Mesoscale Convective Systems Dominate the Energetics of the South Asian Summer Monsoon Onset

Chen, Xingchao; Leung, L. Ruby; Feng, Zhe; Song, Fengfei; Yang, Qidong

doi:10.1029/2021gl094873

Cited by 10 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…It redistributes heat, moisture, and momentum, and produces tremendous amount of precipitation in the tropics (e.g., Chen et al., 2020; Mapes & Houze, 1993; Nesbitt et al., 2006; Schumacher & Houze, 2003). Latent heating released by tropical convection is the major driver of atmospheric general circulations, and clouds associated with tropical convection considerably modulate the global radiation balance (e.g., Chen et al., 2022; Hartmann et al., 2001; Trenberth, 2002; Webster et al., 1996; X. Chen et al., 2021). Hence, appropriately representing tropical convection in numerical models is crucial to the realistic simulation of atmospheric variability across various temporospatial scales.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Precipitation‐Moisture Coupling Over Tropical Oceans: Sequential Roles of Shallow, Deep, and Mesoscale Convective Systems

Chen

Leung

Feng

et al. 2022

Geophysical Research Letters

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Precipitation over tropical oceans rapidly increases when the environmental column saturation fraction (CSF) increases past a critical value of ∼0.7. Past studies suggested that increased stratiform rainfall greatly contributes to the rapid rainfall enhancement. In this study, the sequential roles of non‐deep convection, deep convection, and mesoscale convective system (MCS) in precipitation‐moisture interactions are examined using 19 years of satellite observations. When CSF is below ∼0.5, non‐deep convection dominates total rainfall, and predominantly contributes to moistening of the environment. Between the CSF range of 0.5–0.7, transition to deep convective rainfall begins. Meanwhile, MCS contribution to total rain rapidly increases, and the environment is further moistened. MCS becomes the major rainfall type above the critical CSF value (∼0.7), with the rapid increase of total rain mostly explained by the rapid increase in MCS rain area. Rainfall reduction at high CSF values is jointly contributed by MCS and non‐deep convection.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Precipitation‐Moisture Coupling Over Tropical Oceans: Sequential Roles of Shallow, Deep, and Mesoscale Convective Systems

Chen

Leung

Feng

et al. 2022

Geophysical Research Letters

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“…Tropical MCSs are not only responsible for more than 60% of the total precipitation in the Tropics (Houze, 2004; Liu, 2011; Mohr et al., 1999; Nesbitt et al., 2006; Roca & Fiolleau, 2020; X. Chen et al., 2022), but also influence global weather through convective momentum transport (Badlan et al., 2017; G. J. Zhang & McFarlane, 1995; Houze, 1973) and latent heating effects (Held & Hou, 1980; Hoskins & Karoly, 1981; Johnson & Ciesielski, 2013; Madden & Julian, 1971; Satoh, 1994; Weickmann, 1983; Wheeler & Kiladis, 1999). Furthermore, recent studies have demonstrated that tropical MCSs play important roles in the onset of monsoons and in the monsoonal overturning circulation (X. Chen, Leung, Feng, & Song, 2021; X. Chen, Leung, Feng, Song, et al., 2021; X. Chen et al., 2018a). These monsoonal roles establish the significance of tropical MCSs in the regional and global climate (i.e., beyond weather timescales).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A High‐Resolution Tropical Mesoscale Convective System Reanalysis (TMeCSR)

Chan

Chen

Leung

2022

J Adv Model Earth Syst

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Modern global reanalysis products have greatly accelerated meteorological research in synoptic‐to‐planetary‐scale phenomena. However, their use in studying tropical mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) and their regional‐to‐global impact has mostly been limited to supplying initial and boundary conditions for MCS‐resolving simulations and providing information about the large‐scale environments of MCSs. These limitations are due to difficulties in resolving tropical MCS dynamics in the relatively low‐resolution global models and that tropical MCSs often occur over poorly observed regions. In this work, a Tropical MCS‐resolving Reanalysis product (TMeCSR) was created over a region with frequent tropical MCSs. This region spans the tropical Indian Ocean, tropical continental Asia, Maritime Continent, and Western Pacific. TMeCSR is produced by assimilating all‐sky infrared radiances from geostationary satellites and other conventional observations into an MCS‐resolving regional model using the Ensemble Kalman Filter. The resulting observation‐constrained high‐resolution (9‐km grid spacing) data set is available hourly during the boreal summer (June‐August) of 2017, during which widespread severe flooding occurred. Comparisons of TMeCSR and European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecast Reanalysis version 5 (ERA5) against independent satellite retrievals indicate that TMeCSR's cloud and multiscale rain fields are better than those of ERA5. Furthermore, TMeCSR better captured the diurnal variability of rainfall and the statistical characteristics of MCSs. Forecasts initialized from TMeCSR also have more accurate rain and clouds than those initialized from ERA5. The TMeCSR and ERA5 forecasts have similar performances with respect to sounding and surface observations. These results indicate that TMeCSR is a promising MCS‐resolving data set for tropical MCS studies.

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“…For example, Chen, X. et al. (2021) reported that mesoscale organization of deep convection plays a dominant role in positive feedbacks associated with convection, which accelerates the energy cycle of the South Asian summer monsoon.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Mesoscale organized convection was also found to affect the mean-state and evolutions of large-scale circulations (Hartmann et al, 1984;Moncrieff, 1995). For example, Chen, X. et al (2021) reported that mesoscale organization of deep convection plays a dominant role in positive feedbacks associated with convection, which accelerates the energy cycle of the South Asian summer monsoon.…”

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confidence: 99%

Parameterizing Convective Organization Effects With a Moisture‐PDF Approach in Climate Models: Concept and a Regional Case Simulation

Yang

Wang

Zhang

et al. 2022

J Adv Model Earth Syst

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Mesoscale Convective Systems Dominate the Energetics of the South Asian Summer Monsoon Onset

Abstract: The onset of the South Asian summer monsoon (SASM) is marked by a rapid reversal of prevailing winds and an abrupt increase of precipitation over South Asia, which usually occurs from late May to early June

Cited by 10 publications

References 54 publications

Precipitation‐Moisture Coupling Over Tropical Oceans: Sequential Roles of Shallow, Deep, and Mesoscale Convective Systems

Precipitation‐Moisture Coupling Over Tropical Oceans: Sequential Roles of Shallow, Deep, and Mesoscale Convective Systems

A High‐Resolution Tropical Mesoscale Convective System Reanalysis (TMeCSR)

Parameterizing Convective Organization Effects With a Moisture‐PDF Approach in Climate Models: Concept and a Regional Case Simulation

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