Summary
The cut-off lows (COLs) during the period from June to August 1998 leading to the record flood in Northeast Asia, especially in Northeast China, has been investigated in this paper. The results are as follows: the blocking highs benefited significantly the formation and maintenance of COLs over Northeast China; an obvious frontogenesis zone existed in Northeast China and it implies that baroclinity played an important role in the initiation of COLs, especially in middle and upper troposphere; the maxima of the potential vorticity anomaly were located in the upper troposphere, then extended downwards to the middle and the lower troposphere. The pronounced interaction between systems in upper-middle and low troposphere can be revealed; the moisture supply was from South China, and even from East China Sea and South China Sea. The strong southerly current transported very rich moisture to Northeast China. The maximum of the convergence of moisture flux was below 850 hPa. Obvious interaction between the middle and lower latitude systems was found in the study. Also, the summer monsoon showed significant impacts on the sustained heavy rainfalls related with the COLs over Northeast China; the upward motion could be caused by the lifting of the large scale dynamic forcing and there was no obvious releasing of latent heating in the upper-middle troposphere. The cold dome in the COLs was quite different both from the warm core in tropical cyclone and from the weaker warm core in Meiyu (Baiu) front low. The calculation of vorticity budget shows that both the horizontal advection term and horizontal divergence term contributed importantly to the maintenance and the strengthening of positive relative vorticity. Finally, the complex dynamical characteristics regarding the COLs are discussed and further investigation is proposed.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
NF Bei SX Zhao SH Gao (2002) ArticleTitleNumerical simulation of a heavy rainfall event in China during July 1998 Meteorol Atmos Phys 80 153–164 Occurrence Handle10.1007/s007030200022
SM Daggpaty DR Sikka (1977) ArticleTitleOn the vorticity budget and vertical velocity distribution associated with the life cycle of a monsoon depression J Atmos Sci 34 773–792 Occurrence Handle10.1175/1520-0469(1977)034<0773:OTVBAV>2.0.CO;2
BE Doty (1995) Grid Analysis and Display System (GrADS) Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Interaction, Institute for Global Environment and Society Calverton, MD 148
FF Hill KA Browning (1987) ArticleTitleCase study of a persistent mesoscale cold pool Meteor Mag 116 297–309
BJ Hoskins MA Pedder (1980) ArticleTitleThe diagnosis of middle latitude synoptic development Quart J Roy Meteor Soc 106 707–719 Occurrence Handle10.1002/qj.49710645004
BJ Hoskins ME McIntyre AW Robertson (1985) ArticleTitleOn the use and significance of isentropic potential vorticity maps Quant J Roy Meteor Soc 111 877–946 Occurrence Handle10.1256/smsqj.47001
YP Hsieh (1949) ArticleTitleAn investigation of a selected cold vortex over North America J Meteorol VI IssueID6 401–410
E Kalnay M Kanamitsu R Kistler W Collins D Deaven L Gandin M Iredell S Saha G White J Woollen Y Zhu A Leetmaa B Reynolds (1996) ArticleTitleThe NCEP/NCAR 40-Year Reanalysis Project Bull Am Meteor Soc 77 437–471 Occurrence Handle10.1175/1520-0477(1996)077<0437:TNYRP>2.0.CO;2
AS Kentarchos TD Davis (1998) ArticleTitleA climatology of cut-off lows at 200 hPa in the Northern Hemisphere, 1990–1994 Int J Climatol 18 379–390 Occurrence Handle10.1002/(SICI)1097-0088(19980330)18:4<379::AID-JOC257>3.0.CO;2-F
D Keyser MA Shapiro (1986) ArticleTitleA review of the structure and dynamics of upper-level frontal zones Mon Wea Rev 114 452–499 Occurrence Handle10.1175/1520-0493(1986)114<0452:AROTSA>2.0.CO;2
Lee DK, Cha DH, Kang HS (2002) Regional climate simulation of the 1998 summer flood over East Asia. Preprints of the Twelfth PSU/NCAR Mesoscale Model User’s Workshop, 24–25 June, Boulder, CO, pp 112–115
Lee TY (2004) Post-Changma heavy rainfalls: recent trend and their characteristics. Proc. Int. Conf. of High-impact Weather and Climate (ICHWC), Seoul, Korea, pp 30–33
MC Llasat M Puigcerver (1990) ArticleTitleCold air pools over Europe Meteorol Atmos Phys 42 171–177 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF01314823
S Matsumoto K Ninomiya S Yoshizumi (1971) ArticleTitleCharacteristic features of “Baiu” Front associated with heavy rainfall J Meteor Soc Japan 49 409–429
S Matsumoto K Ninomiya R Hasegawa Y Miki (1982) ArticleTitleThe structure and role of a subsynoptic-sacle cold vortex on the heavy precipitation J Meteor Soc Japan 60 IssueID1 339–354
R Nieto L Gimeno LDL Torre P Ribera D Gallego R Garcia-Herrera JA Garcia M Nuneg A Redauo J Lorente (2005) ArticleTitleClimatological features of cutoff low systems in the Northern Hemisphere J Climate 18 3085–3103 Occurrence Handle10.1175/JCLI3386.1
S Petterssen SJ Sembye (1971) ArticleTitleOn the development of extratropical cyclones Quart J Roy Meteor Soc 97 457–482 Occurrence Handle10.1002/qj.49709741407
JD Price G Vaughan (1992) ArticleTitleStatistical studies of cut-off-low systems Ann Geophys 10 96–102
LL Qi SX Zhao (2003) ArticleTitleMesoscale analysis and simulation of heavy rainfall in Shanghai urban area by using non-convectional data Chinese Sci Bull 48 IssueIDSupp II 35–43
LX Qi LM Leslie SX Zhao (1999) ArticleTitleCut-off low-pressure systems over southern Australia: climatology and case study Int J Climatol 19 1633–1649 Occurrence Handle10.1002/(SICI)1097-0088(199912)19:15<1633::AID-JOC445>3.0.CO;2-0
CS Ramage (1971) Monsoon meteorology Academic Press New York London 296
JH Sun TY Lee (2002) ArticleTitleA numerical study of an intense quasi-stationary convection band over the middle of Korean Peninsula J Meteor Soc Jap 80 IssueID5 1221–1245 Occurrence Handle10.2151/jmsj.80.1221
SY Tao (1980) Heavy rainstorm in China Science Press Beijing 255
SY Tao LX Chen (1988) A review of recent research on the East Asian summer monsoon in China SeriesTitleMonsoon meteorology Oxford University Press Oxford 60–92
QC Zeng (1983) ArticleTitleThe development characteristic of quasi-geostrophic baroclinic disturbances Tellus 35A 337–349 Occurrence Handle10.1111/j.1600-0870.1983.tb00209.x
QC Zeng BL Zhang YL Liang SX Zhao (1994) ArticleTitleEast Asian summer monsoon – a case study Proc Indian Nat Sci Acad 60A IssueID1 81–96
F Zhang SX Zhao (2004) ArticleTitleA study of formation and development of one kind of cyclone on the Mei-yu (Baiu) front Adv Atmos Sci 21 IssueID5 741–754 Occurrence Handle10.1007/BF02916371
LN Zhao SX Zhao (2004) ArticleTitleA diagnostic study of rapid developing cyclone in North China Chinese J Atmos Sci 28 IssueID5 722–735
Zhao SX (1988) Energetics of cylogenesis on Meiyu (Baiu) front. Proc. Palmen Memorial Symp. on Extratropical Cyclone, Helsinki, Finland, Amer Met Soc, pp 205–208
SX Zhao GA Mills (1991) ArticleTitleA study of monsoon depression bringing record rainfall over Australia, Part II. Synoptic-diagnostic description Mon Wea Rev 119 2074–2094 Occurrence Handle10.1175/1520-0493(1991)119<2074:ASOAMD>2.0.CO;2
SX Zhao QC Zeng (2005) ArticleTitleA study of East Asia strong cold wave-surge crossing equator and influencing the development of tropical cyclone and heavy rainfall in Southern Hemisphere Clim Environ Res 10 IssueID3 507–525
Zhao SX, Liu SH, Zhou MY (1980) Mesoscale analysis of strong convective weather system caused by cold vortex over Beijing during summer. Collected Papers of Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 9. Beijing: Science Press, pp 151–160 (in Chinese)
SX Zhao JH Sun H Chen F Zhang (1998) ArticleTitleStudy of heavy rainfall in the Yangtze River during July 1998 Clim Environ Res 3 IssueID4 368–381
SX Zhao ZY Tao JH Sun NF Bei (2004) Study on mechanism of heavy rainfalls on Meiyu (Baiu) front in Changjiang (Yangtze) river valley Meteorological Press Beijing 281
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Zhao, S., Sun, J. Study on cut-off low-pressure systems with floods over Northeast Asia. Meteorol. Atmos. Phys. 96, 159–180 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00703-006-0226-3
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00703-006-0226-3