Journal of the Meteorological Society of Japan: Vol. 78, No. 4, pp. 461-475, 2000.


Diurnal variation of precipitation over the Indo-China Peninsula: Two-dimensional numerical simulation

By Takehiko Satomura

Division of Earth and Planetary Science, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan
(Manuscript received 20 September, 1999, in revised form 15 April 2000)

Abstract

The diurnal variation of precipitation over the Indo-China Peninsula is investigated using a two-dimensional, nonhydrostatic, and cloud-resolving numerical model. The model is initialized by the climatological monthly mean vertical profiles of zonal flow, temperature and humidity at the center of the Indo-China Peninsula in June.

The model successfully simulates the diurnal variation of precipitation. The simulated diurnal variation is as follows: convection is activated at the lee-side foot of two mountainous regions located at the west and middle of Thailand in the evening of each day; activated clouds then are organized into squall lines that travel eastward during the night at about 5-10 m s-1. These squall lines weaken around midnight.

It is concluded that the solar-synchronized life cycle of the squall lines and their eastward movement cause the nighttime maximum of the precipitation over the inland area of the Indo-China Peninsula. High resolution analysis of a convective activity index calculated from the GMS IR data over the Peninsula supports this conclusion.