By employing the 6.7μm satellite vapor cloud images and NCEP/NCAR 1°×1° reanalysis datasets, the characteristics and mechanism of the dry intrusion, as well as its impacts on the low vortex precipita- tion at the Meiyu front are explored in this paper. It is found that the formation,development and main- tenance of the low vortex precipitation at the Meiyu front are closely related to the evolution of the dry intrusion. The dry intrusion is characterized by high potential vorticity (PV), low humidity and cold air. The dry intrusion exhibits as an obvious dark zone on vapor cloud images, an area in which atmos- pheric relative humidity is lower than 60%. However, the features of the dry intrusion on the vapor im- ages are clearer than that of the humidity field, for the former is the digital vapor cloud images with high temporal and spatial resolution, and it can be used to explore the finer characteristics of the develop- ment, evolution and supplement of the intrusion during the development of the low vortex. The dry intrusion impacts accompanying the low vortex precipitation at the Meiyu front come from all levels of the troposphere, with the strongest intrusion located at the upper troposphere. The dry and cold air intrudes the vicinity of the low vortex from the upper isentropic surface to the lower one, slanting eastward from lower to higher level. The low vortex precipitation region is usually situated in front of the dry intrusion where the relative humidity gradient is higher. The research also reveals that the mechanism of the dry intrusion is that the high potential vorticity descends from the upper troposphere to the lower level, therefore, the dry intrusion can be used as an important index of the high PV forcing. To the west of the low vortex precipitation, the upper level northerlies descend across the isentropic surface, then the dry cold advection can trigger the instable development in the mid-low troposphere. The dry intrusion enhances the low vortex precipitation. Meanwhile, because of the
YAO XiuPing1,2,3, WU GuoXiong1, ZHAO BingKe4, YU YuBin3 & YANG GuiMing2,5 1 LASG, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
