Ning Niu

The Tibetan Plateau vortex (TPV), as an α-scale mesoscale weather system, often brings severe weather conditions like torrential rain and severe convective storms. Based on the detections from the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Core Observatory’s Dual-frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) and the FY-4A satellite’s Advanced Geostationary Radiation Imager (AGRI), combined with ERA5 reanalysis data, the precipitation characteristics of a TPV moving eastward during 8–13 July 2021 at different developmental stages are explored in this study. It was clear that the near-surface precipitation rate of the TPV during the initial stage at the eastern Tibetan Plateau (TP) was below 1 mm·h⁻¹, implying overall weak precipitation dominated by stratiform clouds. After moving out of the TP, the radar reflectivity factor (Ze), precipitation rate, and normalized intercept parameter (dBNw) significantly increased, while the proportion of convective clouds gradually rose. Following the TPV movement, the distribution range and vertical thickness of Ze, mass-weighted mean diameter (Dm), and dBNw tended to increase. The high-frequency region of Ze appeared at 15–20 dBZ, while Dm and dBNw occurred at around 1 mm and 33 mm⁻¹·m⁻³, respectively. Near the melting layer, Ze was characterized by a significant increase due to the aggregation and melting of ice crystals. The precipitation rate of convective clouds was generally greater than that of stratiform clouds, whilst both of them increased during the movement of the TPV. Particularly, at 01:00 on 12 July, there was a significant increase in the precipitation rate and Dm of convective clouds, while dBNw noticeably decreased. These findings could provide valuable insights into the three-dimensional structure and microphysical characteristics of the precipitation during the movement of the TPV, contributing to a better understanding of cloud precipitation mechanisms.

To understand the applicability of the temperature profile product of the FENGYUN-4A (FY-4A) geostationary interferometric infrared detector (GIIRS) in summer over the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau and to improve product quality, the error of GIIRS temperature products was analyzed based on radiosonde data. A long short-term memory network model (LSTM) was used to correct the GIIRS temperature profile product in summer over the plateau at a high altitude (above 500 hPa), and further evaluation of the corrected product was conducted. The results show that summertime GIIRS temperature retrievals over the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau had a positive bias above 150 hPa and a negative bias below 150 hPa, resulting in an overall negative bias. The root mean square error was between 2 and 2.9 K, and the root mean square error was relatively large at 100 hPa and above. The LSTM established in this study could effectively correct the GIIRS temperature over the plateau. The correlation and root mean square error of the corrected GIIRS temperature and the radiosonde observation temperature were significantly improved. Using a trained LSTM correction model to correct the hourly GIIRS temperature can improve the accuracy and usability of the product. After correction, the average bias of the GIIRS temperature compared to the ERA5 temperature product was reduced from −0.26 K to 0.06 K, and the root mean square error was reduced from 2.25 K to 1.25 K. The correction model can be applied to different seasons, and it can also correct the GIIRS temperature in larger areas based on other high-precision and high-resolution data, achieving good results, thus indicating that the correction model has universal applicability.

Based on atmospheric motion vectors (AMVs) derived from the Fengyun-4 meteorological satellite (FY-4), in this paper, integrated multi-satellite retrievals for GPM precipitation and reanalysis datasets and the vertical distribution characteristics of FY-4 AMVs, their application in the identification of the South Asian high (SAH) anticyclone and their application in the real-time monitoring of rainstorm disasters are studied. The results show that the AMVs’ vertical distribution characteristics are different across regions and seasons. AMVs from 150 to 350 hPa can be chosen as the upper troposphere wind (the total number accounts for about 77.2% on average). The center and shape of the upper tropospheric anticyclone obtained from AMVs are close to or slightly southward compared with those of the SAH at 200 hPa obtained from the ERA5 geopotential height. The SAH ridge line identified using the upper troposphere AMV zonal wind (the zonal wind is equal to zero) is slightly southward by about 1–2 degrees of latitude from that identified using ERA5 at 200 hPa but with a similar seasonal advance. The upper troposphere AMV can be used to monitor the location of the SAH and the evolution of its ridge line. The abnormally strong precipitation in South China is related to the location of the SAH and its ridge line. When the precipitation is abnormally strong/weak, the upper troposphere AMV deviation airflow shows divergence/convergence. During the “Dragon Boat Water” period in South China in 2022, strong precipitation occurred in the strong westerly winds or divergent flow on the northeast side of the upper troposphere anticyclone obtained from AMVs, and the precipitation intensity was the strongest when the divergence reached its peak, but this is not shown clearly in the EAR5 dataset.