Abstract:
In view of three persistent heavy rainfall processes during the autumn flood season in North China in 2021, the structural characteristics of the cloud system were analyzed from three aspects: large scale, synoptic scale, and mesoscale, using satellite data. Furthermore, the water vapor transport characteristics were examined together with calculating water vapor transport flux. The results show that the large-scale cloud system is characterized by warm shear, with strong rainfall occurring in the southern part of the cloud system. The synoptic scale cloud system is characterized by multiple fluctuations moving eastward. Mesoscale convective clouds are present on certain individual synoptic scale cloud systems, but their duration is relatively short, and their intensity is relatively weak. During the three consecutive heavy rainfall events, the entire layer of water vapor followed a southwest-to-northeast direction. Layered water vapor transport analysis indicates that the water vapor transport mainly stems from the easterly and southwestern directions. The easterly water vapor transport path, at a height of approximately 1000–850 hPa, is an important water vapor transport path in the lower layers during the autumn flood season. The arrangement direction of cloud streets on satellite visible channel images aligns with the water vapor transport at 1000–850 hPa, qualitatively reflecting the direction of water vapor transport in the lower layers. The height of the water vapor transport path in the southwest direction is approximately 850–700 hPa and 700–500 hPa, making it the most important water vapor transport path.