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- A21D-2062: Role of soil moisture gradients in favouring mesoscale convective systems in East China
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Board 2062‚ Hall EFG (Poster Hall)NOLA CC
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Yutong Lu, Nanjing University (First Author, Presenting Author)
John Marsham, University of Leeds
Douglas Parker, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds
Cornelia Klein, Centre for Climate and Cryosphere University of Innsbruck
Christopher Taylor, UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
Juan Fang, Nanjing University
Jianping Tang, Nanjing University
In summer, East China often experiences heavy rainfall from large, long-lived thunderstorm systems called mesoscale convective systems (MCSs). These storms can be influenced by how wet or dry the surface is. How soil moisture affects MCSs during their mature stage has remained uncertain. Using high-resolution regional climate simulations over 22 summers, we find that MCSs tend to intensify on the drier side of sharp soil moisture contrasts. These dry areas heat up more quickly, creating stronger temperature contrasts near the surface. This strengthens key ingredients for sustaining strong storms including vertical wind shear and moisture convergence. We also find that earlier rain clouds upstream reduce solar radiation arriving at the surface, reinforcing this pattern. Our results show that not just how wet or dry the soil is, but how unevenly that moisture is distributed, plays a key role in storm development. As climate change increases land surface variability, improving how models represent soil moisture and cloud–radiation interactions could enhance the prediction of severe rainfall events and their broader climate impacts.
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