Time-space characteristics of diurnal rainfall over Borneo and surrounding oceans as observed by TRMM-PR

Abstract

Five years of Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Precipitation Radar (PR) data were used to investigate the time and space characteristics of the diurnal cycle of rainfall over and around Borneo, an island in the Maritime Continent. The diurnal cycle shows a systematic modulation that is associated with intraseasonal variability in the large-scale circulation pattern, with regimes associated with low-level east-erlies or westerlies over the island. The lower-tropospheric westerly (easterly) components correspond to periods of active (inactive) convection over the island that are associated with the passage of intraseasonal atmospheric disturbances related to the Madden-Julian oscillation. A striking feature is that rainfall activity propagates to the leeward side of the island between midnight and morning. The inferred phase speed of the propagation is about 3 m s-1 in the easterly regime and 7 m s-1 in the westerly regime. Propagation occurs over the entire island, causing a leeward enhancement of rainfall. The vertical structure of the developed convection/rainfall system differs remarkably between the two regimes. In the easterly regime, stratiform rains are widespread over the island at midnight, whereas in the westerly regime, local convective rainfall dominates. Over offshore regions, convective rainfall initially dominates then gradually decreases in both regimes, while the storms develop into deeper convective systems in the easterly regime. Aside from leeward rainfall propagation, shallow storms develop over the South China Sea region during the westerly regime, resulting in heavy precipitation from midnight through morning. © 2006 American Meteorological Society.