a case study of a heavy rain over the southeastern tibetan plateau

This research systematically studied heavy rain that occurred on 5 August 2014 over the southeastern Tibetan Plateau (31°N–35°N, 96°E–103°E) using orbital data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) precipitation radar (PR), the TRMM Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) products, and the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) Re-Analysis Interim reanalysis data (ERA-Interim). The data studied included spatial and temporal distributions of the precipitation; horizontal distributions and vertical structures of the precipitation system; convective storm top altitudes and types of rain; mean rainfall profiles; the influence of water vapor content before and after the rainfall; and the atmospheric circulation background. The results suggest that most precipitation on the Tibetan Plateau occurs in the southeast, and that the maximum near-surface precipitation rate for this event was more than 100 mm·h−1. The convection was so powerful that the convective storm top altitude surpassed 16 km. Furthermore, the water vapor content caused obvious changes in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS) area. The mean rainfall profile can be roughly divided into four layers and showed that the maximum rainfall rate appeared at about 5.5 km. Deep weak precipitation provided the largest contribution to the total precipitation, while the highest average precipitation rate was from deep strong convective precipitation. The atmospheric circulation situation is conducive to the formation of strong convective weather, and the terrain is also an external factor affecting precipitation for this event.