Use the High-Resolution Numerical Model to Simulate Typhoon Morakot 2009

Typhoon Morakot struck Taiwan on the night of Friday August 7th, 2009 as a category 2 storm with sustained winds of 85 knots (92 mph). Although the center made landfall in Hualien county along the central cast coast of Taiwan and passed over the central northern part of the island, it was southern Taiwan that received the worst effects of the storm where locally as Much as 2200 mm (2.2 m) of rain were reported, resulting in the worst flooding there in 50 years. The result of the enormous amount of rain has been massive flooding and devastating mudslides. More than 600 people are confirmed dead. In this paper, we will present the results from high-resolution (2-km) WRF for this typhoon case. The results showed that the model captured both in terms of maximum rainfall area and intensity. The model results also showed that the heavy amounts of rain over the southern portion of the island is due to persistent southwesterly flow associated with Morakot and it's circulation was able to draw up copious amounts of moisture from the South China Sea into southern Taiwan where it was able to interact with the steep topography. In the paper, we will also present results from sensitivity test of terrain heights and SST on the precipitation processes (rainfall) associated with Typhoon Morakot (2009), In addition, we will present high-resolution visualization (36 second and 2-km) to show the evolution of Typhoon Morakot

Trends in precipitation extremes during the typhoon season in Taiwan over the last 60 years

Abstract The trends of four common climate change indices related to extreme precipitation events during the typhoon season (July-October) from 21 stations in Taiwan are investigated using a robust nonparametric method. Upward trends in precipitation intensity and 5-day total precipitation amounts prevail from 1950 to 2010. Longer drought duration is also noted, in southern Taiwan in particular. Daily precipitation during the typhoon season is further partitioned into typhoon and monsoon rainfall. Precipitation intensity induced by typhoons and monsoon systems has both increased over the last 60 years; these two components collectively contribute to strong upward trend in precipitation intensity

Revisiting the Heavy Rainfall Event over Northern Taiwan on 3 June 1984

In this study, the mechanisms for the development of a localized heavy rainfall event during the evening of 2 June to the early morning of 3 June 1984 over northern Taiwan are investigated. This event occurred under favorable large-scale conditions including: upper-level divergence; low-level high equivalent potential temperature; low levels of free convection; and subsynoptic-scale ascending motion over the northern Taiwan Strait and northern Taiwan associated with a baroclinic front. In the late night of 2 June, pre-existing rainfall is simulated to the southeast of a trough axis over the southeastern China coast as well as in the frontal zone north of Taiwan. The pre-existing rainfall is enhanced as it moves over the northeastern Taiwan Strait where the prevailing southwesterly winds within the Taiwan Strait converge with the orographically deflected flow with a southerly wind component off the western/northwestern Taiwan coast. As the pre-existing convective rainfall continues to move toward northern Taiwan, it is further enhanced in a localized low-level convergence zone over the northwestern coast where a barrier jet along the coast converges with the northwesterly winds behind the surface front. Furthermore, on the morning of 3 June, focusing of rainfall is simulated where the barrier jet encounters the leading edge of the cold pool caused by rain evaporative cooling. As the convective rainfall areas drift inland, the orographic lifting of the pre-frontal southwesterly flow over the slopes south of the Taipei Basin also plays a role in the simulated enhanced heavy rainfall there

High-Resolution Numerical Simulation of the Extreme Rainfall Associated with Typhoon Morakot. Part I: Comparing the Impact of Microphysics and PBL Parameterizations with Observations

Typhoon Morakot hit Taiwan the night of 7 August 2009 as a Category 1 storm and caused up to 3000 mm of rain, leading to the worst flooding there in 50 years as well as devastating mudslides. The Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF) is used at high resolution to simulate this extreme weather event. The model results indicate that WRF is able to capture the amount and location of the observed surface rainfall and that the typhoon-induced circulation, orographic lifting and a moisture-abundant southwest flow are the main mechanisms that together produced the tremendous rainfall in this case. Furthermore, the model results suggest that the agreement with the observed rainfall is due to the simulated storm track and intensity being in relatively good agreement with the observed. Additional simulations were made to examine the sensitivity of this case to model physics (microphysics and planetary boundary layer or PBL). Both warm rain only as well as improved microphysics yield similar significant rain amounts at the same locations as the control case. The improved microphysics lead to a better storm intensity early on but later exceed the observed intensities by about 10 hPa. The stronger storm arises from less evaporative cooling from cloud and rain and consequently weaker simulated downdrafts. Warm rain results closely match the control (i.e., the track, intensity, and maximum rainfall locations/amounts), implying ice processes (i.e., additional heat release due to ice processes) have only a secondary effect on surface rainfall. Results are less sensitive to using different PBL schemes than different microphysics

Regional discrepancies in the microphysical attributes of summer season rainfall over Taiwan using GPM DPR

Abstract Taiwan, an island located in the northwest Pacific region, is influenced by heavy rainfall events during warm seasons, particularly from June to August. Interaction of precipitating clouds with the complex topography results in inhomogeneous and intense rainfall over Taiwan. Hence, the present study investigates the regional discrepancies in the microphysical characteristics of summer season rainfall over (north, south, east, and central) Taiwan using 9 years (2014–2022) of GPM DPR measurements. The results showed clear distinctions in the precipitation and raindrop size distributions over the north, south, east, and central Taiwan. The contoured frequency by altitude diagrams (CFADs) of radar reflectivity, rainfall rate, drop diameter, and concentration clearly infer the dominance of large-size super cooled liquid and ice particles above the melting layer and rain particles below the melting layers in the south and central Taiwan. Central (north) Taiwan is dominated by large-size (small) drops among four regions. Higher concentrations of large drops over central Taiwan (principally from convective precipitation) and south Taiwan (primarily from stratiform precipitation) is attributed to higher rainfall amounts over these two regions than the north and east Taiwan. Furthermore, irrespective of precipitation type and geographic region, summer monsoon rainfall over Taiwan is dominated by coalescence and breakup processes. The microphysical characteristics of summer season rainfall addressed in this study could assist in refining the cloud modeling simulations over complex topography in Taiwan

Effect of Doppler Radial Velocity Data Assimilation on the Simulation of a Typhoon Approaching Taiwan: A Case Study of Typhoon Aere (2004)

Compared to conventional data, radar observations have an advantage of high spatial and temporal resolutions, and Doppler radars are capable of capturing detailed characteristics of flow fields, including typhoon circulation. In this study, the possible improvement of short-term typhoon predictions near Taiwan, particularly with regard to related rainfall forecasts over the mountainous island, using Doppler radial wind observations is explored. The case of Typhoon Aere (2004) was chosen for study, and a series of experiments were carried out using the Penn State University/National Center for Atmospheric Research (PSU/NCAR) Mesoscale Model Version 5 (MM5) with its three-dimensional variational (3D-VAR) data assimilation system

An assessment of tropical cyclones rainfall erosivity for Taiwan

Rainfall erosivity (or water erosion) has severe implications on agriculture, water, and land use management. Though, there were Rainfall erosivity studies on regional and global scale, tropical cyclones' Rainfall erosivity is poorly assessed and have not been documented for one of the most cyclones affecting regions of the world like Taiwan. Here, using 15-years of raindrop size distributions (RSD) and 60-years of hourly rain gauges data, we estimated cyclones (also called typhoons) rainfall erosivity over Taiwan, and establish that typhoons' mean rainfall erosivity is higher than the global mean rainfall erosivity. Moreover, regional variability of typhoons rainfall erosivity showed an increasing pattern from north to south (Taipei to Pingtung), with relatively higher values over eastern and southern parts of Taiwan. The annual mean erosivity of typhoons rainfall showed raising trends over eastern and southern Taiwan during 1958-2017. Our results provide an insight in assessing the land use and agricultural management for Taiwan