An analysis of a meso-β system in a mei-yu front using the intensive observation data during CHeRES 2002

The conventional and intensive observational data of the China Heavy Rain Experiment and Study (CHeRES) are used to specially analyze the heavy rainfall process in the mei-yu front that occurred during 20–21 June 2002, focusing on the meso-β system. A mesoscale convective system (MCS) formed in the warm-moist southwesterly to the south of the shear line over the Dabie Mountains and over the gorge between the Dabie and Jiuhua Mountains. The mei-yu front and shear line provide a favorable synoptic condition for the development of convection. The GPS observation indicates that the precipitable water increased obviously about 2–3 h earlier than the occurrence of rainfall and decreased after that. The abundant moisture transportation by southwesterly wind was favorable to the maintenance of convective instability and the accumulation of convective available potential energy (CAPE). Radar detection reveals that meso-β and-γ systems were very active in the MαCS. Several convection lines developed during the evolution of the MαCS, and these are associated with surface convergence lines. The boundary outflow of the convection line may have triggered another convection line. The convection line moved with the mesoscale surface convergence line, but the convective cells embedded in the convergence line propagated along the line. On the basis of the analyses of the intensive observation data, a multi-scale conceptual model of heavy rainfall in the mei-yu front for this particular case is proposed.