-based study on longitudinal gust response of flexible flapping wings

Winged animals such as insects are capable of flying and surviving in an unsteady and unpredictable aerial environment.They generate and control aerodynamic forces by flapping their flexible wings.While the dynamic shape changes of their flapping wings are known to enhance the efficiency of their flight,they can also affect the stability of a flapping wing flyer under unpredictable disturbances by responding to the sudden changes of aerodynamic forces on the wing.In order to test the hypothesis,the gust response of flexible flapping wings is investigated numerically with a specific focus on the passive maintenance of aerodynamic forces by the wing flexibility.The computational model is based on a dynamic flight simulator that can incorporate the realistic morphology,the kinematics,the structural dynamics,the aerodynamics and the fluid-structure interactions of a hovering hawkmoth.The longitudinal gusts are imposed against the tethered model of a hovering hawkmoth with flexible flapping wings.It is found that the aerodynamic forces on the flapping wings are affected by the gust,because of the increase or decrease in relative wingtip velocity or kinematic angle of attack.The passive shape change of flexible wings can,however,reduce the changes in the magnitude and direction of aerodynamic forces by the gusts from various directions,except for the downward gust.Such adaptive response of the flexible structure to stabilise the attitude can be classified into the mechanical feedback,which works passively with minimal delay,and is of great importance to the design of bio-inspired flapping wings for micro-air vehicles.

Characteristics of daily extreme wind gusts on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, China

Severe wind is a major natural hazard and a main driver of deserdficadon on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Generally, studies of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau＇s wind climatology focus on mean wind speeds and its gust speeds have been seldom investigated. Here, we used observed daily maximum gust speeds from a 95- station network over a 5-year period （2008-2012） to analyze the characteristics of extreme wind speeds and directions by fitting Weibull and Gumbel distributions. The results indicated the spatial distribution of extreme wind speeds and their direction on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is highly variable, with its western portion prone to greater mean speeds of extreme wind gusts than its eastern portion. Maximum extreme wind speeds of 30.9, 33.0, and 32.2 m/s were recorded at three stations along the Qinghai Tibet Railway. Severe winds occurred mostly from November to April, caused primarily by the westerly jet stream. Terrain greatly enhances the wind speeds. Our spatial analysis of wind speed data showed that the wind speeds increased exponentially with an increasing altitude. We also assessed the local wind hazard by calculating the return periods of maximum wind gusts from the observational data based on the statistical extreme value distributions of these wind speeds. Further attention should be given to those stations where the yearly maximum daily extreme wind speed increased at a rate greater than that of mean value of daily extreme wind speeds. Severe extreme wind events in these regions of the plateau are likely to become more frequent. Consequently, building structural designers working in these areas should use updated extreme wind data rather than relying on past data alone.

Operational Safety Assessment of a High-Speed Train Exposed to the Strong Gust Wind

The operational safety characteristics of trains exposed to a strong wind have caused great concern in recent years.In the present paper,the effect of the strong gust wind on a high-speed train is investigated.A typical gust wind model for any wind angle,named“Chinese hat gust wind model”,was first constructed,and an algorithm for computing the aerodynamic loads was elaborated accordingly.A vehicle system dynamic model was then set up in order to investigate the vehicle system dynamic characteristics.The assessment of the operational safety has been conducted by means of characteristic wind curves(CWC).As some of the parameters of the wind-train system were difficult to measure,we also investigated the impact of the uncertain system parameters on the CWC.Results indicate that,the descending order of the operational safety index of the vehicle for each wind angle is 90°-60°-120°-30°-150°,and the worst condition for the operational safety occurs when the wind angle reaches around 90°.According to our findings,the gust factor and aerodynamic side force coefficient have great impact on the critical wind speed.Thus,these two parameters require special attention when considering the operational safety of a railway vehicle subjected to strong gust wind.

Near ground wind characteristics during typhoon Meari:Turbulence intensities, gust factors, and peak factors

Wind data were collected during the 2011 typhoon Meari at heights of 10, 20, 30, and 40 m above the ground using a 40 m high anemometer tower in the coastal area near Shanghai Pudong International Airport. Wind speeds and directions, turbulence intensities, gust factors, and peaks were analyzed using the time records of wind speed. The results show that turbulence intensity components in longitudinal, lateral, and vertical directions decrease with mean wind speed, regardless of elevations, and the turbulence intensities are in a linear relationship with mean wind speeds. The ratios of three turbulence intensity components(i.e. Iu, Iv, Iw) at heights of 10, 20 and 40 m were calculated and equal to be 1:0.88:0.50, 1:0.84:0.57, and 1:0.9:0.49, respectively. In addition, the gust factors in three directions exhibit a reduction with increasing mean wind speed. The peak factors at different heights show a similar trend and slightly decrease with mean wind speed; average peak factors for all 10-min data from Typhoon Meari are 2.43, 2.48, and 2.47, respectively.

Numerical Analysis of the Effects of Periodic Gust Flow on the Wake Structure of Ventilated Supercavities

A computational model is established to investigate the effects of a periodic gust flow on the wake structure of ventilated supercavities.The effectiveness of the computational model is validated by comparing with available experimental data.Benefited from this numerical model,the vertical velocity characteristics in the entire flow field can be easily monitored and analyzed under the action of a gust generator;further,the unsteady evolution of the flow parameters of the closed region of the supercavity can be captured in any location.To avoid the adverse effects of mounting struts in the experiments and to obtain more realistic results,the wake structure of a ventilated supercavity without mounting struts is investigated.Unsteady changes in the wake morphology and vorticity distribution pattern of the ventilated supercavity are determined.The results demonstrate that the periodic swing of the gust generator can generate a gust flow and,therefore,generate a periodic variation of the ventilated cavitation numberσ.At the peakσ,a re-entrant jet closure appears in the wake of the ventilated supercavity.At the valleyσ,a twin-vortex closure appears in the wake of the ventilated supercavity.For the forward facing model,the twin vortex appears as a pair of centrally rolled-up vortices,due to the closure of vortex is affected by the structure.For the backward facing model,however,the twin vortex appears alternately as a pair of centrally rolled-up vortices and a pair of centrally rolled-down vortices,against the periodic gust flow.