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Title: A Case Study of Urbanization Impact on Summer Precipitation in the Greater Beijing Metropolitan Area. Urban Heat Island Versus Aerosol Effects

Journal Article · · Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres (Online)
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JD023753· OSTI ID:1228348
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [3]
  1. Nanjing Univ. (China); Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
  2. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
  3. Nanjing Univ. (China)

Convection-resolving ensemble simulations using the WRF-Chem model coupled with a single-layer Urban Canopy Model (UCM) are conducted to investigate the individual and combined impacts of land use and anthropogenic pollutant emissions from urbanization on a heavy rainfall event in the Greater Beijing Metropolitan Area (GBMA) in China. The simulation with the urbanization effect included generally captures the spatial pattern and temporal variation of the rainfall event. An improvement of precipitation is found in the experiment including aerosol effect on both clouds and radiation. The expanded urban land cover and increased aerosols have an opposite effect on precipitation processes, with the latter playing a more dominant role, leading to suppressed convection and rainfall over the upstream (northwest) area, and enhanced convection and more precipitation in the downstream (southeast) region of the GBMA. In addition, the influence of aerosol indirect effect is found to overwhelm that of direct effect on precipitation in this rainfall event. Increased aerosols induce more cloud droplets with smaller size, which favors evaporative cooling and reduce updrafts and suppress convection over the upstream (northwest) region in the early stage of the rainfall event. As the rainfall system propagates southeastward, more latent heat is released due to the freezing of larger number of smaller cloud drops that are lofted above the freezing level, which is responsible for the increased updraft strength and convective invigoration over the downstream (southeast) area.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1228348
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-111144; KP1701000; KP1703010
Journal Information:
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres (Online), Vol. 120, Issue 20; ISSN 2169-8996
Publisher:
American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 85 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (5)

Sensitivity of urban boundary layer simulation to urban canopy models and PBL schemes in Beijing journal August 2018
Lightning hazards to human societies in a changing climate journal November 2018
Urbanization-induced urban heat island and aerosol effects on climate extremes in the Yangtze River Delta region of China journal January 2017
Contribution of local and remote anthropogenic aerosols to a record-breaking torrential rainfall event in Guangdong Province, China journal January 2020
Modeling extreme precipitation over East China with a global variable-resolution modeling framework (MPASv5.2): impacts of resolution and physics journal January 2019