Case Study on Convection Initiation Associated with an Isolated Convective Storm Developed over Flat Terrain during TOMACS

• Published in: Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan Vol. 96A; pp. 3 - 23
• Main Authors: IWAI, Hironori, ISHII, Shoken, KAWAMURA, Seiji, SATO, Eiichi, KUSUNOKI, Kenichi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Meteorological Society of Japan 2018
• Subjects: convection initiation; convergence line; remote sensing; sea breeze front
• ISSN: 0026-1165; 2186-9057
• DOI: 10.2151/jmsj.2017-014

During the Tokyo Metropolitan Area Convection Study for Extreme Weather Resilient Cities (TOMACS), many isolated convective storms developed in the southern Kanto Plain on August 17, 2012. The aim of this study was to clarify the dynamics leading to the convection initiation of one of them using different remote sensing instruments. Before the convection initiation, a southeasterly flow transported water vapor inland from Tokyo Bay and the well-mixed and a cumulus-cloud-topped convective boundary layer developed. A convergence line in the form of a sea breeze front (SBF) also moved inland from Tokyo Bay. A near-surface air parcel was lifted to its lifting condensation level (LCL) by an updraft in a convergence zone with a 3 km horizontal scale, which formed the west edge of the convergence line. The saturated air parcel at the LCL was then lifted to its level of free convection (LFC) by the updrafts associated with thermals below the cumulus cloud base. A Ku-band radar detected the first echo of hydrometeors about 6 minutes after the air parcel reached its LFC, then the convective cell developed rapidly. When an SBF arriving from Sagami Bay passed under the cell, the updraft over the nose of the SBF triggered a new precipitation cell, but no intensification of the preexisting cell was observed.