A Global High‐Resolution Mesoscale Convective System Database Using Satellite‐Derived Cloud Tops, Surface Precipitation, and Tracking

Feng, Zhe; Leung, L. Ruby; Liu, Nana; Wang, Jingyu; Houze, Robert A.; Li, Jianfeng; Hardin, Joseph; Chen, Dandan; Guo, Jianping

doi:10.1029/2020jd034202

Cited by 119 publications

(231 citation statements)

References 74 publications

(160 reference statements)

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“…This demonstrates that MCSs can pose a direct threat to life, people's livelihoods, crop yields and infrastructure. On the other hand, MCSs play an important role in the hydrological cycle, as they may account for a significant amount of the annual or seasonal rainfall, for example, in North America (Fritsch et al, 1986;Z. Feng et al, 2021).…”

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confidence: 99%

The Role of Mesoscale Convective Systems in Precipitation in the Tibetan Plateau Region

2021

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Mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) are organized convective storm complexes, which extend over several 100°km and produce large areas of convective and stratiform precipitation (Houze, 2004). MCSs have more complex dynamics than unicellular convective storms, but are primarily defined by their spatial extent (Houze, 2004). Many different forces can drive mesoscale organisation of convection. Thus, the structure and precipitation characteristics of MCSs can take different forms depending on the region of genesis and underlying processes. In the continental mid-latitudes, MCSs often occur in areas downstream regions of high-altitude regions, as MCS formation is related to mountain flow dynamics. On the leeside of the Rocky Mountains (over the Great Plains)

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confidence: 99%

The Role of Mesoscale Convective Systems in Precipitation in the Tibetan Plateau Region

2021

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“…12b represents the most common orientation, obtained by fitting a von-Mises-distribution (Mardia and Zemroch, 1975) to the regional events. Events occurring offshore, where MCS are more common than over land (Feng et al, 2021), tend to run longer, whereas events are shorter in the western part of the domain, hinting towards less organized forms of convection.…”

Section: Geometric Event Propertiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characteristics of hail hazard in South Africa based on satellite detection of convective storms

Punge

Bedka

Kunz

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Abstract. Accurate estimates of hail risk to fixed and mobile assets such as crops, infrastructure and vehicles are required for both insurance pricing and preventive measures. Here we present an event catalog to describe hail hazard in South Africa guided by 14 years of geostationary satellite observations of convective storms. Overshooting cloud tops have been detected, grouped and tracked to describe the spatio-temporal extent of potential hail events. It is found that hail events concentrate mainly in the southeast of the country, along the Highveld and the eastern slopes. Events are most frequent from mid-November through February and peak in the afternoon, between 13 and 17 UTC. Multivariate stochastic modeling of event properties yields an event catalog spanning 25 000 years, aiming to estimate, in combination with vulnerability and exposure data, hail damage for return periods of 200 years.

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“…The study area encompasses most of the Amazon basin with the center located at Manaus, Brazil as depicted in Figure 1. Since MCSs in Amazonian region typically propagate westward across the Amazon basin (Feng et al., 2021) with its origin at the northeastern coast of Brazil and within the central Amazon basin, our domain is large enough to alleviate possible issues introduced at the domain boundary as well as allowing the spin‐up and propagation of weather systems originating from the Atlantic Ocean. The simulation period is from March 11 to April 10 during the wet season of 2014 that includes numerous intense rainfall events.…”

Section: Domain and Observationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since cloud populations associated with organized convective systems have significant impacts on radiation as well as produce significant amount of rainfall, the Earth's energy budget and water cycle is strongly modulated by deep convection in the Amazon. The Amazon basin is one of the regions over land with the most frequent mesoscale convective systems (MCSs), comparable to the Maritime Continents (Feng et al., 2021). MCSs account for over 50% of annual rainfall in the Amazon, during the wet season (December–May) the percentage over central and western Amazon increase to over 60%.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Representations of Precipitation Diurnal Cycle in the Amazon as Simulated by Observationally Constrained Cloud‐System Resolving and Global Climate Models

Tai

Feng

et al. 2021

J Adv Model Earth Syst

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The ability of an observationally‐constrained cloud‐system resolving model (Weather Research and Forecasting; WRF, 4‐km grid spacing) and a global climate model (Energy Exascale Earth System Model; E3SM, 1‐degree grid spacing) to represent the precipitation diurnal cycle over the Amazon basin during the 2014 wet season is assessed. The WRF model coupled with a 3‐D variational data assimilation scheme reproduces the spatial variability of the precipitation diurnal cycle over the basin and the lifecycle of westward propagating MCSs initiated by the coastal sea‐breeze front. In contrast, a single morning peak in rainfall is produced by E3SM for simulations despite the nudging of large‐scale winds toward global reanalysis, indicating precipitation in E3SM is largely controlled by local convection associated with diurnal heating. The role of propagating MCS on the environment are discussed by using a multivariate perturbation analysis. We also find that the advection of moisture perturbations from ocean to inland regions have a higher correlation with the occurrence of MCSs in the Amazon than the intensity of colder air intrusion associated with sea breezes along the coast. Moreover, the presence of large cold pools over the central Amazon basin are responsible for the maintenance of propagating deep convection.

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A Global High‐Resolution Mesoscale Convective System Database Using Satellite‐Derived Cloud Tops, Surface Precipitation, and Tracking

Cited by 119 publications

References 74 publications

The Role of Mesoscale Convective Systems in Precipitation in the Tibetan Plateau Region

The Role of Mesoscale Convective Systems in Precipitation in the Tibetan Plateau Region

Characteristics of hail hazard in South Africa based on satellite detection of convective storms

Representations of Precipitation Diurnal Cycle in the Amazon as Simulated by Observationally Constrained Cloud‐System Resolving and Global Climate Models

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