Abstract
This paper introduces the X-band weather radar dual-polarization parameters of isolated convective cell precipitation and meso/microscale snowfall on Mount Everest and presents the first precipitation observations based on dual-polarization weather radar in this area. Compared with the Chengdu Plain, Mount Everest experienced convective precipitation on smaller horizontal and vertical scales with a narrower Zdr probability density spectrum (uniformly distributed around approximately 0). The Zh profile on Mount Everest displayed two peaks, unlike that over the plains, and the precipitation at the strong convective core was denser. Furthermore, during winter snowfall on the northern slope of Mount Everest, when the boundary layer exhibited sufficient water vapor and dynamic uplift, due to the low boundary layer temperature (<0 °C), water vapor produced stratiform clouds in the middle and lower layers (approximately 1.5 km above ground level (AGL)). Water vapor condensation at 1.5–2.5 km AGL led to latent heat release, which increased the temperature of regional stratiform clouds with increasing height. Consequently, the temperature at the stratiform cloud top height (2.5 km AGL) unexpectedly exceeded 0 °C. Additionally, the −20 °C isotherm was at approximately 4 km AGL, indicating that the middle- and upper-layer atmospheric temperatures remained low. Therefore, thermal instability occurred between the stratiform cloud top height and the middle/upper atmosphere, forming convective motion. These findings confirm the occurrence of elevated winter snowfall convection above Mount Everest and may have certain reference value for retrieving raindrop size distributions, quantitatively estimating precipitation, and parameterizing cloud microphysical processes in numerical prediction models for the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau.
Highlights
With a total area of approximately 2.5 million km2 and an average elevation exceeding4000 m, the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau is the highest plateau in the world
Bukovcic et al [9] performed a detailed analysis on the structure and maintenance mechanism of winter snowfall clouds based on dual-polarization weather radar, which provided a satisfactory reference for research on the evolutionary characteristics of vertical structures in the snowfall process
Li et al [10] used Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite data for the statistical analysis of strong convective weather on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and showed that the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau is more likely than plains areas to trigger small-scale convective weather
Summary
With a total area of approximately 2.5 million km and an average elevation exceeding. Bukovcic et al [9] performed a detailed analysis on the structure and maintenance mechanism of winter snowfall clouds based on dual-polarization weather radar, which provided a satisfactory reference for research on the evolutionary characteristics of vertical structures in the snowfall process. Li et al [10] used Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite data for the statistical analysis of strong convective weather on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and showed that the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau is more likely than plains areas to trigger small-scale convective weather These studies all provide references for analyzing the cloud microphysical processes of convective precipitation (snow) weather on the northern slope of Mount Everest. X-band dual-polarization weather radar echoes of precipitation (snow) in Qomolangma, thereby providing an important basis for understanding the microphysical mechanism of cloud precipitation over the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau [1]
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