Remote Effect of Kuroshio Warm SSTs in the East China Sea on Heavy Rainfall in Southern Kyushu, Japan, on 3 July 2020

Abstract

In this study, we investigated the remote effect of warm sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in the Kuroshio region of the East China Sea (ECS) on heavy rainfall that occurred in southern Kyushu, Japan, on 3 July 2020 using the Weather Research and Forecasting model. To examine the effect, a simulation with realistic SSTs and two simulations with reduced SSTs in the ECS Kuroshio region were performed. Backward- and forward-trajectory analyses showed that low-level parcels in the simulation with warmer SSTs in the ECS Kuroshio region possessed larger amounts of water vapor than those in the reduced-SST experiments. The difference in the water-vapor amounts of low-level parcels between the simulations with warmer and colder SSTs remained until the parcels started to ascend in the heavy rainfall area. In addition, there were many more parcels with extremely large amounts of water vapor in the simulation with warmer SSTs. Such an increase in low-level water-vapor amounts under warmer SST conditions in the ECS Kuroshio region led not only to enhancement of the precipitation source but also to atmospheric destabilization, resulting in the production of a large amount of precipitation.