This paper introduces a new physical parameter -- thermodynamic shear advection parameter combining the perturbation vertical component of convective vorticity vector with the coupling of horizontal divergence perturbation and vertical gradient of general potential temperature perturbation. For a heavy-rainfall event resulting from the landfall typhoon ＇Wipha＇, the parameter is calculated by using National Centres for Enviromental Prediction/National Centre for Atmospheric Research global final analysis data. The results showed that the parameter corresponds to the observed 6 h accumulative rainband since it is capable of catching hold of the dynamic and thermodynamic disturbance in the lower troposphere over the observed rainband. Before the typhoon landed, the advection of the parameter by basic-state flow and the coupling of general potential temperature perturbation with curl of Coriolis force perturbation are the primary dynamic processes which are responsible for the local change of the parameter. After the typhoon landed, the disturbance is mainly driven by the combination of five primary dynamic processes. The advection of the parameter by basic-state flow was weakened after the typhoon landed.
A moist thermodynamic advection parameter, defined as an absolute value of the dot product of hori- zontal gradients of three-dimensional potential temperature advection and general potential temperature, is introduced to diagnose frontal heavy rainfall events in the north of China. It is shown that the parameter is closely related to observed 6-h accumulative surface rainfall and simulated cloud hydrometeors. Since the parameter is capable of describing the typical vertical structural characteristics of dynamic, thermodynamic and water vapor fields above a strong precipitation region near the front surface, it may serve as a physical tracker to detect precipitable weather systems near to a front. A tendency equation of the parameter was derived in Cartesian coordinates and calculated with the simulation output data of a heavy rainfall event. Results revealed that the advection of the parameter by the three-dimensional velocity vector, the covariance of potential temperature advection by local change of the velocity vector and general potential temperature, and the interaction between potential temperature advection and the source or sink of general potential temperature, accounted for local change in the parameter. This indicated that the parameter was determined by a combination of dynamic processes and cloud microphysical processes.
The Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS) has been used to investigate the effects of varied giant cloud condensation nuclei (GCCN) concentrations on precipitation characteristics of the spring hailstorms in a semi-arid region. The simulation result shows that this variation has significant effects on the storm microphysical processes as well as on the surface precipitation. The coverage of hail and hail mixing ratio maxima in cloud increases with greater GCCN concentrations. The accumulation zone structure benefits the growth of hail particles. Higher GCCN concentrations lead to more supercooled rain water and cloud water available for freezing. This simulation also shows that increasing GCCN concentrations may produce more rainfall on the surface but less hail precipitation, and the total accumulated precipitation increases while the ice phase precipitation decreases. This effect is stronger in polluted air than in clean air. The surface flow field changes with different GCCN concentrations. The identification index of spring hailstorm is different from that of summer hailstorm with a different aerosol background.
