The diurnal cycle of rainfall and cloud properties from Himawari-8
during the austral summer (2016-2020).
Abstract
In this work, the characteristics of the diurnal cycle around Sumatra
are examined with unprecedented detail using high-resolution
satellite-derived cloud properties from the Himawari-8 Advanced Himawari
Imager (AHI) data. Offshore propagation is resolved into multiple local
propagation directions of cloud cells, and the interaction between
propagations is shown to result in forced convection over the Strait of
Malacca, Java Sea, and the Indian Ocean. The diurnal cycle of rainfall
and deep convection over Sumatra show complex interactions between the
land-sea-breeze system, the seasonal background wind, the local
topography, and the influence of surrounding islands. We used
high-resolution satellite-derived products from Himawari-8 AHI, the
Geostationary Cloud Algorithm Testbed Geocat, and Integrated
Multi-satellitE Retrievals for Global Precipitation Measurement (IMERG)
to investigate the cloud properties of deep convection and the
signatures of the diurnal cycle of rainfall and cloudiness over Sumatra.
Previous studies have shown evidence of the variability of diurnally
forced convection in the Maritime Continent, including the diurnal
signal over land in the late afternoon and the offshore propagation of
Sumatra at night (Yang and Slingo 2001). The role of gravity waves has
explained the night-time propagation (e.g., Mapes 2003; Love et al.
2011; Vincent and Lane 2016; Sakaeda et al. 2020). This propagation can
be modified by the influence of small islands and the interconnection of
diurnal cycles between Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Java, and Borneo
(Ruppert and Zhang 2019; Ruppert and Chen 2020). In this work, we
present evidence of the cloudiness and rainfall patterns propagating
offshore/onshore Sumatra during five austral summers from 2016 to 2020,
employing cloud properties from Himawari-8 and IMERG collections. By
combining detailed satellite-based cloud properties and rainfall
estimates, we highlight the strong dependency of the diurnal cycle on
local modulators.