Observational Facts of Sustained Departure Plateau Vortexes

By using the twice-daily atmospheric observation data from 1998 to 2012, station rainfall data, Tropical Rainfall Measure Mission (TRMM) data, as well as the plateau vortex and shear line year book, characteristics of the sustained departure plateau vortexes (SDPVs) are analyzed. Some new useful observational facts and understanding are obtained about the SDPV activities. The following results are obtained. (1) The active period of SDPVs is from June to August, most in July, unlike that of the unsustained departure plateau vortexes (UDPVs), which have same occurrence frequencies in the three summer months. (2) The SDPVs, generated mainly in the Qumalai neighborhood and situated in a sheared surrounding, move eastward or northeastward, while the UDPVs are mainly led by the upper-level trough, and move eastward or southeastward. (3) The SDPVs influence wide areas of China, even far to the Korean Peninsula, Japan, and Vietnam. (4) The SDPVs change their intensities and properties on the way to the east. Most of them become stronger and produce downpour or sustained regional rainstorms to the south of Yellow River. (5) The longer the SDPV sustains, the more baroclinity it has. (6) When an SDPV moves into the sea, its central pressure descends and rainfall increases in all probability. (7) An SDPV might spin over the bend of the Yellow River when there exists a tropical cyclone in the East China Sea. It could also move oppositely to a landed tropical low pressure originated from the sea to the east of Taiwan or from the South China Sea.