Abstract
We investigated a torrential rainfall case with a daily rainfall amount of 379 mm and a maximum hourly rain rate of 77.5 mm that took place on 12 July 2006 at Goyang in the middlewestern part of the Korean Peninsula. The heavy rainfall was responsible for flash flooding and was highly localized. High-resolution Doppler radar data from 5 radar sites located over central Korea were analyzed. Numerical simulations using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model were also performed to complement the high-resolution observations and to further investigate the thermodynamic structure and development of the convective system. The grid nudging method using the Global Final (FNL) Analyses data was applied to the coarse model domain (30 km) in order to provide a more realistic and desirable initial and boundary conditions for the nested model domains (10 km, 3.3 km). The mesoscale convective system (MCS) which caused flash flooding was initiated by the strong low level jet (LLJ) at the frontal region of high equivalent potential temperature (θe) near the west coast over the Yellow Sea. The ascending of the warm and moist air was induced dynamically by the LLJ. The convective cells were triggered by small thermal perturbations and abruptly developed by the warm θe inflow. Within the MCS, several convective cells responsible for the rainfall peak at Goyang simultaneously developed with neighboring cells and interacted with each other. Moist absolutely unstable layers (MAULs) were seen at the lower troposphere with the very moist environment adding the instability for the development of the MCS.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Bluestein H. B., and M. H. Jain, 1985: Formation of mesoscale lines of precipitation: severe squall lines in Oklahoma during the spring. J. Atmos. Sci., 42, 1711–1732.
Bryan, G. H., 2005: Spurious convective organization in simulated squall lines owing to moist absolutely unstable layers. Mon. Wea. Rev., 133, 1978–1997.
—, and J. M. Fritsch, 2000: Moist absolute instability: The sixth static stability state. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc. 81, 1207–1230.
—, R. Rotunno and J. M. Fritsch, 2007: Roll circulations in the convective region of a simulated squall line. J. Atmos. Sci., 64, 1249–1266.
Dudhia, J., 1996: A multi-layer soil temperature model for MM5. Preprints, The Sixth PSU/NCAR Mesoscale Model Users’ Workshop, Boulder, Colorado, 49–50.
Evans, J. S., and C. A. Doswell III, 2001: Examination of derecho environments using proximity soundings. Wea. Forecasting, 16, 329–342.
Gao, J., M. Xue, A. Shapiro, and K. K. Droegemeier, 1999: A variation method for the analysis of three-dimensional wind fields from two Doppler radars. Mon. Wea. Rev., 127, 2128–2142.
Hong, S.-Y., J. Dudhia, and S.-H. Chen, 2004: A revised approach to ice microphysical processes for the bulk parameterization of clouds and precipitation. Mon. Wea. Rev., 132, 103–120.
—, Y. Noh, and J. Dudhia, 2006: A new vertical diffusion package with an explicit treatment of entrainment processes. Mon. Wea. Rev., 134, 2318–2341.
Kain, J. S., 2004: The Kain-Fritsch convective parameterization: An update. J. Appl. Meteorol, 43, 170–181.
—, and J. M. Fritsch, 1990: A one-dimensional entraining/detraining plume model and its application in convective parameterization. J. Atmos. Sci., 47, 2748–2802.
—, 1993: Convective parameterization for mesoscale models: The Kain-Frisch scheme, The Representation of Cumulus Convection in Numerical Models, Meteorol, Monogr. Ser., vol. 24, edited by K. A. Emanuel and D. J. Raymond, Amer. Meteor. Soc., 165–170.
—, 1998: Multiscale convective overturning in mesoscale convective systems: Reconciling observations, simulations, and theory. Mon. Wea. Rev., 126, 2254–2273.
Kim, H. W. and D. K. Lee, 2006: An observational study of mesoscale convective systems with heavy rainfall over the Korean Peninsula. Wea. Forecasting, 21, 125–148.
Lee, D. K., H. R. Kim, and S. Y. Hong, 1998: Heavy rainfall over Korea during 1980–1990. Korean J. Atmos. Sci., 1, 32–50.
Liu, Y., A. Bourgeois, T. Warner, S. Swerdlin, and J. Hacker, 2005: An implementation of obs-nudging-based FDDA into WRF for supporting ATEC test operations. 2005 WRF user workshop. Paper 10.7
National Emergency Management Agency: 2009, Disaster yearbook, Korea, 755 pp.
Park, S. G., and D. K. Lee, 2009: Retrieval of high-resolution wind fields over southern Korean Peninsula using Doppler weather radar network. Wea. Forecasting, 24, 87–103.
Parker, M. D., 2007: Simulated convective lines with parallel stratiform precipitation. Part I: An Archetype for Convection in Along-Line Shear. J. Atmos. Sci., 64, 267–288.
—, and R. H. Johnson, 2000: Organizational modes of midlatitude mesoscale convective systems. Mon. Wea. Rev., 128, 3413–3436.
Rinehart, R. E., 1997: Radar for meteorologists. Rinehart Publications, 3rd ed., 166–167.
Schumacher, R. S., and R. H. Johnson, 2006: WRF model simulations of a quasi-stationary, extreme-rain-producing mesoscale convective system. 2006 WRF user workshop. Paper 2.4
—, 2008: Mesoscale processes contributing to extreme rainfall in a midlatitude warm-season flash flood. Mon. Wea. Rev., 136, 3964–3986.
Skamarock, W. C., J. B. Klemp, J. Dudhia, D. O. Gill, D. M. Barker, W. Wang, and J. G. Powers, 2005: A description of the Advanced Research WRF version 2, NCAR Tech. Note NCAR TN-468+STR.
Sun J., and T. Y. Lee, 2002: A numerical study of an intense quasistationary convection band over the Korean Peninsula. J. Meteor. Soc. Japan, 80, 1221–1245.
Wee, T. K., 1999: A cumulus parameterization based on cloud resolving simulations of mesoscale convective systems (in Korean). Ph.D. thesis, Seoul National University, 308 pp.
Yu, W., Y. Liu and T. Warner, 2007: An evaluation of 3dvar, nudgingbased fdda and a hybrid scheme for summer convection forecast using WRF-ARW model. 2007 WRF user workshop. Paper 2.4.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Open Access This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0 ), which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
About this article
Cite this article
Choi, HY., Ha, JH., Lee, DK. et al. Analysis and simulation of mesoscale convective systems accompanying heavy rainfall: The goyang case. Asia-Pacific J Atmos Sci 47, 265–279 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13143-011-0015-x
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13143-011-0015-x