Abstract

During the 2006 wet period, as eastward-moving transient disturbances passed through a semipermanent low pressure system west of Hawaii, southerly winds east of the low strengthened bringing in higher than usual amounts of moisture from the deep tropics to Hawaii. All five heavy rainfall episodes during the wet period occurred during a southerly wind regime. Favorable conditions for the development of the Kahala Mall flood case on 31 March 2006 are examined. A high low-level θ _e axis across Hawaii indicated the existence of convective instability over Hawaii. A transient midlatitude trough extending southward merged with the semipermanent subtropical trough. The tropopause folding associated with the deepening subtropical trough contributed to the spinup of the Kona low. The advection of high-PV air in the upper troposphere enhanced upward motion downstream over Hawaii. The Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF) simulation shows that latent heat release contributed to an eastward shift of the moisture tongue and enhanced moisture convergence at low levels. The horizontal distributions of instability indices, especially the K index, from WRF modeling can provide useful forecast guidance for the development of heavy rainfall. On 31 March, heavy rainfall occurred on the lee side of the Ko’olau Mountain Range with maximum rainfall at the summit as a convective line followed by an intense storm moved inland along the south shore and continued to advance northward through the range. As the convective cells moved across the mountain range, radar echoes intensified with deeper echo tops and higher vertically integrated liquid water content.

Abstract

The marine boundary layer jets (MBLJs) over the northern South China Sea during the early summer rainy season over Taiwan are analyzed using 5-yr (2008–12) National Centers for Environmental Prediction Climate Forecast System Reanalysis data with a 6-h interval. The MBLJ is distinctly different from the low-level jets associated with the subsynoptic frontal systems. During this period, the MBLJ events over the northern South China Sea mainly occur during the second half of the monsoon rainy season over Taiwan (after 1 June) and have a wind speed maximum around the 925-hPa level. The MBLJs are mainly related to the subsynoptic-scale pressure gradients related to a relatively deep mei-yu trough over southeastern China and a stronger-than-normal west Pacific subtropical high. Within the MBL, there is a three-way balance among pressure gradients, Coriolis force, and surface friction, with cross-isobar ageostrophic winds pointing toward the mei-yu trough throughout the diurnal cycle. At the jet core, the vertical wind profile resembles an Ekman spiral with supergeostrophic winds >12 m s⁻¹ near the top of the MBL. The MBLJs are strongest at night and close to geostrophic flow in the late afternoon/early evening. This is because the friction velocity and ageostrophic wind decrease during daytime in response to mixing in the lowest levels. The MBLJs play an important role in horizontal moisture transport from the northern South China Sea to the Taiwan area. In the frontal zone, the moisture tongue extends vertically upward. The rainfall production is related to vertical motions in the frontal zone or localized lifting due to orographic effects.

Abstract

Two contrasting localized heavy rainfall events during Taiwan’s early summer rainy season with the daily rainfall maximum along the windward mountain range and coast were studied and compared using a combination of observations and numerical simulations. Both events occurred under favorable large-scale settings including the existence of a moisture tongue from the tropics. For the 31 May case, heavy rainfall occurred in the afternoon hours over the southwestern windward slopes after a shallow surface front passed central Taiwan. The orographic lifting of the prevailing warm, moist, west-southwesterly flow aloft, combined with a sea breeze–upslope flow at the surface provided the localized lifting needed for the development of heavy precipitation. On 16 June before sunrise, pronounced orographic blocking of the warm, moist, south-southwesterly flow occurred because of the presence of relatively cold air at low levels as a result of nocturnal and rain evaporative cooling. As a result, convective systems intensified as they moved toward the southwestern coast. During the daytime, the cold pool remained over southwestern Taiwan without the development of onshore/upslope flow. Furthermore, with a south-southwesterly flow aloft parallel to terrain contours, orographic lifting aloft was absent and preexisting rain cells offshore diminished after they moved inland. Over northern Taiwan on the lee side, a sea breeze/onshore flow developed in the afternoon hours, resulting in heavy thundershowers. These results demonstrate the importance of diurnal and local effects on determining the location and timing of the occurrences of localized heavy precipitation during the early summer rainy season over Taiwan.

Abstract

From 0200 to 1000 LST 2 June 2017, the shallow, east–west-oriented mei-yu front (<1 km) cannot move over the Yang-Ming Mountains (with peaks ∼1120 m) when it first arrives. The postfrontal cold air at the surface is deflected by the Yang-Ming Mountains and moves through the Keelung River and Tamsui River valleys into the Taipei basin. The shallow northerly winds are anchored along the northern side of the Yang-Ming Mountains for 8 h. In addition, the southwesterly barrier jet with maximum winds in the 900–950-hPa layer brings in abundant moisture and converges with the northwesterly flow in the southwestern flank of the mei-yu frontal cyclone. Therefore, torrential rain (>600 mm) occurs over the northern side of the Yang-Ming Mountains. From 1100 to 1200 LST, with the gradual deepening of the postfrontal cold air, the front finally passes over the Yang-Ming Mountains and arrives at the Taipei basin, which results in an east–west-oriented rainband with the rainfall maxima over the northwestern coast and Taipei basin. From 1300 to 1400 LST, the frontal rainband continues to move southward with rainfall over the northwestern slopes of the Snow Mountains. In the prefrontal southwesterly flow, the orographic lifting of the moisture-laden low-level winds results in heavy rainfall on the southwestern slopes of the Snow Mountains and the Central Mountain Range. With the terrain of the Yang-Ming Mountains removed in the high-resolution model, the mei-yu front moves quickly southward without a rainfall maximum over the northern tip of Taiwan.

Abstract

During 11–12 June 2012, heavy precipitation occurred over the northwestern Taiwan coast (~435 mm) and within the Taipei basin (~477 mm). With the presence of a midlatitude omega-blocking pattern, a persistent cold northerly wind component west of the northeast China low and west of the mei-yu frontal cyclone extends all the way to the subtropics and up to the 700-hPa level. At 2000 LST 11 June, the total precipitable water ahead of the front is elevated (>70 kg m⁻²) with horizontal southwesterly moisture fluxes >360 g kg⁻¹ m s⁻¹ at the 950-hPa level. The rainfall maximum along the northwestern coast mainly occurs before 0200 LST 12 June, as the convective activities in the frontal zone are enhanced by the localized convergence between the prefrontal southerly barrier jet and environmental airflow. After landfall, the relatively deep (~1.5 km) mei-yu front moves over the mountains (with peaks ~1121 m) along the northern coast and into the Taipei basin. During 0200–0800 LST 12 June, it stalls at the foothills of the Snow Mountains (with peaks ~3886 m) south of the basin under the postfrontal west-northwesterly flow. Rain cells associated with the mei-yu front are enhanced as they move southeastward toward the Snow Mountains. The barrier jet and the rainfall maxima over the northwestern coast and within the Taipei basin are well simulated using the high-resolution WRF Model. With the model terrain removed, the simulated mei-yu front continues to move southward after landfall without reproducing the barrier jet and both observed rainfall maxima.

Abstract

A cycling run, which began 36 h before the model forecast, was employed to assimilate special Terrain-influenced Monsoon Rainfall Experiment (TiMREX) soundings, Global Telecommunications System (GTS) data, and Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate (COSMIC) global positioning system (GPS) radio occultation (RO) refractivity profiles to improve the model initial conditions provided by the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Global Forecast System (GFS) to study a coastal, heavy rainfall event over southwestern Taiwan during 15–16 June 2008. The 36-h cycling run with data assimilation (DA_ALL_DATA run) has a positive impact on the depiction of subsynoptic flow in the model initial conditions at 1200 UTC 15 June, including the warm moist tongue and southwesterly monsoon flow over the open ocean. Furthermore, the cold pool caused by the evaporative cooling of antecedent rains and orographic blocking over southwestern Taiwan are better resolved in the nested high-resolution domain in the DA_ALL_DATA run as compared to the initial conditions provided by the NCEP GFS. As a result, the heavy rainfall along the southwestern coast and afternoon localized heavy rainfall over northern Taiwan are better predicted in the DA_ALL_DATA run.

Model sensitivity tests are also performed to diagnose the effects of terrain and rain-evaporative cooling on the intensity and depth of the cold pool and degree of orographic blocking on the southwesterly flow over southwestern Taiwan. It is apparent that including rain-evaporative cooling from antecedent rains and orographic effects in the model initial conditions are important to account for the predicted rainfall distribution of this coastal rainfall event.

A four-day educational cruise navigated around the leeward side of Oahu and Kauai to observe the thermodynamic and dynamic features of the trade-wind wakes of these small islands by using weather balloons and other onboard atmospheric and oceanographic sensors. This cruise was proposed, designed, and implemented completely by graduate students from the School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology at the University of Hawaii. The data collected during the cruise show, for the first time, strong sea/land breezes during day/night and their thermal effects on the island wake. This cruise provided the students with a significant, valuable, and meaningful opportunity to experience the complete process of proposing and undertaking field observations, as well as analyzing data and writing a scientific article.