Characteristics and Attribution of Extreme Rainfall Events

A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433). This special issue belongs to the section "Meteorology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2022) | Viewed by 14457

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Atmospheric Science, Sun Yat-Sen University, Zhuhai 519082, China
Interests: mesoscale meteorology; severe weather; low level jet; gravity waves and cold pool; diurnal cycle of rainfall; sea breeze; mesoscale numerical modelling and forecasting
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
School of Geographical Sciences, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China
Interests: precipitation; convection; satellite remote sensing; climate change
Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Earth Surface System and Environmental Carrying Capacity, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Northwest University, Xi’an 710127, China
Interests: meteorology; model simulation; microphysics; aerosol–cloud interaction

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Extreme rainfall events can cause enormous economic losses and reduce human safety and are one of the most catastrophic events in the word. Extreme rainfall events are occurring increasingly frequently due to global warming and are starting to receive more attention. These extreme rainfall events usually involve complex multiscale processes and controlling factors. How these complicated processes and factors contribute to the occurrence of extreme rainfall is still not fully understood at the regional and global scales. A deep understanding of the characteristics and attributes of the extreme rainfall events will greatly benefit both weather forecasting and climatic predictions.

This Special Issue encourages research papers that reveal the features or mechanisms of extreme rainfall from different perspectives, including statistical works, observations, multiscale dynamics analysis, numerical simulations, predictability and theoretical analysis. Case and climatology studies of extreme rainfall are both welcome. The relevant topics include but are not limited heavy rainfall, persistent rainfall, severe convection, extratropical and tropical cyclones, mesoscale convection systems, orographic rainfall, and extreme rainfall under climate change.

Dr. Yu Du
Dr. Xiang Ni
Dr. Xiaofei Li
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • heavy rainfall
  • extratropical and tropical cyclones
  • Mei-yu front
  • mesoscale convection system
  • orographic flows and rainfall
  • rainfall predictability
  • low-level jet
  • cold pool
  • gravity wave
  • extreme rainfall under climate change

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

23 pages, 9598 KiB  
Article
Sounding Data from Ground-Based Microwave Radiometers for a Hailstorm Case: Analyzing Spatiotemporal Differences and Initializing an Idealized Model for Prediction
by Rongjun Ma and Xiaofei Li
Atmosphere 2022, 13(10), 1535; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos13101535 - 20 Sep 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1509
Abstract
Atmospheric physical sounding data from three ground-based microwave radiometers located in Xi’an were analyzed to explore the temporal and spatial differences of a hailstorm event and were initialized into an idealized Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to predict the total evolution of [...] Read more.
Atmospheric physical sounding data from three ground-based microwave radiometers located in Xi’an were analyzed to explore the temporal and spatial differences of a hailstorm event and were initialized into an idealized Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to predict the total evolution of the event, which occurred on 29 July 2019. Liquid water and relative humidity profiles revealed a consistent sequence of hailstorm intensity among observations from surface meteorological stations and the FY-4A satellite, where the precipitation and cloud top temperature intensified from north to south, corresponding to the locations of the ground-based microwave radiometers in Gaoling, Weiyang, and Chang’an. Compared with those of a similar storm without hail that occurred on 9 August 2018, the humidity profiles and heights at 0 °C and −20 °C exhibited more dramatic changes. The heights at 0 °C and −20 °C obviously increased with a low-value zone in the relative humidity profiles during the strongest stage of the hailstorm in Chang’an and Weiyang. Later, the heights sharply dropped in Chang’an when strong, downward ice-phased hydrometers occurred with hail production in the storm. A time-saving, idealized WRF simulation, initialized with pre-3-h sounding data from ground-based microwave radiometers, was designed to qualitatively predict this hailstorm. The simulations consistently showed a strong-to-weak intensity of storms from Chang’an to Weiyang to Gaoling. Although the first attempt at this model has uncertainties in both the observations and the model, it provides a potential new method for single-point fine hailstorm prediction. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Characteristics and Attribution of Extreme Rainfall Events)
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19 pages, 11589 KiB  
Article
Moisture Origin and Transport for Extreme Precipitation over Indonesia’s New Capital City, Nusantara in August 2021
by Anis Purwaningsih, Sandro W. Lubis, Eddy Hermawan, Dita Fatria Andarini, Teguh Harjana, Dian Nur Ratri, Ainur Ridho, Risyanto and Akas Pinaringan Sujalu
Atmosphere 2022, 13(9), 1391; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos13091391 - 30 Aug 2022
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 2781
Abstract
Nusantara, Indonesia’s new capital city, experienced a rare extreme rainfall event on 27–28 August 2021. This heavy rainfall occurred in August, the driest month of the year based on the monthly climatology data, and caused severe flooding and landslides. To better understand the [...] Read more.
Nusantara, Indonesia’s new capital city, experienced a rare extreme rainfall event on 27–28 August 2021. This heavy rainfall occurred in August, the driest month of the year based on the monthly climatology data, and caused severe flooding and landslides. To better understand the underlying mechanisms for such extreme precipitation events, we investigated the moisture sources and transport processes using the Lagrangian model HYSPLIT. Our findings revealed that moisture was mostly transported to Nusantara along three major routes: from Borneo Island (BRN, 53.73%), the Banda Sea and its surroundings (BSS, 32.03%), and Sulawesi Island (SUL, 9.05%). Overall, BRN and SUL were the main sources of terrestrial moisture, whereas the BSS was the main oceanic moisture source, having a lower contribution than its terrestrial counterpart. The terrestrial moisture transport from BRN was mainly driven by the large-scale high vortex flow, whereas the moisture transport from the SUL was driven by the circulation induced by boreal summer intraseasonal oscillation (BSISO) and low-frequency variability associated with La Niña. The near-surface oceanic moisture transport from BSS is primarily associated with prevailing winds due to the Australian monsoon system. These insights into moisture sources and pathways can potentially improve the accuracy of predictions of summer precipitation extremes in Indonesia’s new capital city, Nusantara, and benefit natural resource managers in the region. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Characteristics and Attribution of Extreme Rainfall Events)
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14 pages, 4225 KiB  
Article
Spatiotemporal Changes in Precipitation during the Summer Maize Growing Season in the North China Plain and Analysis of Its Causes
by Wei Wang, Shinan Tang, Hongbao Han and Yiting Xu
Atmosphere 2022, 13(8), 1288; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos13081288 - 13 Aug 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1620
Abstract
The North China Plain is an important summer maize production region in China. Investigating spatiotemporal variation patterns of precipitation during the summer maize growing season will guide the prevention of droughts and floods and ensure food production. Daily precipitation data during the summer [...] Read more.
The North China Plain is an important summer maize production region in China. Investigating spatiotemporal variation patterns of precipitation during the summer maize growing season will guide the prevention of droughts and floods and ensure food production. Daily precipitation data during the summer maize growing season in the North China Plain from 1960–2020 were used to analyze spatiotemporal changes in precipitation, examine the migration patterns of precipitation barycenters, and quantitatively analyze the effects of ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation) warm and cold events on precipitation variation characteristics. Results revealed that in the past 61 years, precipitation showed an insignificant decreasing trend; however, there were considerable differences detected in the spatial distribution layouts of precipitation between different developmental stages. The precipitation distribution layout during the sowing–jointing stage was mainly “North–South”, the zero contour was near 36° N, and the other developmental stages were mainly “global” with phases that were the opposite of one another. Moreover, the precipitation barycenter during the jointing–flowering stage showed a significant southward migration. Precipitation during the three developmental stages negatively correlated with warm events, precipitation during the flowering–maturation stage positively correlated with cold events, the relationship between precipitation changes during warm and cold events and the intensity of warm and cold events was not significant, and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) was the main climatic factor that affected precipitation changes during the summer maize-growing season in the North China Plain. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Characteristics and Attribution of Extreme Rainfall Events)
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16 pages, 55375 KiB  
Article
Large-Scale Meteorological Drivers of the Extreme Precipitation Event and Devastating Floods of Early-February 2021 in Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia
by Eddy Hermawan, Sandro W. Lubis, Teguh Harjana, Anis Purwaningsih, Risyanto, Ainur Ridho, Dita Fatria Andarini, Dian Nur Ratri and Retno Widyaningsih
Atmosphere 2022, 13(7), 1092; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos13071092 - 11 Jul 2022
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 3794
Abstract
Unusually long duration and heavy rainfall from 5 to 6 February 2021 caused widespread and devastating floods in Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia. The heavy rainfall was produced by two mesoscale convective systems (MCSs). The first MCS developed at 13Z on 5 February 2021 [...] Read more.
Unusually long duration and heavy rainfall from 5 to 6 February 2021 caused widespread and devastating floods in Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia. The heavy rainfall was produced by two mesoscale convective systems (MCSs). The first MCS developed at 13Z on 5 February 2021 over the southern coast of Sumatra and propagated towards Semarang. The second MCS developed over the north coast of Semarang at 18Z on 5 February 2021 and later led to the first peak of precipitation at 21Z on 5 February 2021. These two MCSs eventually merged into a single MCS, producing the second peak of precipitation at 00Z on 6 February 2021. Analysis of the moisture transport indicates that the strong and persistent north-westerly wind near the surface induced by CENS prior to and during the event created an intensive meridional (southward) tropospheric moisture transport from the South China Sea towards Semarang. In addition, the westerly flow induced by low-frequency variability associated with La Nina and the tropical depression over the North of Australia produced an intensive zonal (eastward) tropospheric moisture transport from the Indian Ocean towards Semarang. The combined effects of the zonal and meridional moisture transport provided favorable conditions for the development of MCSs, and hence extreme rainfall over Semarang. These results provide useful precursors for extreme weather-driven hazard prediction in Semarang and the surrounding regions in the future. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Characteristics and Attribution of Extreme Rainfall Events)
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23 pages, 14086 KiB  
Article
Case Study of Mesoscale Precipitation Areas within the Comma Head of an Extratropical Cyclone
by Yu Zhao, Xin Lan, Shuling Li and Chengfang Yang
Atmosphere 2022, 13(6), 942; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos13060942 - 9 Jun 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2088
Abstract
On 12–13 February 2016, a record-breaking rain–snow event during the passage of an extratropical cyclone occurred in Shandong Province, China, in which the 24 h precipitation totals at 48 of 123 national meteorological stations in Shandong Province broke their historical records for the [...] Read more.
On 12–13 February 2016, a record-breaking rain–snow event during the passage of an extratropical cyclone occurred in Shandong Province, China, in which the 24 h precipitation totals at 48 of 123 national meteorological stations in Shandong Province broke their historical records for the month of February, and a further 25 stations recorded their second-largest February totals. This paper investigates the evolution of the mesoscale precipitation areas and the mechanisms responsible for the formation, organization, and maintenance of the mesoscale precipitation areas, using FY-2G satellite data, Doppler radar observations, and a Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model numerical simulation at 4 km grid spacing. The main results show that the comma head cloud of the cyclone developed from four echo strips. Intense precipitation was related to the mesoscale elongated precipitation areas (EPAs) of reflectivity >30 dBZ within the stratiform clouds. The formation and development of the EPAs coincided with the activities of a low-level shear line and an associated increase in frontogenesis. The simulated EPAs occurred in an environment of conditional instability (CI), inertial instability (II), and conditional symmetric instability (CSI). In the initial stage of the elongated rainfall areas (ERAs), rainfall was initiated by the frontal forcing in the presence of elevated CI, and II was generated by upright convection. During the development stage of the ERAs, the CI was absent, and condensational heating was enhanced. II occurred in the absence of upright convection, and it seems likely that the presence of II is a diabatic signature of the precipitation itself. Upper-level II intensified the convective systems by enhancing outflow aloft, and II caused the ERAs to organize. Thus, II played an important role in the organization and maintenance of the ERAs. The frontogenesis provided the dynamic condition for the release of the instability. Enhanced CSI and II intensified slantwise convection, and combining with enhanced frontogenesis, intensified the ERAs. The echo, ascent, and frontogenesis in snowfall areas were weaker than those in rainfall areas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Characteristics and Attribution of Extreme Rainfall Events)
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Graphical abstract

14 pages, 4792 KiB  
Article
Mesoscale Horizontal Kinetic Energy Spectra of an Eastward-Moving Southwest Vortex
by Shiwang Yu, Lifeng Zhang, Yuan Wang and Jun Peng
Atmosphere 2022, 13(5), 653; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos13050653 - 20 Apr 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1771
Abstract
A high-resolution simulation with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model is performed to investigate the characteristics of the horizontal kinetic energy (HKE) spectra of an eastward-moving southwest vortex (SWV) generated in Sichuan Province, China, during 16–19 June 2011. The results indicate that [...] Read more.
A high-resolution simulation with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model is performed to investigate the characteristics of the horizontal kinetic energy (HKE) spectra of an eastward-moving southwest vortex (SWV) generated in Sichuan Province, China, during 16–19 June 2011. The results indicate that the evolution of the SWV can be divided into the development, mature, and decay stages. In the troposphere, the HKE spectrum reproduces the typical atmospheric spectrum, with a slope of approximately −3 for wavelengths greater than 300 km and −5/3 for wavelengths between 300 and 30 km in each stage. The average scale of spectral transition is around 300 km. However, the HKE spectrum in the lower stratosphere shows a −5/3 slope at mesoscales and has no clear spectral transition. During the mature stage of the SWV, the HKE increases prominently for wavelengths between 300 and 30 km. Moreover, the relative contribution of the rotational kinetic energy (RKE) and the divergent kinetic energy (DKE) was investigated. It shows that the RKE spectrum dominates the DKE spectrum for wavelengths greater than 300 km in the lower troposphere, while in the upper troposphere the magnitudes of RKE and DKE are comparable over all scales. However, in the lower stratosphere, the DKE is an order of magnitude larger than the RKE, contributing more to the total HKE spectrum. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Characteristics and Attribution of Extreme Rainfall Events)
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