Characteristics of rain cells over the northwest Pacific warm pool

The importance of precipitation morphology has been emphasized by recent studies. However, the specific morphological characteristics of rain cells (RCs) and their impact on rainfall intensity over the oceans remain unclear. In this study, using 15-year observations from Tropical Rainfall Measuremen...

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Main Authors: Ping Ye, Aoqi Zhang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Borntraeger 2024-08-01
Series:Meteorologische Zeitschrift
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1127/metz/2024/1212
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author Ping Ye
Aoqi Zhang
author_facet Ping Ye
Aoqi Zhang
author_sort Ping Ye
collection DOAJ
description The importance of precipitation morphology has been emphasized by recent studies. However, the specific morphological characteristics of rain cells (RCs) and their impact on rainfall intensity over the oceans remain unclear. In this study, using 15-year observations from Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) Precipitation Radar (PR), more than 600 thousand RCs in the northwest Pacific warm pool were identified and approximated by rectangle. The results showed that the horizontal scale of RCs was negatively correlated with their occurrence frequency, while there was a logarithmic correlation between the length and width of the approximated rectangle. The morphology of RCs presented huge zonal differences but small meridional differences over the study region. RCs had larger scale, narrower 2-D shape, and slender 3-D shape in the southern region compared with ones in the northern region. Precipitation intensity generally increased with the enlargement of the horizontal scale. The relationships between precipitation intensity and shape of RCs were very complex. Moderate shape of RCs had the weakest precipitation, whereas 2-D narrower or 3-D slender RCs had the strongest precipitation. The results would be helpful for monitoring and predicting precipitating clouds over the oceans.
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spelling doaj-art-b8d0fdc0c40242c4abef7e67eb1cda4d2024-12-31T14:50:26ZengBorntraegerMeteorologische Zeitschrift0941-29482024-08-0133428529210.1127/metz/2024/1212105575Characteristics of rain cells over the northwest Pacific warm poolPing YeAoqi ZhangThe importance of precipitation morphology has been emphasized by recent studies. However, the specific morphological characteristics of rain cells (RCs) and their impact on rainfall intensity over the oceans remain unclear. In this study, using 15-year observations from Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission (TRMM) Precipitation Radar (PR), more than 600 thousand RCs in the northwest Pacific warm pool were identified and approximated by rectangle. The results showed that the horizontal scale of RCs was negatively correlated with their occurrence frequency, while there was a logarithmic correlation between the length and width of the approximated rectangle. The morphology of RCs presented huge zonal differences but small meridional differences over the study region. RCs had larger scale, narrower 2-D shape, and slender 3-D shape in the southern region compared with ones in the northern region. Precipitation intensity generally increased with the enlargement of the horizontal scale. The relationships between precipitation intensity and shape of RCs were very complex. Moderate shape of RCs had the weakest precipitation, whereas 2-D narrower or 3-D slender RCs had the strongest precipitation. The results would be helpful for monitoring and predicting precipitating clouds over the oceans.http://dx.doi.org/10.1127/metz/2024/1212northwest pacific warm poolrain cellstrmm prmorphologyrainfall intensity
spellingShingle Ping Ye
Aoqi Zhang
Characteristics of rain cells over the northwest Pacific warm pool
Meteorologische Zeitschrift
northwest pacific warm pool
rain cells
trmm pr
morphology
rainfall intensity
title Characteristics of rain cells over the northwest Pacific warm pool
title_full Characteristics of rain cells over the northwest Pacific warm pool
title_fullStr Characteristics of rain cells over the northwest Pacific warm pool
title_full_unstemmed Characteristics of rain cells over the northwest Pacific warm pool
title_short Characteristics of rain cells over the northwest Pacific warm pool
title_sort characteristics of rain cells over the northwest pacific warm pool
topic northwest pacific warm pool
rain cells
trmm pr
morphology
rainfall intensity
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1127/metz/2024/1212
work_keys_str_mv AT pingye characteristicsofraincellsoverthenorthwestpacificwarmpool
AT aoqizhang characteristicsofraincellsoverthenorthwestpacificwarmpool