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The Role of Mesoscale Convective Systems in Precipitation in the Tibetan Plateau region
  • Julia Kukulies,
  • Deliang Chen,
  • Julia Curio
Julia Kukulies
University of Gothenburg, University of Gothenburg
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Deliang Chen
University of Gothenburg, University of Gothenburg

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Julia Curio
University of Reading, University of Reading
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Abstract

Mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) have been identified as an important source of precipitation in the Tibetan Plateau (TP) region. However, the characteristics and structure of MCS-induced precipitation are not well understood. Infrared satellite imagery has been used for MCS tracking, but cirrus clouds or cold surfaces can cause misclassifications of MCS in mountain regions. We therefore combine brightness temperatures from IR imagery with satellite precipitation data from GPM and track MCSs over the TP, at the boundary of the TP (TPB) and in the surrounding lower-elevation plains (LE) between 2000 and 2019. We show that MCSs are less frequent over the TP than earlier studies have suggested and most MCSs over land occur over the Indo-Gangetic Plain (LE) and the south of the Himalayas (TPB). In the LE and TPB, MCSs have produced 10 % to 55 % of the total summer precipitation (10 % to 70 % of summer extreme precipitation), whereas MCSs over the TP account for only 1 % to 10 \% to the total summer precipitation (1 % to 30 % of the total summer extreme precipitation). Our results also show that MCSs that produce the largest amounts of convective precipitation are characterized by longevity and large extents rather than by high intensities. These are mainly located south of the TP, whereas smaller-scale convection makes a greater contribution to total and total extreme precipitation over the TP. These results highlight the importance of convective scale modeling to improve our understanding of precipitation dynamics over the TP.
16 Dec 2021Published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres volume 126 issue 23. 10.1029/2021JD035279