Impact of the Cold Pool on Mesoscale Convective System–Produced Extreme Rainfall over Southeastern South Korea: 7 July 2009

Abstract

In this study, an extreme rainfall-producing quasi-stationary mesoscale convective system (MCS) associated with the Changma front in southeastern South Korea is investigated using numerical simulations and sensitivity tests. A record-breaking rainfall amount was recorded in response to repeated initiation of new cells (i.e., back-building) over the same area for several hours. The aim of this study is to realistically simulate and analyze this extreme rainfall event to better understand an impact of the cold pool that leads to the quasi-stationary MCS over southeastern South Korea by using a convection-allowing-resolution (2 km) nonhydrostatic atmospheric model. The control experiment (CNTL) was successfully performed, yielding the quasi-stationary, back-building MCS at approximately the correct location and time. In the CNTL run, diabatic cooling due to evaporation of raindrops was responsible for the formation of the cold pool. The development of the cold pool was responsible for the deceleration of the propagating convective line, which played a role in the stalling of the MCS over southeastern South Korea. Moreover, new convective cells were repeatedly initiated in the region where an oncoming warm inflow met the leading edge of the cold pool and was uplifted. In an experiment without evaporative cooling (NOEVA), the simulated precipitation pattern was shifted to the northeast because the MCS became nonstationary without the cold pool. The cold pool had an essential role in the stationarity of the MCS, which resulted in extreme rainfall over the Busan metropolitan area.