Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan. Ser. II
Online ISSN : 2186-9057
Print ISSN : 0026-1165
ISSN-L : 0026-1165
Volume 95, Issue 2
Displaying 1-5 of 5 articles from this issue
Articles
  • Yoshimi KAWAI, Qoosaku MOTEKI, Akira KUWANO-YOSHIDA, Takeshi ENOMOTO, ...
    2017 Volume 95 Issue 2 Pages 71-90
    Published: 2017
    Released on J-STAGE: March 17, 2017
    Advance online publication: December 23, 2016
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Supplementary material

     The present study investigated how impacts of the inclusion of radiosonde observations conducted locally in the early summer of 2012 over the Kuroshio and Kuroshio Extension (KE) can spread over time across the North Pacific basin to influence the predictability of synoptic and large-scale tropospheric circulation. For that purpose, observing system experiments (OSEs) were performed where each of two extra sets of radiosonde data, one obtained over the East China Sea in mid-May and the other over the KE in early July, was added to an atmospheric ensemble data assimilation system for comparison with the corresponding analyses without those data. The experiments show that the impact of the extra data assimilated propagates eastward mainly due to advection by the subtropical jet (STJ) in May and July. The strong STJ in May allows the upper-tropospheric impact to travel across the basin only within two days. Under the weaker STJ, the corresponding impact in July tends to remain within the western Pacific, until it eventually reaches the eastern portion of the basin. Assimilation of the extra radiosonde data over the Kuroshio or KE can lead to a decrease of pressure over the Gulf of Alaska in both May and July.

     Additional forecast experiments based on the OSEs for May revealed that the pressure decrease over the Gulf of Alaska can be traced back to the west of the Alaska Peninsula and to the east of Japan over three days. The impacts that originate on different dates via different paths merge over the central North Pacific, reinforcing the cyclone over the Gulf of Alaska. This study presents examples where the impacts of atmospheric observations over the western boundary current can propagate across the ocean basin through the westerlies to influence the forecast skill in distant regions.

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  • Eigo TOCHIMOTO, Tetsuya KAWANO
    2017 Volume 95 Issue 2 Pages 91-109
    Published: 2017
    Released on J-STAGE: March 17, 2017
    Advance online publication: January 13, 2017
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Supplementary material

     This work investigates the development processes of Baiu frontal depressions (BFDs) using a numerical model. To investigate the effects of upper-level disturbances, latent heating, and baroclinicity on the development of BFDs, case-study numerical simulations are performed. In the present study, two typical cases were selected from BFDs that appeared in June and July, 2000-2007—a BFD that developed in the western part of the Baiu frontal zone (W-BFD) from 26 to 27 June, 2003, and a BFD that had formed in the eastern part of the Baiu frontal zone (E-BFD) from 1 to 3 July, 2003. An available potential energy diagnosis shows that the effect of latent heating is dominant during the W-BFD development, while baroclinicity as well as latent heating is important to the E-BFD development. A sensitivity experiment excluding upper-level potential vorticity (PV) anomalies shows that upper-level disturbances are important contributors to the development of E-BFDs.

     The low-level PV and its production associated with latent heating suggest that the W-BFD has a development mechanism driven by latent heating. In the early developmental stage, PV near the W-BFD center is enhanced. This feature is consistent with the nonlinear conditional instability of the second kind mechanism. In the later developmental stage, PV is produced in front of the W-BFD center, in which low-level baroclinicity is large. This process is consistent with a diabatic Rossby vortex. In contrast, the E-BFD develops through a baroclinic instability-like mechanism in the moist atmosphere.

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  • Yanfeng ZHAO, Donghai WANG, Zhaoming LIANG, Jianjun XU
    2017 Volume 95 Issue 2 Pages 111-125
    Published: 2017
    Released on J-STAGE: March 17, 2017
    Advance online publication: January 16, 2017
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Supplementary material

     Persistent severe rainfall (PSR) events during the rainy season (April to July) in southern China were studied in terms of the dynamic features of the large-scale circulation. The aim of the study was to understand the formation mechanism and improve forecasting. The circulation field and spatiotemporal distribution of waves at 500 hPa for different types of PSR were analyzed. The results reveal the following: (1) During the pre-flood season (April to June) in southern China, troughs have the same phase in the middle latitudes as those in the high latitudes. The East Asia major trough (3–5 wave numbers) in the middle latitudes strengthens southwards and interacts with the 30°N subtropical high (1–2 wave numbers) from three days prior to the PSR events. (2) During the post-flood season (June to July) in South China, the weather regime transitions occur on five days prior to the PSR events. The 40°N trough (2–4 wave numbers) strengthens southwards and interacts with the subtropical high (1–2 wave numbers). It is also affected by the blocking ridge (3 wave number) in the high latitudes. (3) During the Mei-yu period (June to July) over the Yangtze–Huaihe River basin, the transitions of circulation pattern start three days prior to the PSR events. With the northwest development of the subtropical high, there is a transfer process from long to short waves in terms of energy for the trough at 50°N.

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  • Kozo NINOMIYA
    2017 Volume 95 Issue 2 Pages 127-145
    Published: 2017
    Released on J-STAGE: April 08, 2017
    Advance online publication: January 16, 2017
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Supplementary material

     Polar mesoscale cyclones (PMCs) frequently develop over the Japan Sea. Genesis of PMCs over the East China Sea is rare, but can occur under certain synoptic-scale conditions. In this observational case study, the feature of a PMC generated over the eastern East China Sea on 20 February 1975 is studied using observation data including those obtained during Air-mass Transformation Experiment, satellite cloud images, and objective-reanalysis data.

     The PMC with a comma-cloud formed within cyclonic polar-air streams induced by an upper cold trough and a synoptic-scale parent cyclone that developed near Japan. Within 3-hour period after the generation of the PMC, its central pressure deepened from 1016 to 1012 hPa. Strong surface winds occurred in the trailing portion of the comma-cloud. The large-scale conditions for the PMC's genesis were characterized by the southward intruding of the cold core in the upper cold trough beyond 34°N to the East China Sea, positive vorticity advection at 500 hPa, and the moist-neutral layer formed over the warm Tsushima Current in the eastern East China Sea.

     The PMC, after passing over Kyushu, developed as it moved eastward along the Pacific coast of Japan. The PMC developed further into the secondary cyclone comparable to the parent cyclone, as it moved in the low-level baroclinic zone over the northwestern Pacific. The large-scale conditions for the development were characterized by the upper cold trough and the low-level baroclinic zone formed over the zone of maximum sea-surface temperature gradient along north of the Kuroshio extension.

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  • Yan LI, Peilong YE, Juan FENG, Yao LU, Jiahe WANG, Zhaoxia PU
    2017 Volume 95 Issue 2 Pages 147-165
    Published: 2017
    Released on J-STAGE: April 08, 2017
    Advance online publication: January 21, 2017
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Supplementary material

     It has been argued that the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5) models underestimate the frequency of atmospheric blocking, while projecting a decreasing trend of blocking in the 21st century in the Northern Hemisphere. This average trend may not be true for regional blockings. Focusing on three key regions in Eurasia (the Urals, Baikal, and Okhotsk regions) where blocking significantly influences the weather and climate of East Asia, this study first evaluates the performance of the CMIP5 models by comparing historical simulations with National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) reanalysis (NNR). Possible changes in the first half of the 21st century are then analyzed using the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 experiments. It is found that instantaneous blocking frequencies are underestimated in the Urals and Baikal regions for the whole year and in the Okhotsk region in summertime but are overestimated in Okhotsk in wintertime. Blocking episode frequency in the Urals and Baikal regions is underestimated by most of the 13 CMIP5 models, especially the short-duration blocking episodes (4–5 days), and the simulations are better in wintertime than in summertime. However, in the Okhotsk region, the modeled frequency of blocking episodes is close to the value from NNR in summertime but is overestimated in wintertime. Model projections of instantaneous blocking frequency for the first half of the 21st century (2016–2065) show that both RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 runs yield an increasing frequency except during June–August in Eurasia. The multimodel ensemble-mean frequency of blocking episodes clearly decreases in the whole year in the Urals and Baikal regions (especially blocking episodes with short duration) and increases a little in summertime in the Okhotsk region in the first half of the 21st century. The model ensemble-mean frequency of blocking episodes with long duration (more than 9 days) decreases by ~40 % in the Urals region but increases by no more than 5 % in Okhotsk region.

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