The investigation of the topographical effect on multi-scale
Eastward-Moving Southwest Vortex from the perspective of PV theory
Abstract
Multi-scale Eastward-Moving Southwest Vortex (EMSV) inducing severe
rainstorms frequently occurs in the middle and lower reaches of Yangtze
River Basin (YRB). The Second-Step Terrain Region (SSTR) located in the
middle reaches of YRB have significant role in strengthening this
synoptic system. This paper systematically studies the topographical
effect of SSTR based on the WRF synthetic simulation of three
multi-scale EMSV cases that occurred in 2015 and 2016. Results show that
the compound circulation simulated by WRF can be decomposed into the
meso-scale balanced circulation and the local-scale perturbed
circulation with the application of the Piecewise Potential Vortex
Inversion (PPVI) technique. The cyclonic perturbed circulation has a
closer relationship with the occurrence of local heavy precipitation
compared to the balanced circulation. Moreover, the good agreement
between the positive Potential Vortex (PV) anomalies and the cyclonic
perturbed circulation suggests that the persistence of the cyclonic
perturbed circulation highly depends on the positive PV anomalies.
Besides, the qualitative sensitivity experiments reveal that the
topographical effect stimulates the genesis of the positive PV anomalies
mainly by strengthening the latent heat release associated with the
updraft, and the latent heat release associated with the cyclonic eddy.
The quantitative diagnosis of the source of the PV anomalies shows that
the former one contributes more to the genesis of the positive PV
anomalies than the latter one. Further quantitative diagnosis of the
updraft reveals that the topographical lifting effect is identified as
the main mechanism in strengthening the updraft within the topography
region