A MESO-α SCALE STUDY OF MEIYU FRONT HEAVY RAIN－PART I: OBSERVATIONAL STUDIES

In this paper, the data collected during the Mesoscale Weather Experiments in East China are utilized to study the meso-α scale rain-bands of meiyu front heavy rain, its structural features as well as the mechanism of its development. It has been revealed that the precipitation band during the meiyu season is in the shape of ribbon, which is parallel to the surface quasi-stationary front. Sometimes two meso-α scale rain-bands are present. The meso-α scale rain-band is associated with meso-α scale convergence line. As shown by the two dimentional disturbance circulation, calculated through band-pass filtering, the single rain-band is quite different from the double rain-bands. The former is, to some extent, akin to the frontogenctical circulation in the vicinity of the high- and low-level frontal zones; the latter features roller-like circulations at middle and low-levels with their axes parallel to the rain-bands while at higher levels they run in the opposite direction. This kind of disturbance may be caused by the symmetric instability in the moist atmosphere.