- 著者
- SHUSSE Yukari MAESAKA Takeshi KIEDA Kaori IWANAMI Koyuru
- 出版者
- Meteorological Society of Japan
- 雑誌
- 気象集誌. 第2輯 (ISSN:00261165)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- pp.2019-021, (Released:2018-12-13)
- 被引用文献数
- 5
This study describes the spatial distribution of the melting layer (ML) in a winter stratiform precipitation system associated with a south-coast cyclone (SCC) on 30 January 2015 over the Kanto Plain, Japan, using an X-band polarimetric radar at Funabashi operated by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. The detailed horizontal distribution of surface precipitation types based on Weather Reports from citizens provided by Weathernews Inc. (WNI reports) was also investigated in relation to the ML structure. Surface precipitation in the Kanto Region started with rain and then changed to snow around Tokyo. According to WNI reports, a large dry snow area had formed around Tokyo by 0900 Japan Standard Time (UTC + 9 hours), while surface rainfall continued in the southeast of the Kanto Plain (most part of Chiba and southern part of Kanagawa). A boundary line between the surface dry snow and rain areas became clear in the eastern part of Kanagawa and the northwestern part of Chiba. This boundary then gradually moved inland. Polarimetric ML signatures suggesting the presence of melting snow were continuously observed above the rainfall area in the southeast of the Kanto Plain. The polarimetric ML signatures, on the other hand, approached the ground near the surface dry snow-rain boundary while the surface snowfall was predominant around Tokyo. During the mature snowfall period around Tokyo, the ML vertically extended below 1 km above sea level near the surface dry snow-rain boundary, which indicates the presence of a local horizontal temperature gradient and a surrounding ~0°C near-isothermal layer. It is suggested that this vertically extending ML coincided with the edge of a cold air mass in the lower atmosphere, which often forms during snowfall associated with SCCs in the Kanto Region.
- 著者
- MISUMI Ryohei UJI Yasushi TOBO Yutaka MIURA Kazuhiko UETAKE Jun IWAMOTO Yoko MAESAKA Takeshi IWANAMI Koyuru
- 出版者
- Meteorological Society of Japan
- 雑誌
- 気象集誌. 第2輯 (ISSN:00261165)
- 巻号頁・発行日
- pp.2018-040, (Released:2018-04-13)
- 被引用文献数
- 7
Continuous observations of cloud droplet size distributions (DSDs) in low-level stratiform clouds have been conducted at a height of 458 m from Tokyo Skytree (a 634-m high broadcasting tower in Tokyo) using a cloud droplet spectrometer. In this report, the characteristics of cloud parameters related to the cloud DSD from June to December 2016 are presented. The mean cloud droplet number concentration (Nc), average diameters, and effective diameters of cloud droplets in non-drizzling clouds were 213 cm-3, 7.3 μm, and 9.5 μm, respectively, which are close to the reported values for continental stratiform clouds. The relationship between the liquid water content (LWC; g m-3), Nc (cm-3) and radar reflectivity (Z; mm6 m-3) was estimated as LWC = 0.17Nc0.50 Z0.45, with a coefficient of determination ( R 2) of 0.93. The observed cloud DSDs were well fitted by a lognormal distribution and the average median diameter of the fitted DSD was 6.6 μm.