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Arid Land Geography ›› 2020, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (6): 1446-1455.doi: 10.12118/j.issn.1000-6060.2020.06.05

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Seasonal distribution characteristics of precipitating ice clouds in Beijing- Tianjin-Hebei region based on MODIS and CloudSat

ZHENG Qian1, 2, ZHENG You-fei2, 3, WANG Li-wen2, Gao Ya2   

  1. 1 Meteorological Bureau of Quzhou City, Quzhou 324000, Zhejiang, China; 2 Taihu University of Wuxi, Wuxi 210044, Jiangsu, China; 3 School of Atmospheric Physics, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing 214000, Jiangsu, China
  • Received:2019-01-12 Revised:2020-06-01 Online:2020-11-25 Published:2020-11-25

Abstract: Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei is a region where water resources are scarce. Studying nonprecipitating and precipitating ice clouds is helpful for understanding the artificial precipitation enhancement potential and precipitation mechanism. Using the cloud product of CloudSat and Aqua MODIS from September 2008 to August 2016, the Beijing- Tianjin- Hebei region was divided into four sub- areas to study the distribution of precipitating ice clouds, including the occurrence probability, cloud top height and cloud top temperature, the number of cloud layers, cloud type, ice water content, particle concentration, and particle effective radius in the Beijing- Tianjin- Hebei region. Results show that the occurrence probability of precipitating ice clouds in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is higher in summer with increasing incidence rate. The occurrence probability of precipitating ice clouds in 2012 is observed to be the highest, while the occurrence probability of precipitating ice clouds after 2012 is higher than that of the precipitating ice clouds before 2012. The cloud top height of the precipitating ice clouds cloud top in Beijing- Tianjin- Hebei is lowest in winter and the highest in summer. The minimum clout top temperature of the precipitating ice clouds in Beijing- Tianjin- Hebei is the highest in winter and the lowest in summer. The types of precipitation ice clouds in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area are 7, 6, 6, and 5 in spring, summer, autumn, and winter, respectively. The precipitating ice clouds in this area are mainly deep convective clouds in summer (48.3%), while others are dominanted by nimbostratus. The main distribution height of the precipitating ice clouds’microphysical quantities (including ice water content, particle concentration, and particle effective radius) are 0- 13.5 km, 3.5- 17.0 km, 1.0- 14.0 km, and 0- 11.0 km according to the four seasons. The distribution height and the maximum value of ice water content and particle concentration are the lowest in winter and the highest in summer. The maximum height is the lowest in winter and highest in summer, and the maximum particle effective radius is the lowest in autumn and the highest in summer. In addition, in summer, the distribution characteristics of these three microphysical quantities with height are relatively consistent in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei in summer with all having a single-peak structure.

Key words: Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, precipitation, ice clouds, seasonal characteristics, CloudSat