Evolution and Structure of the Mesoscale Convection and Its Environment: A Case Study during the Early Onset of the Southeast Asian Summer Monsoon

Abstract

Abstract The evolution and structure of mesoscale convection in the South China Sea (SCS) region are documented for the first time mainly using the dual-Doppler radar dataset collected during the South China Sea Monsoon Experiment (SCSMEX) in 1998. In particular, this study focuses on the convection associated with a subtropical frontal passage during the early onset of the southeast Asian monsoon (SEAM). For the case of 15 May 1998, interaction between the tropical monsoon flow and frontal circulation played an important role in the evolution and structure of mesoscale convection. In the prefrontal region, the southwesterly monsoon flow converged with the southwesterly frontal flow to generate northeast-to-southwest-oriented convection. In the postfrontal region, the southwesterly monsoon flow converged with the northerly frontal flow to produce a wide convective line with an east-to-west orientation. In addition, the convergence between the southerly monsoon flow and the northerly postfrontal flow gener...