Impacts of the mountain – plains solenoid and cold pool dynamics on the diurnal variation of warm-season precipitation over northern China

Abstract. Convection-permitting numerical experiments using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model are performed to examine the impact of a thermally driven mountain–plains solenoid (MPS) on the diurnal variation of warm-season precipitation over northern China. The focus of the analyses is a 15-day simulation that uses the 8-day average of the NCEP GFS gridded analyses at 00:00 UT between 17 and 24 June 2004 for the initial conditions and the 8-day averages at 00:00, 06:00, 12:00, and 18:00 UT for the lateral boundary conditions. Despite differences in rainfall intensity and location, the control experiment captures the essence of the observed diurnal variation of warm-season precipitation in northern China. Consistent with observations, the simulated local precipitation peak initiates in the afternoon on the eastern edge and the immediate lee of the mountain ranges due to the upward branch of the MPS. The peak subsequently propagates downslope and southeastward along the steering-level mean flow, reaching the central North China Plain around midnight and early morning hours, resulting in a broad area of nocturnal precipitation maxima over the central plains. Sensitivity experiments show that, besides the impact of the MPS, cold pool dynamics play an essential role in the propagation and maintenance of the precipitation peak over the plains.

[1]  C. Davis,et al.  Numerical Simulations of the Postsunrise Reorganization of a Nocturnal Mesoscale Convective System during 13 June IHOP_2002 , 2011 .

[2]  Yuqing Wang,et al.  Climatology of warm season cold vortices in East Asia: 1979–2005 , 2008 .

[3]  Tianjun Zhou,et al.  Relation between rainfall duration and diurnal variation in the warm season precipitation over central eastern China , 2007 .

[4]  Ronald B. Smith,et al.  Observation and Theory of the Diurnal Continental Thermal Tide , 2010 .

[5]  E. Mlawer,et al.  Radiative transfer for inhomogeneous atmospheres: RRTM, a validated correlated-k model for the longwave , 1997 .

[6]  Richard C. J. Somerville,et al.  Orogenic Propagating Precipitation Systems over the United States in a Global Climate Model with Embedded Explicit Convection , 2011 .

[7]  Fuqing Zhang,et al.  Diurnal Variations of Warm-Season Precipitation East of the Tibetan Plateau over China , 2011 .

[8]  Weixin Xu,et al.  Rainfall Characteristics and Convective Properties of Mei-Yu Precipitation Systems over South China, Taiwan, and the South China Sea. Part I: TRMM Observations , 2009 .

[9]  T. Yasunari,et al.  Characteristics of Diurnal Variations in Convection and Precipitation over the Southern Tibetan Plateau during Summer , 2005 .

[10]  Morris L. Weisman,et al.  “A Theory for Strong Long-Lived Squall Lines” Revisited , 2004 .

[11]  A. Dai,et al.  Summer Precipitation Frequency, Intensity, and Diurnal Cycle over China: A Comparison of Satellite Data with Rain Gauge Observations , 2007 .

[12]  Christopher A. Davis,et al.  Environmental Controls on the Simulated Diurnal Cycle of Warm-Season Precipitation in the Continental United States , 2010 .

[13]  Yasu-masa Kodama,et al.  Diurnal Variability of Cloudiness over East Asia and the Western Pacific Ocean as Revealed by GMS du , 1998 .

[14]  G. Bryan,et al.  Mechanisms supporting long-lived episodes of propagating nocturnal convection within a 7-day WRF model simulation , 2006 .

[15]  G. Powers,et al.  A Description of the Advanced Research WRF Version 3 , 2008 .

[16]  J. Dudhia,et al.  A New Vertical Diffusion Package with an Explicit Treatment of Entrainment Processes , 2006 .

[17]  W. Cotton,et al.  Numerical Study of an Observed Orogenic Mesoscale Convective System. Part 2: Analysis of Governing Dynamics , 1989 .

[18]  William R. Cotton,et al.  An Intense, Quasi-Steady Thunderstorm over Mountainous Terrain. Part IV: Three-Dimensional Numerical Simulation. , 1986 .

[19]  Kevin E. Trenberth,et al.  Observed and model‐simulated diurnal cycles of precipitation over the contiguous United States , 1999 .

[20]  A. Laing,et al.  A 10-year climatology of warm-season cloud patterns over Europe and the Mediterranean from Meteosat IR observations , 2010 .

[21]  Song‐You Hong,et al.  The WRF Single-Moment 6-Class Microphysics Scheme (WSM6) , 2006 .

[22]  Fuqing Zhang,et al.  Diurnal Variations of Warm-Season Precipitation over Northern China , 2010 .

[23]  H. Huang,et al.  The role of diurnal solenoidal circulation on propagating rainfall episodes near the Eastern Tibetan Plateau , 2010 .

[24]  Richard E. Carbone,et al.  Rainfall Occurrence in the U.S. Warm Season: The Diurnal Cycle* , 2008 .

[25]  Chung‐Chieh Wang,et al.  Remote Trigger of Deep Convection by Cold Outflow over the Taiwan Strait in the Mei-Yu Season: A Modeling Study of the 8 June 2007 Case , 2011 .

[26]  A. Dai.  Global Precipitation and Thunderstorm Frequencies. Part II: Diurnal Variations , 2001 .

[27]  J. Janowiak,et al.  CMORPH: A Method that Produces Global Precipitation Estimates from Passive Microwave and Infrared Data at High Spatial and Temporal Resolution , 2004 .

[28]  Richard E. Carbone,et al.  A Climatology of Warm-Season Cloud Patterns over East Asia Based on GMS Infrared Brightness Temperature Observations , 2004 .

[29]  D. Rosenfeld,et al.  Sensitivity of the global circulation to the suppression of precipitation by anthropogenic aerosols , 2003 .

[30]  J. Kain,et al.  Views on Applying RKW Theory: An Illustration Using the 8 May 2009 Derecho-Producing Convective System , 2012 .

[31]  T. Ohsawa,et al.  Diurnal Variations of Convective Activity and Rainfall in Tropical Asia , 2001 .

[32]  G. Bryan,et al.  A Multimodel Assessment of RKW Theory’s Relevance to Squall-Line Characteristics , 2006 .

[33]  J. Dudhia.  Numerical Study of Convection Observed during the Winter Monsoon Experiment Using a Mesoscale Two-Dimensional Model , 1989 .

[34]  R. Schumacher.  Mechanisms for Quasi-Stationary Behavior in Simulated Heavy-Rain-Producing Convective Systems , 2009 .

[35]  John D. Tuttle,et al.  Inferences of Predictability Associated with Warm Season Precipitation Episodes , 2001 .

[36]  R. Rotunno,et al.  A Theory for Strong, Long-Lived Squall Lines , 1988 .

[37]  G. Thompson,et al.  Sensitivity of a simulated midlatitude squall line to parameterization of raindrop breakup , 2012 .

[38]  Richard E. Carbone,et al.  Variability of Warm-Season Cloud Episodes over East Asia Based on GMS Infrared Brightness Temperature Observations , 2005 .

[39]  K. Trenberth,et al.  The Diurnal Cycle and Its Depiction in the Community Climate System Model , 2004 .

[40]  K. Trenberth,et al.  The changing character of precipitation , 2003 .

[41]  T. Iwasaki,et al.  Diurnal variation of precipitation over southeastern China: Spatial distribution and its seasonality , 2009 .

[42]  T. McKee,et al.  The Mountain-Plains Circulation East of a 2-km-High North–South Barrier , 1994 .

[43]  A. Laing,et al.  The propagation and diurnal cycles of deep convection in northern tropical Africa , 2008 .

[44]  T. Zhou,et al.  Seasonal Variation of the Diurnal Cycle of Rainfall in Southern Contiguous China , 2008 .

[45]  S. Koch,et al.  Numerical Simulations of a Gravity Wave Event over CCOPE. Part III: The Role of a Mountain–Plains Solenoid in the Generation of the Second Wave Episode , 2001 .

[46]  Weixin Xu,et al.  Diurnal Variations of Precipitation, Deep Convection, and Lightning over and East of the Eastern Tibetan Plateau , 2011 .

[47]  D. Fitzjarrald,et al.  Spatial and temporal rainfall variability near the Amazon-Tapajós confluence , 2008 .

[48]  Masafumi Hirose,et al.  Spatial and diurnal variation of precipitation systems over Asia observed by the TRMM Precipitation Radar , 2005 .

[49]  Tianjun Zhou,et al.  Diurnal variations of summer precipitation over contiguous China , 2007 .

[50]  Kenneth E. Kunkel,et al.  Regional climate model simulation of summer precipitation diurnal cycle over the United States , 2004 .

[51]  Fuqing Zhang,et al.  Impacts of Mountain-Plains Solenoid on Diurnal Variations of Rainfalls along the Mei-Yu Front over the East China Plains , 2012 .

[52]  D. Randall,et al.  Diurnal Variability of the Hydrologic Cycle and Radiative Fluxes: Comparisons between Observations and a GCM , 2000 .

[53]  J. Slingo,et al.  The Diurnal Cycle in the Tropics , 2001 .

[54]  R. Lu,et al.  Seasonal climatology of cut-off lows and associated precipitation patterns over Northeast China , 2010 .

[55]  T. Iwasaki,et al.  Diurnal variation of precipitation over southeastern China: 2. Impact of the diurnal monsoon variability , 2009 .

[56]  C. Davis,et al.  Numerical Simulation of Episodes of Organized Convection in Tropical Northern Africa , 2012 .

[57]  P. Xie,et al.  Performance of high‐resolution satellite precipitation products over China , 2010 .

[58]  S. Koch,et al.  Numerical Simulations of a Gravity Wave Event over CCOPE. Part II: Waves Generated by an Orographic Density Current , 2000 .