South China Sea Monsoon Experiment Research Articles

The South China Sea Monsoon Experiment—Boundary Layer Height (SCSMEX-BLH): Experimental Design and Preliminary Results

Abstract Knowing the relationship between local convective precipitation and boundary layer processes is critical for forecasting rainstorms. For the South China Sea area, such a forecast is particularly important during the monsoon season. During such a season, the authors examined the boundary layer features at three sites as part of the South China Sea Monsoon Experiment—Boundary Layer Height (SCSMEX-BLH) experiment. The sites are spread from inland to over sea along a 43.4-km line. Here the authors analyze SCSMEX-BLH data from an intensive observing period that includes a convectively suppressed (inactive) period, a period influenced by a tropical storm, and a convectively active monsoon period. Some preliminary findings include the following: 1) The absorption of shortwave radiation over the sea is the primary driver of the land–sea temperature difference. The difference produces a diurnal variation below 400 m, with a warmer surface layer over the coast at night. 2) In the inactive and storm periods, the sensible heat flux is larger than that in the active period, whereas in the active period, the heat flux (primarily latent heat flux) over sea is significant. Also in the active period, the depth of the mixed layer inland is smaller than that in other periods, but the depth on the coast is always higher than that in other periods. 3) In the active period at night, as a monsoon vapor surge advects horizontally over the warm sea surface, a large latent heat flux driven by strong winds aids the growth of marine cumulus, which eventually develop into inland cumulonimbus bringing inland rainfall.

Diurnal variations of turbulence parameters over the tropical oceanic upper troposphere during SCSMEX

Using the method of Thorpe analysis, the TKE (turbulence kinematic energy) dissipation rate (ɛ) and turbulence diffusivity (K) were derived from the RS (radiosounding) measurements in the tropical oceanic upper troposphere. The measurements were performed four times per day during two intense observation periods (May 5–25, and June 5–25) on the Kexue #1 scientific observation ship of SCSMEX (South China Sea Monsoon EXperiment) in 1998. There are three new features obtained from our analysis. First, the responses of ɛ and K to the onset of monsoon are negligible over the ocean at least for the data used here. Second, the temporal variations of ɛ and K are in a similar manner and exhibit strong diurnal variations. The diurnal variations achieve their maxima in the morning (08 LT) and early afternoon (14 LT), and achieve their minima in the evening (20 LT) and early morning hours (02 LT). The diurnal variations of turbulence parameters (ɛ and K) and their responses to the onset of monsoon are entirely different from those derived over land at similar latitudes. Finally, although the correlations between the variations of ɛ and MCSs (mesoscale convective systems), which were derived from TRMM (tropical rainfall measuring mission) satellite, are not very well in only few days, the diurnal variations of ɛ averaged over May and June are strongly correlated with the diurnal variations of MCSs with correlation factors of 0.79 and 0.94, respectively. This indicates that the turbulence and its diurnal variations over the tropic oceanic upper stratosphere region are highly related to the MCSs.

Upper ocean near-inertial response to 1998 Typhoon Faith in the South China Sea

During the South China Sea monsoon experiment (SCSMEX), three autonomous temperature line acquisition system (ATLAS) buoys with acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) were moored in the South China Sea to measure temperature, salinity and current velocity. Typhoon Faith passed through about 250 km south to one of the mooring buoys located at 12°58.5′N, 114°24.5′E from December 11 to 14, 1998. The data analysis indicates that the typhoon winds induce a great increase in the kinetic energy at near-inertial frequencies with two maxima in the mixed layer and thermocline. The near-inertial oscillations were observed at the upper 270 m in the wake of Typhoon Faith. The oscillations were originally excited in the sea surface layer and propagated downward. The amplitudes of the oscillations decrease with depth except in the thermocline. The near-inertial oscillation signals are also remarkable in temperature and salinity fields.

Effects of cloud microphysics on monsoon convective system and its formation environments over the South China Sea: A two-dimensional cloud-resolving modeling study

[1] The Weather Research Forecast (WRF) model imposed by the large-scale advective forcing derived from observed data representing an average of gridded data fields over the South China Sea Monsoon Experiment (SCSMEX) was used to study the effects of cloud microphysics on monsoon convective systems and its formation environment over the tropical ocean. The temporal variation of the WRF model-simulated rain rate is in good agreement with the observed data. The sensitivity experiments with ice runs and ice-free runs show that the ice run can produce less rain prior to and during the onset of the monsoon period: the mean decrease can be −5 mm d−1 and the maximum decrease can be more than 60 mm d−1 during the post onset of the monsoon period, and about 6% decrease of the domain-averaged accumulative rainfall. The mechanism that induces this phenomenon was investigated through the budget of cloud radiation forcing, the variations of latent heating and cooling, and that of terminal fall velocities of cloud hydrometeors due to phase change in this paper, and show that at the top of atmosphere the net cloud radiation forcing on both ice cloud and water cloud can be neglected. However, on the ocean surface the ice run may reduce about 14% of downward shortwave radiation and increase about 1.6% of downward longwave radiation on average, which can produce a net cooling process and directly reduce the sensible and latent heat fluxes on the ocean surface and result in the decrease of precipitation over the whole region. Therefore, the effect of ice microphysics is dominated through the radiation processes instead of microphysics itself. In addition, ice cloud can lead to the atmosphere being warmer and drier at middle and upper levels and stabilize the atmosphere and suppress the further development of convections.

Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Latent Heating in the South Asian Monsoon Region

Abstract Information from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) level 3 monthly 0.5° × 0.5° Convective and Stratiform Heating (CSH) product and TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) 2A12 datasets is used to examine the four-dimensional latent heating (LH) structure over the Asian monsoon region between 1998 and 2006. High sea surface temperatures, ocean–land contrasts, and complex terrain produce large precipitation and atmospheric heating rates whose spatial and temporal characteristics are relatively undocumented. Analyses show interannual and intraseasonal LH variations with a large fraction of the interannual variability induced by internal intraseasonal variability. Also, the analyses identify a spatial dipole of LH anomalies between the equatorial Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal regions occurring during the summer active and suppressed phases of the monsoon intraseasonal oscillation. Comparisons made between the TRMM CSH and TMI 2A12 datasets indicate differences in the shape of the vertical profile of LH. A comparison of TRMM LH retrievals with sounding budget observations made during the South China Sea Monsoon Experiment shows a high correspondence in the timing of positive LH episodes during the rainy periods. Negative values of atmospheric heating, associated with radiative cooling and with upper-tropospheric cooling from nonsurface-precipitating clouds, are not captured by either of the TRMM datasets. In summary, LH algorithms based on satellite information are capable of representing the spatial and temporal characteristics of the vertically integrated heating in the Asian monsoon region. However, the vertical distribution of atmospheric heating is not captured accurately throughout different convective phases. It is suggested that satellite-derived radiative heating/cooling products are needed to supplement the LH products in order to give a better overall depiction of atmospheric heating.

Spectral Retrieval of Latent Heating Profiles from TRMM PR Data. Part IV: Comparisons of Lookup Tables from Two- and Three-Dimensional Cloud-Resolving Model Simulations

Abstract The spectral latent heating (SLH) algorithm was developed to estimate latent heating profiles for the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission Precipitation Radar (TRMM PR). The method uses TRMM PR information (precipitation-top height, precipitation rates at the surface and melting level, and rain type) to select heating profiles from lookup tables (LUTs). LUTs for the three rain types—convective, shallow stratiform, and anvil rain (deep stratiform with a melting level)—were derived from numerical simulations of tropical cloud systems from the Tropical Ocean and Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Response Experiment (TOGA COARE) using a cloud-resolving model (CRM). The two-dimensional (2D) CRM was used in previous studies. The availability of exponentially increasing computer capabilities has resulted in three-dimensional (3D) CRM simulations for multiday periods becoming increasingly prevalent. In this study, LUTs from the 2D and 3D simulations are compared. Using the LUTs from 3D simulations results in less agreement between the SLH-retrieved heating and sounding-based heating for the South China Sea Monsoon Experiment (SCSMEX). The level of SLH-estimated maximum heating is lower than that of the sounding-derived maximum heating. This is explained by the fact that using the 3D LUTs results in stronger convective heating and weaker stratiform heating above the melting level than is the case if using the 2D LUTs. More condensate is generated in and carried from the convective region in the 3D model than in the 2D model, and less condensate is produced by the stratiform region’s own upward motion.

Evaluation of Long-Term Cloud-Resolving Model Simulations Using Satellite Radiance Observations and Multifrequency Satellite Simulators

Abstract This paper proposes a methodology known as the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Triple-Sensor Three-Step Evaluation Framework (T3EF) for the systematic evaluation of precipitating cloud types and microphysics in a cloud-resolving model (CRM). T3EF utilizes multisensor satellite simulators and novel statistics of multisensor radiance and backscattering signals observed from the TRMM satellite. Specifically, T3EF compares CRM and satellite observations in the form of combined probability distributions of precipitation radar (PR) reflectivity, polarization-corrected microwave brightness temperature (Tb), and infrared Tb to evaluate the candidate CRM. T3EF is used to evaluate the Goddard Cumulus Ensemble (GCE) model for cases involving the South China Sea Monsoon Experiment (SCSMEX) and the Kwajalein Experiment (KWAJEX). This evaluation reveals that the GCE properly captures the satellite-measured frequencies of different precipitating cloud types in the SCSMEX case but overestimates the frequencies of cumulus congestus in the KWAJEX case. Moreover, the GCE tends to simulate excessively large and abundant frozen condensates in deep precipitating clouds as inferred from the overestimated GCE-simulated radar reflectivities and microwave Tb depressions. Unveiling the detailed errors in the GCE’s performance provides the better direction for model improvements.

Improved diagnostics for NWP verification in the tropics

The root‐mean‐square error (RMSE) is often used to verify forecasts. However, its strong dependence on the observation variability makes it unsuitable for comparing model performance between regions where observation variability is much different, e.g., across vertical levels or between the midlatitudes and the tropics. The alpha index based on the tensor variance of forecast‐observation discrepancy was formulated to improve on RMSE (and the closely related bias‐corrected RMSE). An “error ellipse” was used to represent the random error in vector wind, yielding two other diagnostics: eccentricity and orientation. These diagnostics were applied to verify Naval Research Laboratory's limited‐area model, Coupled Ocean/Atmospheric Mesoscale Prediction System (COAMPS), for the first time in Southeast Asia. COAMPS forecasts were verified against radiosonde data from South China Sea Monsoon Experiment (SCSMEX), May–June 1998. Results revealed falling model performance as forecast time increases but little difference between forecasts at 18‐km and 54‐km resolution. Systematic errors in the model dynamics were suggested from the biases. The alpha indices show that (after bias correction) COAMPS performs best for wind, followed by temperature and then by dew point depression. In this tropical region, 1‐day persistence forecasts were only outperformed by the model for wind predictions between 400 mb and 850 mb at forecast times less than 24 hr. The RMSE diagnostic was shown to sometimes yield misleading evaluation of the model's performance. The wind error ellipses revealed that the random error tended to align more with the background flow than with the model bias, possibly indicating a dynamical reason for its existence.

Performance of four sea surface temperature assimilation schemes in the South China Sea

Four existing sea surface temperature (SST) assimilation schemes are evaluated in terms of their performances in assimilating the advanced very high resolution radiometer pathfinder best SST data in the South China Sea using the Princeton Ocean Model. Schemes 1 and 2 project SST directly to subsurface according to model-based correlations between SST and subsurface temperature. The difference between these two schemes is related to the order of vertical projection and horizontal optimal interpolation (OI). In Scheme 1, the spatially non-uniform SST observations are first projected to subsurface levels, followed by horizontal OI at each level. While in Scheme 2, the remotely sensed SSTs are first optimally interpolated to all grid points at the surface, followed by projecting gridded SSTs to subsurface levels. Scheme 3 assumes that the mixed layer is well mixed and has a uniform temperature vertically. In Scheme 4, SST is propagated to subsurface levels using a linear relationship of temperature between any two neighboring depths (Scheme 4a) or between surface and subsurface (Scheme 4b), which is derived by empirical orthogonal function (EOF) technique. To verify the results of the four schemes, the authors use the hydrographic data from two cruises during the South China Sea Monsoon Experiment in April and June 1998. It was shown that all four schemes could improve the SST field by reducing about 50% of the root mean square errors (RMSEs). All but Scheme 3 can improve model thermocline structure that is too diffused otherwise, though the RMSEs increase in the thermocline, especially for Scheme 2 when the model has opposite bias between upper layers and lower layers. Scheme 3 fails in the subsurface depth by increasing the thermocline depth, especially when there is a cold model bias. Projecting SST downward by EOF technique can deepen the depth of assimilation especially in Scheme 4a. Both Schemes 4a and b can correct the bias in the mixed layer and do not change the vertical thermal structure.

Atmospheric Mixed Layers over the South China Sea during SCSMEX

Sounding data from the South China Sea Monsoon Experiment (SCSMEX) have provided a unique opportunity to document the variability of atmospheric mixed layers over the South China Sea (SCS) during the onset of the monsoon in this region. Six-hourly sounding data from two research vessels, deployed over the northern and southern SCS, are used to determine the mixedlayer depth and its thermodynamic properties. Results from the southern ship show the presence of mixed layers 83% of the time with a mean depth of 459 m, similar to other tropical oceanic locations. On the other hand, the northern ship exhibited mixed layers 48% of the time with a mean depth of 342 m, considerably less frequent and shallower than other tropical regions. This anomalous behavior, which was particularly evident after the monsoon onset, is likely due to northward advection of low-level warm, moist air over cooler waters, which results in very small or negative buoyancy fluxes over the northern SCS, and thus weak upward mixing of heat and moisture from the surface.

Spectral Retrieval of Latent Heating Profiles from TRMM PR Data. Part III: Estimating Apparent Moisture Sink Profiles over Tropical Oceans

Abstract The spectral latent heating (SLH) algorithm was developed to estimate apparent heat source (Q1) profiles for the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) precipitation radar (PR) in Parts I and II of this study. In this paper, the SLH algorithm is used to estimate apparent moisture sink (Q2) profiles. The procedure of Q2 retrieval is the same as that of heating retrieval except for using the Q2 profile lookup tables derived from numerical simulations of tropical cloud systems from the Tropical Ocean and Global Atmosphere (TOGA) Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Response Experiment (COARE) utilizing a cloud-resolving model (CRM). The Q2 profiles were reconstructed from CRM-simulated parameters with the COARE table and then compared with CRM-simulated “true” Q2 profiles, which were computed directly from the water vapor equation in the model. The consistency check indicates that discrepancies between the SLH-reconstructed and CRM-simulated profiles for Q2, especially at low levels, are larger than those for Q1 and are attributable to moistening for the nonprecipitating region that SLH cannot reconstruct. Nevertheless, the SLH-reconstructed total Q2 profiles are in good agreement with the CRM-simulated ones. The SLH algorithm was applied to PR data, and the results were compared with Q2 profiles derived from the budget study. Although discrepancies between the SLH-retrieved and sounding-based profiles for Q2 for the South China Sea Monsoon Experiment (SCSMEX) are larger than those for heating, key features of the vertical profiles agree well. The SLH algorithm can also estimate differences of Q2 between the western Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, consistent with the results from the budget study.

The Diurnal Cycle of Convection over the Northern South China Sea

The diurnal cycle of convection over the northern South China Sea (SCS) during the onset of the summer monsoon is documented using data from the May.June 1998 South China Sea Monsoon Experiment (SCSMEX) and from ten years of observations from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) precipitation radar.Results both during SCSMEX and from TRMM observations show a prominent signal of propagating convection over the northern SCS. In particular, convection is found to initiate just off the southern coast of mainland China near sunrise and propagate southeastward at about 10-15 m s-1 to the central part of the northern SCS the early afternoon, finally dissipating about 500 km offshore in the late evening. Both indirect measures, such as infrared brightness temperatures and areal cold (< 208 K) convective cloud coverage, and direct measures, i.e., radar reflectivities from the Bureau of Meteorology Research Centre (BMRC) and TRMM radars, show this behavior. The radar data indicate an increasing stratiform contribution to total precipitation as the convective systems move farther offshore, indicative of maturing mesoscale convective systems. Neither advection nor gravity current processes appear to explain the offshore propagation of the envelope of convection, suggesting gravity wave dynamics, possibly associated with discrete propagation, as a factor in the system motion.

Use of High-Resolution Satellite Observations to Evaluate Cloud and Precipitation Statistics from Cloud-Resolving Model Simulations. Part I: South China Sea Monsoon Experiment

Abstract Cloud and precipitation simulated using the three-dimensional (3D) Goddard Cumulus Ensemble (GCE) model are compared to Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI) and Precipitation Radar (PR) rainfall measurements and Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) single scanner footprint (SSF) radiation and cloud retrievals. Both the model simulation and retrieved parameters are based upon observations made during the South China Sea Monsoon Experiment (SCSMEX) field campaign. The model-simulated cloud and rain systems are evaluated by systematically examining important parameters such as the surface rain rate, convective/stratiform percentage, rain profiles, cloud properties, and precipitation efficiency. It is demonstrated that the GCE model is capable of simulating major convective system development and reproduces the total surface rainfall amount as compared to rainfall estimated from the SCSMEX sounding network. The model yields a slightly higher total convective rain/stratiform rain ratio than the TMI and PR observations. The GCE rainfall spectrum exhibits a greater contribution from heavy rains than those estimated from PR or TMI observations. In addition, the GCE simulation produces much greater amounts of snow and graupel than the TRMM retrievals. The model’s precipitation efficiency of convective rain is close to the observations, but the precipitation efficiency of stratiform rain is much lower than the observations because of large amounts of slowly falling simulated snow and graupel. Compared to observations, the GCE produces more compact areas of intense convection and less anvil cloud, which are consistent with a smaller total cloud fraction and larger domain-averaged outgoing longwave radiation.

Heating Structures of the TRMM Field Campaigns

Abstract Heating profiles calculated from sounding networks and other observations during three Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) field campaigns [the Kwajalein Experiment (KWAJEX), TRMM Large-Scale Biosphere–Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA), and South China Sea Monsoon Experiment (SCSMEX)] show distinct geographical differences between oceanic, continental, and monsoon regimes. Differing cloud types (both precipitating and nonprecipitating) play an important role in determining the total diabatic heating profile. Variations in the vertical structure of the apparent heat source, Q1, can be related to the diurnal cycle, large-scale forcings such as atmospheric waves, and rain thresholds at each location. For example, TRMM-LBA, which occurred in the Brazilian Amazon, had mostly deep convection during the day while KWAJEX, which occurred in the western portion of the Pacific intertropical convergence zone, had more shallow and moderately deep daytime convection. Therefore, the afternoon height of maximum heating was more bottom heavy (i.e., heating below 600 hPa) during KWAJEX compared to TRMM-LBA. More organized convective systems with extensive stratiform rain areas and upper-level cloud decks tended to occur in the early and late morning hours during TRMM-LBA and KWAJEX, respectively, thereby causing Q1 profiles to be top heavy (i.e., maxima from 600 to 400 hPa) at those times. SCSMEX, which occurred in the South China Sea during the monsoon season, had top-heavy daytime and nighttime heating profiles suggesting that mesoscale convective systems occurred throughout the diurnal cycle, although more precipitation and upper-level cloud in the afternoon caused the daytime heating maximum to be larger. A tendency toward bottom- and top-heavy heating profile variations is also associated with the different cloud types that occurred before and after the passage of easterly wave troughs during KWAJEX, the easterly and westerly regimes during TRMM-LBA, and the monsoon onset and postonset active periods during SCSMEX. Rain thresholds based on heavy, moderate, and light/no-rain amounts can further differentiate top-heavy heating, bottom-heavy heating, and tropospheric cooling. These budget studies suggest that model calculations and satellite retrievals of Q1 must account for a large number of factors in order to accurately determine the vertical structure of diabatic heating associated with tropical cloud systems.

Spectral Retrieval of Latent Heating Profiles from TRMM PR Data. Part II: Algorithm Improvement and Heating Estimates over Tropical Ocean Regions

Abstract The spectral latent heating (SLH) algorithm was developed for the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) precipitation radar (PR) in Part I of this study. The method uses PR information [precipitation-top height (PTH), precipitation rates at the surface and melting level, and rain type] to select heating profiles from lookup tables. Heating-profile lookup tables for the three rain types—convective, shallow stratiform, and anvil rain (deep stratiform with a melting level)—were derived from numerical simulations of tropical cloud systems from the Tropical Ocean and Global Atmosphere Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere Response Experiment (TOGA COARE) utilizing a cloud-resolving model (CRM). To assess its global application to TRMM PR data, the universality of the lookup tables from the TOGA COARE simulations is examined in this paper. Heating profiles are reconstructed from CRM-simulated parameters (i.e., PTH, precipitation rates at the surface and melting level, and rain type) and are compared with the true CRM-simulated heating profiles, which are computed directly by the model thermodynamic equation. CRM-simulated data from the Global Atmospheric Research Program Atlantic Tropical Experiment (GATE), South China Sea Monsoon Experiment (SCSMEX), and Kwajalein Experiment (KWAJEX) are used as a consistency check. The consistency check reveals discrepancies between the SLH-reconstructed and Goddard Cumulus Ensemble (GCE)-simulated heating above the melting level in the convective region and at the melting level in the stratiform region that are attributable to the TOGA COARE table. Discrepancies in the convective region are due to differences in the vertical distribution of deep convective heating due to the relative importance of liquid and ice water processes, which varies from case to case. Discrepancies in the stratiform region are due to differences in the level separating upper-level heating and lower-level cooling. Based on these results, improvements were made to the SLH algorithm. Convective heating retrieval is now separated into upper-level heating due to ice processes and lower-level heating due to liquid water processes. In the stratiform region, the heating profile is shifted up or down by matching the melting level in the TOGA COARE lookup table with the observed one. Consistency checks indicate the revised SLH algorithm performs much better for both the convective and stratiform components than does the original one. The revised SLH algorithm was applied to PR data, and the results were compared with heating profiles derived diagnostically from SCSMEX sounding data. Key features of the vertical profiles agree well—in particular, the level of maximum heating. The revised SLH algorithm was also applied to PR data for February 1998 and February 1999. The results are compared with heating profiles derived by the convective–stratiform heating (CSH) algorithm. Because observed information on precipitation depth is used in addition to precipitation type and intensity, differences between shallow and deep convection are more distinct in the SLH algorithm in comparison with the CSH algorithm.

Evolution, Structure, Cloud Microphysical, and Surface Rainfall Processes of Monsoon Convection during the South China Sea Monsoon Experiment

Abstract A two-dimensional cloud-resolving simulation is combined with dual-Doppler and polarimetric radar analysis to study the evolution, dynamic structure, cloud microphysics, and rainfall processes of monsoon convection observed during the South China Sea (SCS) summer monsoon onset. Overall, the model simulations show many similarities to the radar observations. The rainband associated with the convection remains at a very stable position throughout its life cycle in the northern SCS. The reflectivity pattern exhibits a straight upward structure with little tilt. The positions of the convective, transition, and stratiform regions produced by the model are consistent with the observations. The major difference from the observations is that the model tends to overestimate the magnitude of updraft. As a result, the maximum reflectivity generated by the model appears at an elevated altitude. The surface rainfall processes and associated thermodynamic, dynamic, and cloud microphysical processes are examined by the model in terms of surface rainfall, temperature and moisture perturbations, circulations, and cloud microphysical budget. At the preformation and dissipating stages, although local vapor change and vapor convergence terms are the major contributors in determining rain rate, they cancel each other out and cause little rain. The vapor convergence/divergence is closely related to the lower-tropospheric updraft/subsidence during the early/late stages of the convection. During the formation and mature phases, vapor convergence term is in control of the rainfall processes. Meanwhile, water microphysical processes are dominant in these stages. The active vapor condensation process causes a large amount of raindrops through the collection of cloud water by raindrops. Ice microphysical processes including riming are negligible up to the mature phase but are dominant during the weakening stage. Cloud source/sink terms make some contributions to the rain rate at the formation and weakening stages, while the role of surface evaporation term is negligible throughout the life cycle of the convection.

The role of equatorial waves in the onset of the South China Sea summer monsoon and the demise of El Niño during 1998

The observed sequence of events leading to the onset of the summer monsoon in the South China Sea (SCS) is described, with a particular focus on conditions during the South China Sea monsoon experiment (SCSMEX) in May–June 1998. During SCSMEX, SCS monsoon onset occurred within the context of a multitude of scale interactions within the ocean-atmosphere system on intraseasonal time scales. Results from the 1998 SCSMEX case study illustrate that SCS monsoon onset is preceded by the development of an eastward-propagating Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) in the Indian Ocean, as suggested by previous authors, and the subsequent emanation of a convectively coupled Kelvin wave into the Pacific. Remarkably similar results are obtained in an independent composite of 25 years of data. Since both the MJO and Kelvin waves generate westerly surface winds in their wake, it is suggested that these waves may accelerate or trigger the monsoon onset process in the southern SCS. A detailed analysis of the Kelvin wave that propagated through the SCS during SCSMEX shows that it was responsible for a large portion of the surface wind shift leading to monsoon onset in 1998. Finally, easterly wind anomalies in the eastern Pacific associated with the Indian Ocean MJO event during the SCSMEX period are shown to result in the sudden demise of the 1997–1998 El Niño event.

Contrasting Characteristics of Convection over the Northern and Southern South China Sea during SCSMEX

Abstract Observations from two enhanced sounding arrays during the May–June 1998 South China Sea Monsoon Experiment (SCSMEX) are used to determine and contrast the properties of convection over the northern and southern South China Sea (SCS). A regression analysis between SST data and monthly rainfall indicates that the ENSO signal exerted a strong influence on the rainfall distribution over the SCS during SCSMEX. This resulted in wetter-than-normal conditions along the south China coast and northern SCS, and generally drier-than-average conditions elsewhere, particularly over the Philippine Islands. The monsoon onset as determined by a shift in the low-level winds from easterly to southwesterly over the SCS occurred around mid-May. Over the southern enhanced sounding array (SESA), the onset was characterized by a rainy period associated with the passage of a convectively coupled Kelvin wave. This was followed by a weeklong break and then several episodic rain events with increasingly higher rain rates. Rainfall over the northern enhanced sounding array (NESA), which was largely out of phase with SESA rainfall events, occurred primarily during two 10-day periods separated by a weeklong break. Convective characteristics over the SESA, deduced primarily from heat and moisture budget profiles, indicate a high stratiform rain fraction consisting of alternating periods with decaying mesoscale systems that organized near the western Borneo coastline and shallower convective clouds. In contrast, NESA-averaged profiles were indicative of deep convection with a relatively small stratiform rain fraction, which was confirmed with radar analyses during the onset convective period. The diurnal cycle of convection is a dominant feature throughout much of the SCS. Over both budget regions, early morning (0500–0800 LT) convective systems were frequently initiated near the coasts, then gradually dissipated during the course of the day as the midlevel steering currents moved the systems away from the coastline. These decaying convective systems resulted in an early afternoon (1400 LT) rainfall peak over both sonde arrays.

An Empirical Study of Surface Wind Retrievals using the TMI over the South China Sea in the Summer Monsoon Season

This study demonstrates the feasibility of an oceanic wind speed retrieval method: the D-matrix algorithm for local usage. The D-matrix algorithm was examined and ocean surface wind retrievals, utilizing the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI), were validated by using wind speed measurements from ocean buoys deployed over the South China Sea from April to June of 1998 as part of the South China Sea Monsoon Experiment / 1998. Results showed the TMI D-matrix algorithm potentially malfunctioning in terms of no-rainfall recognition when summer monsoons prevail. In this study, assistance to its rain identification ability was conducted by using rain-screening methods for screening out non-rainfall TMI points. As to the quantitative validation, only cases of wind speed weaker than 15 m s 1 − were analyzed with a root mean square of 1.34 m s 1 − . The study results are significant for local usage of the rainfall-profiling algorithm providing a scheme for estimating surface wind speeds over the South China Sea during the summer monsoon season.

The Development and Structure of an Oceanic Squall-Line System during the South China Sea Monsoon Experiment

Abstract A primary goal of the South China Sea Monsoon Experiment (SCSMEX), a major field campaign of the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), is to define the initiation, structure, evolution, and dynamics of precipitation processes associated with the onset of the South China Sea (SCS) summer monsoon. In this study, dual-Doppler and dual-polarimetric radar analysis techniques are used to investigate the development and structure of a squall-line system observed on 24 May 1998. The focus is the linkage between the airflow and the microphysical fields through the system. The squall-line system, including three distinct lines, persisted from 1200 UTC 24 May to the following day. A detailed study was performed on the structure of the second and most intense line, lasting for over 10 h. Compared to tropical squall lines observed in other regions, this narrow squall-line system had some interesting features including 1) maximum reflectivity as high as 55 dBZ; 2) relatively little stratiform rainfall that preceded instead of trailed the convective line; and 3) a broad vertical velocity maximum in the rear part of the system, rather than a narrow ribbon of vertical velocity maximum near the leading edge. Polarimetric radar–inferred microphysical (e.g., hydrometeor type, amount, and size) and rainfall properties are placed in the context of the mesoscale morphology and dual-Doppler-derived kinematics for this squall-line system. A comparison is made between results from this study for SCSMEX and the previous studies for the TRMM Large-Scale Biosphere–Atmosphere experiment (LBA). It was found that precipitation over the SCS monsoon region during the summer monsoon onset was similar to the precipitation over the Amazon monsoon region during the westerly regime of the TRMM–LBA, which has previously been found to be closer to typical conditions over tropical oceans. Both of these cases showed lower rain rates and rainwater contents, smaller raindrops, and significantly lower ice water contents between 5 and 8 km than the precipitation over the Amazon during the easterly regime of the TRMM–LBA with more tropical continental characteristics.