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journal article Oct 01, 2017

Sensitivity of the initiation of an isolated thunderstorm over the Beijing metropolitan region to urbanization, terrain morphology and cold outflows

Huiqi Li ORCID Xiaopeng Cui Dongming Zhang
Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society Vol. 143 No. 709 pp. 3153-3164 · Wiley
View at Publisher Save 10.1002/qj.3169
Abstract
To gain insight into the processes leading to the convective initiation (CI) of an isolated thunderstorm near the central urban area (CUA) of the Beijing metropolitan region (BMR) on 9 August 2011, a series of numerical sensitivity experiments by removing or modifying the CUA, terrain morphology, and convectively generated cold outflows is performed. Results show that the CUA accounts for the formation of cloud condensation near the top of the mixed layer at the CI site as a result of the growing boundary‐layer depth through its urban heat island effects and urban‐induced convergence between a warm and moist southerly flow and an easterly flow on the downstream side. The northerly approaching cold outflows from the mesoscale convective system (MCS) facilitate the generation of northerly flows through ‘a northwestward‐concave valley’ such that the enhanced low‐level convergence with the southerly and easterly flows near the CUA could determine the timing of the outbreak of shallow clouds near the mixed‐layer top into an intense thunderstorm. If the concave valley to the northwest of the CUA is eliminated, little northerly flow ahead of the cold outflow boundaries into the CI site would be present. The results obtained herein appear to have significant implications for understanding and forecasting the development of afternoon thunderstorms in the BMR under weak‐gradient environments.
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Metrics
31
Citations
79
References
Details
Published
Oct 01, 2017
Vol/Issue
143(709)
Pages
3153-3164
License
View
Authors
H
Huiqi Li

Key Laboratory of Cloud‐Precipitation Physics and Severe Storms (LACS), Institute of Atmospheric Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China

X
Xiaopeng Cui

Key Laboratory of Cloud‐Precipitation Physics and Severe Storms (LACS), Institute of Atmospheric Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing China; Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology China

D
Dongming Zhang

State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences Beijing China; Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science University of Maryland College Park MD USA

Funding
National Basic Research Program of China Award: 2014CB441402
Cite This Article
Huiqi Li, Xiaopeng Cui, Dongming Zhang (2017). Sensitivity of the initiation of an isolated thunderstorm over the Beijing metropolitan region to urbanization, terrain morphology and cold outflows. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, 143(709), 3153-3164. https://doi.org/10.1002/qj.3169
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