Microphysical Characteristics of the Cloud Systems over the Tibetan Plateau in Boreal Summer via Satellite Datasets

The Tibetan Plateau (TP) experiences particular dynamical and thermal environment due to its unique topography, which would affect the generation and development of local precipitation. Statistic results from 52-year daily precipitation (1961 to 2012) show that precipitation mainly happens during boreal summer. The most frequent daily precipitation is about 3 mm d^-1 over the eastern TP while most rainfall events are less than 1 mm d^-1 over the western TP. The circulation pattern shows that the rainy weather over the TP are usually contributed by the moisture transported from the warm ocean by the southern flow. Moreover, rainy weather of the west TP can only happen when the strong southern flow prevails over the Indian subcontinent. However, when the south flow is weak, the rainy weather can still happen in favorable condition over the east TP due to the local madid environment. Cloud/Sat observations show that the strong convective system can develop over 16 km above sea level in favorable dynamical and thermal-dynamical environment. However, the depth of most precipitating convective clouds is in a range of 6-9 km. Due to the wetter condition, the precipitating convective cloud can generate at lower level over the east TP than that in west TP. Compared with other regions, precipitating convective clouds of the TP are thinner in cloud depth, smaller in cloud particles and weak in precipitation capacity.