PV Perspective of Impacts on Downstream Extreme Rainfall Event of a Tibetan Plateau Vortex Collaborating with a Southwest China Vortex

An extreme rainfall event occurred over the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze Basin (MLY) during the end of June 2016, which was attributable to a Tibetan Plateau (TP) Vortex (TPV) in conjunction with a Southwest China Vortex (SWCV). The physical mechanism for this event was investigated from Potential Vorticity (PV) and omega perspectives based on MERRA-2 reanalysis data. The cyclogenesis of the TPV over the northwestern TP along with the lower-tropospheric SWCV was found to involve a midtropospheric large-scale flow reconfiguration across western and eastern China with the formation of a high-amplitude Rossby wave. Subsequently, the eastward-moving TPV coalesced vertically with the SWCV over the eastern Sichuan Basin due to the positive vertical gradient of the TPV-related PV advection, leading the lower-tropospheric jet associated with moisture transport to intensify greatly and converge over the downstream MLY. The merged TPV-SWCV specially facilitated the upper-tropospheric isentropic-gliding ascending motion over the MLY. With the TPV-embedded mid-tropospheric trough migrating continuously eastward, the almost stagnant SWCV was re-separated from the overlying TPV, forming a more eastward-tilted high-PV configuration to trigger stronger ascending motion including isentropic-gliding, isentropic-displacement, and diabatic heating-related ascending components over the MLY. This led to more intense rainfall. Quantitative PV diagnoses demonstrate that both the coalescence and subsequent re-separation processes of the TPV with the SWCV were largely dominated by horizontal PV advection and PV generation due to vertically nonuniform diabatic heating, as well as the feedback of condensation latent heating on the isentropic-displacement vertical velocity.

Automated summary

An extreme rainfall event occurred over the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze Basin in late June 2016, attributed to a Tibetan Plateau Vortex and a Southwest China Vortex. The physical mechanism of this event was investigated based on Potential Vorticity and omega perspectives. The coalescence of the Tibetan Plateau Vortex and Southwest China Vortex enhanced the rainfall process in the region.