Differences in the Rainfall Characteristics between Mount Tai and Its Surrounding Areas

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Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41675075, 91637210, and 91737306) and Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center for Climate Change

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  • As a typical small-scale, isolated topography, Mount Tai exhibits great differences in precipitation characteristics from the surrounding areas. It was found that the amount of rainfall occurring over Mount Tai is significantly larger than what is observed in the surrounding areas. Based on hourly rain gauge records for the warm season (May to September) of 1996–2015, differences between Mount Tai and its surrounding areas were further revealed in terms of rainfall diurnal variation, spatial scale, and evolution process. The diurnal variation of the enhancement on rainfall amount exhibit " dual peaks” occurring in the early morning and afternoon, and the dual peaks are mainly attributable to rainfall frequency. The diurnal phase of the rainfall amount in the surrounding areas lags 1 h behind that over Mount Tai. Regarding differences in rainfall spatial scale, compared to those of surrounding areas, precipitation over Mount Tai is characterized by a smaller coverage, especially in the early morning. Mount Tai also tends to have a kind of unique, small-scale rainfall in the afternoon and at night. Based on statistical analysis of precipitation events, differences in rainfall evolution process were identified as well. Rainfall over Mount Tai often starts earlier in the afternoon and ends later at night than it does in the surrounding areas. Furthermore, nocturnal rainfall events over Mount Tai are prone to peaking over a shorter period and enduring for a longer period after reaching their maximum intensity, compared with nocturnal rainfall events occurring in the surrounding areas. Rainfall events over Mount Tai always last longer, especially those occurring in the early morning. In general, Mount Tai has a large enhancement effect on rainfall.
  • Fig.  1.   The 1996–2015 warm season mean rainfall (a) amount (colored dots; mm h−1), (b) frequency (colored dots; %), and (c) intensity (colored dots; mm h−1). Surface elevation (m) is shaded. The cross denotes Mount Tai, and the values of its rainfall characteristics are labeled at the upper right corner of each panel.

    Fig.  2.   Diurnal variations of the rainfall (a) amount (mm h−1), (b) frequency (%), and (c) intensity (mm h−1). The black solid line denotes Mount Tai; the grey solid line denotes the averaged value for the surrounding stations; the box distribution is for surrounding stations, and the red dashed line denotes the enhancement, which corresponds to the right axis.

    Fig.  3.   Diurnal variation in the mean spatial scale (%) of rainfall for the study area.

    Fig.  4.   Distributions of (a, c) rainfall amount and (b, d) frequency with change of spatial scale and diurnal phase. The x axis denotes the rainfall spatial scale (note: unequal spacing), and the shaded area denotes the ratio of the cumulative rainfall amount (frequency) at different times and with different spatial scales in relation to the total amount (frequency). The upper row refers to the average for Mount Tai, and the bottom row denotes that for surrounding areas. The dashed lines represent coverage ranges of 20% and 60%, respectively.

    Fig.  5.   The mean frequency at each hour of (a) beginning, (b) ending, and (c) peak of rainfall events for Mount Tai and surrounding areas.

    Fig.  6.   The ratio of composed rainfall frequency before and after the rainfall peak to that of the peak time (time zero) for (a) afternoon rainfall events (1400–1800 LST) and (b) early morning rainfall events (2400–0700 LST). The red line with solid circles refers to the average for Mount Tai, and the black line with solid circles denotes that for the surrounding areas. The x axis refers to the 12-h period before (–) and after (+) the peak time.

    Fig.  7.   Distributions of annual mean (a, c) rainfall amount (mm h−1) and (b, d) rainfall frequency with change of rainfall duration and diurnal phases. The upper row refers to Mount Tai and the bottom row refers to the surrounding areas.

    Fig.  8.   Distribution of the proportion of small-scale rainfall hours in precipitation events of different durations. For rainfall events of different durations, the ratio is the composed frequency at each hour to that of small-scale rainfall in all events of this duration. The x axis is the same as that given in Fig. 6.

    Fig.  9.   The wind rose charts at 850 hPa for Mount Tai at hours of large enhancement (a) at night and (b) in the afternoon, and of small enhancement (c) at night and (d) in the afternoon. Each circle in the wind rose chart represents the percentage of time the wind blows from a particular direction. The mean wind speed is shown at the end of each directional line.

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