Investigating the initiation and propagation processes of convection in heavy precipitation over the western Sichuan Basin

Heavy precipitation events occur often over the western Sichuan Basin in summer, near the transition zone between the Sichuan Basin and the steep terrain of the Tibetan Plateau. One such event -- a heavy precipitation process that occurred on 18-20 August 2010, with clear nocturnal peaks -- is chosen as a case to tentatively explore how the convection associated with convectivescale precipitation is initiated and propagated. By utilizing the vertical momentum equation from the viewpoint of separating perturbation pressure into dynamic and thermal parts, it is demonstrated that the vertical momentum is induced by the imbalance of several forces, including the dynamic/buoyant part of the perturbation pressure gradient force and the buoyancy force, with the latter dominating during the nocturnal-peak period. Although a negative value of the dynamic perturbation pressure gradient force partly offsets the positive buoyant forcing inside the strong updraft, the pattern of vertical motion tendency is largely attributable to its buoyancy because of its larger magnitude. Relative to the buoyancy component, the dynamic part of the vertical perturbation pressure gradient is also examined, revealing a smaller order of magnitude. Thus, it is the thermal effect that should be responsible for the initiation and propagation of convection. As for the convective-scale precipitation, it always presents a trailing morphology relative to the strong leading-side updraft. Furthermore, overlapping strong signals of vertical motion and its tendency point towards strong precipitation in the future.

Revisit to frozen-in property of vorticity

Considering some simple topological properties of vorticity vector, the frozen-in property of vorticity herein is revis- ited. A vortex line, as is analogous to velocity vector along a streamline, is defined as such a coincident material （curve） line that connects many material fluid elements, on which the local vorticity vector for each fluid element is also tangent to the vortex line. The vortex line evolves in the same manner as the material line that it is initially associated with. The vortex line and the material line are both oriented to the same directions, and evolve with the proportional magnitude, just like being ＇frozen＇ or ＇glued＇ to the material elements of the fluid under the barotropic assumption. To relax the limits of incompressible and barotropic atmosphere, the frozen-in property is further derived and proved in the baroclinic case. Then two effective usages are given as examples. One is the derivation of potential vorticity conservation from the frozen-in property in both barotropic and baroclinic atmospheres, as a theory application, and the other is used to illuminate the vorticity generation and growth in ideal cases and real severe weather process, e.g., in squall line, tornado, and other se- vere convection weather with vortex. There is no necessity to derive vorticity equation, and this method is very intuitive to explain vorticity development qualitatively, especially for fast analysis for forecasters. Certainly, by investigating the evolution of vortex line, it is possible to locate the associated line element vector and its development on the basis of the frozen-in property of vorticity. Because it is simple and visualized, it manifests broad application prospects.