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A cloud-resolving modeling study of short-term surface rainfall processes

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Abstract

The short-term tropical surface rainfall processes in rainfall regions (raining stratiform and convective regions) and rainfall-free regions (non-raining stratiform and clear-sky regions) are investigated based on the hourly data from a two-dimensional cloud-resolving model simulation. The model is integrated over a 21-day period with imposed zonally uniform vertical velocity, zonal wind, horizontal temperature and vapor advection, and sea surface temperature from the Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean Atmosphere Response Experiment (TOGA COARE). The analysis of the model domain-mean surface rainfall budget reveals that surface rainfall is mainly associated with water vapor convergence and local atmospheric drying. The mean surface rainfall lags the mean water vapor convergence by 3 h. The convective–stratiform rainfall separation analysis shows that convective rainfall is associated with water vapor convergence, whereas stratiform rainfall is related to the local atmospheric drying and hydrometeor loss/convergence. The transport of water vapor from rainfall-free regions to rainfall regions creates the main water vapor source for rainfall while it balances local atmospheric drying in rainfall-free regions. Surface evaporation plays a minor role in short-term surface rainfall processes.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Prof. M. Zhang at the State University of New York at Stony Brook for allowing us to use his TOGA COARE forcing data, and four anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. This research is supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program) under Grant 2009CB421505, the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 40775036 and 40921160379.

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  1. Laboratory of Cloud-Precipitation Physics and Severe Storms (LACS), Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China

    Xiaopeng Cui

  2. NOAA/NESDIS/Center for Satellite Applications and Research, Camp Springs, MD, USA

    Xiaofan Li

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  1. Xiaopeng Cui
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Correspondence to Xiaopeng Cui.

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Cui, X., Li, X. A cloud-resolving modeling study of short-term surface rainfall processes. Meteorol Atmos Phys 111, 1–11 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00703-010-0121-9

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