Mechanisms supporting long-lived episodes of propagating nocturnal convection within a 7-day WRF model simulation
Mechanisms supporting long-lived episodes of propagating nocturnal convection within a 7-day WRF model simulation
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DOI:
10.1175/jas3768.1
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发表时间:
2006-10
影响因子:
3.1
通讯作者:
S. Trier;C. Davis;D. Ahijevych;M. Weisman;G. Bryan
中科院分区:
文献类型:
--
作者:
S. Trier;C. Davis;D. Ahijevych;M. Weisman;G. Bryan
Abstract A large-domain explicit convection simulation is used to investigate the life cycle of nocturnal convection for a one-week period of successive zonally propagating heavy precipitation episodes occurring over the central United States. Similar to climatological studies of phase-coherent warm-season convection, the longest-lived precipitation episodes initiate during the late afternoon over the western Great Plains (105°–100°W), reach their greatest intensity at night over the central Great Plains (100°–95°W), and typically weaken around or slightly after sunrise over the Midwest (95°–85°W). The longest-lived episodes exhibit average zonal phase speeds of ∼20 m s−1, consistent with radar observations during the period. Composite analysis of the life cycle of five long-lived nocturnal precipitation episodes indicates that convection both develops and then propagates eastward along an east–west-oriented lower-tropospheric frontal zone. An elevated ∼2-km-deep layer of high-θe air helps sustain convect...