Abstract
A cold vortex occurred over the northeastern Tibetan Plateau (TP) on 27 April 2018 and subsequently brought excessive rainfall to the spring farming area in southern China when moving eastward. This study investigates the genesis mechanism of the cold TP vortex (TPV) by diagnosing reanalysis data and conducting numerical experiments. Results demonstrate that the cold TPV was generated in a highly baroclinic environment with significant contributions of positive potential vorticity (PV) forcing from the tropopause and diurnal thermodynamic impact from the surface. As a positive PV anomaly in the lower stratosphere moved towards the TP, the PV forcing at the tropopause pushed the tropospheric isentropic surfaces upward, forming isentropic-isplacement ascent and reducing static stability over the TP. The descent of the tropopause over the TP also produced a tropopause folding over the northeastern TP associated with a narrow high-PV column intruding downwards over the TPV genesis site, resulting in ascending air in the free atmosphere. This, in conjunction with the descending air in the valley area during the night, produced air stretching just at the TPV genesis site. Because the surface cooling at night increased the surface static stability, the aforementioned vertical air-stretching thus converted the produced static stability to vertical vorticity. Consequently, the cold TPV was generated over the valley at night.
摘要
2018年4月27日, 青藏高原东北部生成了一个冷性低涡(简称冷涡). 冷涡在随后向东移出高原的过程中给下游华南春耕地区带来了过量降水. 本文基于资料诊断和中尺度WRF数值模拟试验, 探讨了该高原冷涡生成的环流背景和形成机制. 结果表明, 高原冷涡产生于对流层顶正位势涡度(位涡)强迫的高度斜压大尺度环流系统之中. 同时, 地表热力的日变化对冷涡的形成也有重要贡献. 当平流层下层的正位涡异常向青藏高原移动时, 对流层顶的位涡强迫使得对流层等熵面上升, 从而在青藏高原地区产生等熵面位移的上升运动分量, 并且导致大气稳定度降低. 在青藏高原上空, 对流层顶的下降则在高原东北部产生对流层顶折叠现象, 使得一个狭窄的高位涡柱向下侵入到高原冷涡的生成区域, 增强自由大气的上升运动. 该上升运动与夜间山谷地区气块的下沉运动相结合, 恰好在冷涡生成地点造成了气柱的垂直拉伸. 由于夜间地面冷却增加了表层大气的静力稳定度, 则上述的气柱垂直拉伸将增加的静力稳定度转化为垂直涡度, 因而冷涡就于夜间在高原的山谷上空形成.
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Acknowledgements
The ERA5 data were obtained from the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) Climate Data Store (https://cds.climate.copernicus.eu). We acknowledge the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) for developing and supporting the WRF Model. This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 42288101 and 42175076) and the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDB40000000).
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• The cold TPV was formed in a baroclinic environment with PV forcing from the tropopause and diurnal thermodynamic impact from the surface.
• The PV anomaly pushed the tropospheric isentropic surfaces upward to form isentropic-displacement ascent and reduced static stability over the TP.
• The vertical vorticity during TPV genesis was converted from the increased surface static stability at night through vertical stretching.
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Gao, D., Mao, J., Wu, G. et al. Circulation Background and Genesis Mechanism of a Cold Vortex over the Tibetan Plateau during Late April 2018. Adv. Atmos. Sci. 41, 1201–1216 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-023-3124-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-023-3124-4