Abstract
This study investigates the cloud macro- and micro-physical characteristics in the convective and stratiform regions and their different responses to the seeding for mixed convective-stratiform clouds that occurred in Shandong province on 21 May 2018, based on the observations from the aircraft, the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite, and the high-resolution Himawari-8 (H8) satellite. The aircraft observations show that convection was deeper and radar echoes were significantly enhanced with higher tops in response to seeding in the convective region. This is linked with the conversion of supercooled liquid droplets to ice crystals with released latent heat, resulting in strengthened updrafts, enhanced radar echoes, higher cloud tops, and more and larger precipitation particles. In contrast, in the stratiform cloud region, after the Silver Iodide (AgI) seeding, the radar echoes become significantly weaker at heights close to the seeding layer, with the echo tops lowered by 1.4–1.7 km. In addition, a hollow structure appears at the height of 6.2–7.8 km with a depth of about 1.6 km and a diameter of about 5.5 km, and features such as icing seeding tracks appear. These suggest that the transformation between droplets and ice particles was accelerated by the seeding in the stratiform part. The NPP and H8 satellites also show that convective activity was stronger in the convective region after seeding; while in the stratiform region, a cloud seeding track with a width of 1–3 km appears 10 km downstream of the seeding layer 15 minutes after the AgI seeding, which moves along the wind direction as width increases.
摘要
积层混合云是由积云和层状云组成的一种降水云型, 具有比较复杂的结构特征, 且对流区域和层云区域等不同部位播撒作业后的响应特征和催化作用机制也可能存在较大差异. 本文针对积层混合云开展飞机探测和催化作业实验, 利用机载Ka波段云雷达、 云和降水粒子测量系统等飞机探测数据, 结合极地轨道运行环境卫星和Himawari-8卫星、 多普勒天气雷达等多源遥感数据, 研究了对流区域和层云区域不同部位的云宏微观物理特征及其对播撒催化的响应差异. 机载Ka波段云雷达与云和降水粒子测量系统探测数据表明, 积层混合云不同部位物理特征对催化作业有显著不同响应. 这些不同响应主要表现为在对流区域播撒AgI冰核后, 对流活动更加旺盛, 回波明显增强, 回波顶变高等一系列参数变化, 这有利于云粒子增长, 云滴谱展宽, 降水粒子浓度更高; 在层云区域催化以后, 催化层上下3 km回波明显变弱, 回波顶降低1.4-1.7 km, 云水转化充分, 6.2-7.8 km垂直高度上出现一个深度1.6 km、 直径5.5 km的空洞, 出现冰化云迹等响应特征, 表明层状云部分催化加快了云滴向冰晶的转换速度. 卫星观测结果进一步确认了这一发现, 表明对流云部分催化强化了对流活动, 层状云部分促进了云水-云冰转化, 形成了随风场移动的催化带. 本文进一步凝练提出了积层混合云不同部位催化响应的概念模型. 该研究率先在中国利用机载KPR雷达跟踪研究播撒试验前后雷达回波和垂直速度演变特征, 揭示了积层混合云不同部位对增雨作业的不同响应, 有利于改进增雨作业方案设计, 具有重要的业务应用和推广价值.
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Data Availability Statement The data used in this study are available at https://pan.baidu.com/s/1wwwCLKjTGy_HxDXdQFJd4Q.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Project (Grant No. 2019YFA0606803 and 2016YFA0601704), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41925022), the Innovation and Development Project of China Meteorological Administration (CXFZ2022J036), and the Science and Technology Development Fund of Hubei Meteorological Bureau (Grant No. 2017Y06, 2017Y07, 2016Y06, and 2019Y10). NOAA Data Service Network provided NPP satellite data, the H8 10-minute full-disc data was also provided by the Data Service website of NOAA, and Binzhou Meteorological Observatory in Shandong Province provided valuable radar observation data and ground real-time data. In addition, we thank Nanjing Hurricane Translation for reviewing the English language quality of this paper.
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Article Highlights
• Enhanced convective activity occurs with higher cloud tops in response to seeding in convective cloud regions.
• Dynamic seeding mechanism is involved in the convective cloud region, resulting in more and larger precipitation particles.
• Conversion of liquid to ice particles is accelerated with weaker radar echoes around the seeding layer in the stratiform cloud region.
This paper is a contribution to the special issue on Cloud-Aerosol-Radiation-Precipitation Interaction: Progress and Challenges
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Li, D., Zhao, C., Li, P. et al. Macro- and Micro-physical Characteristics of Different Parts of Mixed Convective-stratiform Clouds and Differences in Their Responses to Seeding. Adv. Atmos. Sci. 39, 2040–2055 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-022-2003-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-022-2003-8
Key words
- airborne Ka-band Precipitation Radar (KPR)
- mixed convective-stratiform clouds
- convective region
- stratiform region
- cloud seeding
- cloud microphysical properties