Structures of Different Tibetan Plateau Vortex Types

<p>A Tibetan Plateau vortex (TPV) is defined as a shallow cyclonic meso-α-scale low-pressure system that originates over the main body of the Tibetan Plateau in the warm season and presents most notably at 500 hPa. It is the main precipitation-inducing weather system over the plateau in the warm season.</p><p>Knowledge of the TPV structure is of considerable importance for understanding the generation and development mechanisms of this mesoscale system. However, our understanding of vortex structures and our ability to classify them on a physical basis is limited due to insufficient observations. The high-resolution NCEP Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR) dataset is used in the present paper to investigate the general structural features of various types of mature TPV through classification and composite structure analysis. Results indicate that the dynamic and thermodynamic structures show regional and seasonal dependency, as well as being influenced by attributes of translation, associated precipitation, and the South Asian high (SAH).</p><p>The common precipitating TPV (type I), frequently occurring in the west–east-oriented zonal region between 33° and 36°N, is a notably low-level baroclinic and asymmetric system. It resides within a large-scale confluent zone and preferentially travels eastwards, potentially moving out of the plateau. The heavy rain vortex (type II) corresponds to a deep vortex circulation occurring in midsummer. The low-level baroclinic sub-category (type IIa) is associated with a low-level jet and mainly originates in the area (32°–35°N, 86°–94°E), preferentially moving east of 90°E and even away from the plateau; meanwhile, the nearly upright sub-category (type IIb), which has a cold center at low levels and a warm center at mid-upper levels, is a quasi-stationary and quasi-symmetric system favorably occurring west of 92°E. A western-pattern SAH exists in the upper troposphere for these two sub-categories. The springtime dry vortex in the western plateau (type III) is warm and shallow (~100 hPa deep), and zonal circulation dominates the large-scale environmental flows in the middle and upper troposphere. The precipitating vortex in the southern plateau occurring during July–August (type IV) is not affected by northerly flow at low levels. It is vertically aligned and controlled by a banded SAH.</p>

Genesis of Tibetan Plateau Vortex: Roles of Surface Diabatic and Atmospheric Condensational Latent Heating

Numerical simulations of a nighttime-generated Tibetan Plateau vortex (TPV) are conducted using the advanced Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Model. It is found that the nighttime TPV forms as a result of the merging of convections. Although the WRF Model can reproduce the genesis of the nighttime TPV well, colder and drier biases in the lower atmosphere and drier biases in the upper atmosphere are still presented, thus degrading the simulation performance. Intercomparisons among the experiments indicate that the simulations are more sensitive to land surface schemes than to cloud microphysics schemes. The development of convection is more favorable when daytime surface diabatic heating is vigorous. Surface diabatic heating during daytime plays a dominant role in the development of daytime convection and the genesis of nighttime TPV. Further diagnosis of the PV budget reveals that the obvious increase in PV in the lower atmosphere is associated with the evidently strengthened cyclonic vorticity during TPV genesis. This could be attributed to the increased vertical component of net cross-boundary PV fluxes during the merging of convections as well as the significant positive contribution of diabatic heating effects in the lower atmosphere. Therefore, strong daytime surface diabatic heating, which is essential to convection development, could provide a favorable condition for nighttime TPV genesis. Overall results illuminate the complicated process of TPV genesis.

Cloud Features of Tibetan Plateau Vortex Category Cloud Cluster over Different Regions along the Eastward-Moving Path in Summer

Using the data of CloudSat satellite, FY series satellite, CMORPH hourly precipitation, and ERA-interim reanalysis products, this paper aims to reveal the cloud features of Tibetan Plateau Vortex (TPV) category cloud clusters over its eastward-moving regions. 107 cases of eastward-moving TPV category that occurred in the summer half-year (April to September) are picked out, and then the cloud features of them are further analyzed by statistics. The results show that the eastward-moving TPV category occurs mostly in May and June, but leastly in July and September. With consecutive enhancement of precipitation intensity and convection intensity, an increasing trend is found in the proportions of deep convection clouds and multiple layer clouds during the TPV category eastward movement. In order to reveal the inner connection among the precipitation intensity, the convection intensity, and the microphysical characteristics of TPV category cloud clusters, the TPV category cloud clusters are classified into different categories by the criteria of the precipitation intensity and the convection intensity separately. Consequently, the two different criteria share the commonality that the number concentration of both ice crystal and cloud droplets increases obviously with the enhancement of precipitation intensity or convection intensity. However, the discrepancy of conclusions also exists between the two classification criteria. A notable stretching upward trend is found in the number concentration distribution of the ice crystal and downward trend in the number concentration distribution of the cloud droplet. The same increasing trend is also discovered in the effective average radius of the ice crystal and cloud droplet. But the TPV category cloud clusters with severe convection do not present the similar variation trend both in the number concentration and the effective average radius. Hence, although the above findings confirm that the precipitation intensity, the convection intensity, and the distribution of cloud hydrometers are associated and interacting mutually, the closed function relationship among them cannot be established, and other meteorology factors related to the ambient conditions should also be taken into consideration as a complete cloud microphysical system.