Comparison of heavy rainfall mechanisms in Korea and the central US

Abstract

This study attempts to identify differences in mechanisms responsible for heavy rainfall occurring over geographically different regions, focusing on dynamical and thermodynamical aspects of the heavy rainfall, in both Korea and the central US. To this end, model simulations and climatology of the summertime synoptic-scale features are analyzed. Modeling studies with different precipitation physics revealed that the removal of the convective instability by the cumulus parameterization scheme is an essential process for heavy rainfall event over the US, whereas it plays an insignificant role in reproducing heavy rainfall over Korea. From the comparison of climatological characteristics of dynamic and thermodynamical features, it is evident that summertime climatology over Korea is characterized by stronger baroclinicity. Climatologically, the Korean peninsula is characterized as thermodynamically neutral in contrast to large convective available potential energy (CAPE) over the US. © 2004, Meteorological Society of Japan.