An observational study of mesoscale convective systems with heavy rainfall over the Korean Peninsula

Abstract A heavy rainfall event induced by mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) occurred over the middle Korean Peninsula from 25 to 27 July 1996. This heavy rainfall caused a large loss of life and property damage as a result of flash floods and landslides. An observational study was conducted using Weather Surveillance Radar-1988 Doppler (WSR-88D) data from 0930 UTC 26 July to 0303 UTC 27 July 1996. Dominant synoptic features in this case had many similarities to those in previous studies, such as the presence of a quasi-stationary frontal system, a weak upper-level trough, sufficient moisture transportation by a low-level jet from a tropical storm landfall, strong potential and convective instability, and strong vertical wind shear. The thermodynamic characteristics and wind shear presented favorable conditions for a heavy rainfall occurrence. The early convective cells in the MCSs initiated over the coastal area, facilitated by the mesoscale boundaries of the land–sea contrast, rain–no rain regions, sa...

[1]  Michael I. Biggerstaff,et al.  Interpretation of Doppler Weather Radar Displays of Midlatitude Mesoscale Convective Systems , 1989 .

[2]  E. Zipser.  Use of a conceptual model of the life-cycle of mesoscale convective systems to improve very-short-range forecasts. , 1982 .

[3]  Russell S. Schneider,et al.  A Study of Heavy Rainfall Events during the Great Midwest Flood of 1993 , 1999 .

[4]  M. Weisman.  The Role of Convectively Generated Rear-Inflow Jets in the Evolution of Long-Lived Mesoconvective Systems , 1992 .

[5]  Hiroaki Watanabe,et al.  Effects of Orographically Forced Upstream Lifting on Mesoscale Heavy Precipitation: A Case Study , 1987 .

[6]  Arthur Witt,et al.  The Storm Cell Identification and Tracking Algorithm: An Enhanced WSR-88D Algorithm , 1998 .

[7]  Dong‐Kyou Lee,et al.  An Application of a Weakly Constrained 4DVAR to Satellite Data Assimilation and Heavy Rainfall Simulation , 2003 .

[8]  Howard B. Bluestein,et al.  Formation of Mesoscale Lines of Pirecipitation: Severe Squall Lines in Oklahoma during the Spring , 1985 .

[9]  Jay P. Breidenbach,et al.  Real-time adjustment of range-dependent biases in WSR-88D rainfall estimates due to nonuniform vertical profile of reflectivity , 2000 .

[10]  Robert J. Serafin,et al.  Operational Weather radar in the United States : Progress and opportunity , 2000 .

[11]  Donald W. Burgess,et al.  The National Severe Storms Laboratory Mesocyclone Detection Algorithm for the WSR-88D* , 1998 .

[12]  T. Kato,et al.  Structure and Development of Two Merged Rainbands Observed over the East China Sea during X-BAIU-99 Part I: Meso-β-Scale Structure and Development Processes , 2004 .

[13]  T. Kato,et al.  Structure and Development of Two Merged Rainbands Observed over the East China Sea during X-BAIU-99 : Part II: Meso-α-Scale Structure and Build-up Processes of Convergence in the Baiu Frontal Region , 2004 .

[14]  Yuh-Lang Lin,et al.  Some Common Ingredients for Heavy Orographic Rainfall , 2001 .

[15]  Leslie R. Lemon,et al.  The Radar “Three-Body Scatter Spike”: An Operational Large-Hail Signature , 1998 .

[16]  Joseph B. Klemp,et al.  The structure and classification of numerically simulated convective storms in directionally varying wind shears , 1984 .

[17]  C. W. Newton,et al.  Severe Convective Storms , 1967 .

[18]  R. Gall,et al.  Surges over the Gulf of California during the Mexican Monsoon , 1997 .

[19]  Song‐You Hong,et al.  Heavy Rainfall over Korea during 1980~1990 , 1998 .

[20]  T. Takeda,et al.  Radar Observation of Rainfall System Modified by Orographic Effects , 1980 .

[21]  C. Chappell.  Quasi-Stationary Convective Events , 1986 .

[22]  Joseph B. Klemp,et al.  Characteristics of Isolated Convective Storms , 1986 .

[23]  Dong-Jun Seo,et al.  The WSR-88D rainfall algorithm , 1998 .

[24]  H. Uyeda,et al.  Effective Factors in the Development of Deep Convective Clouds over the Wet Region of Eastern China during the Summer Monsoon Season , 2002 .

[25]  Howard B. Bluestein,et al.  Observations and theory of weather systems , 1993 .