Structure and evolution of cloud clusters occurred over southern Korean peninsula

A significant portion of the annual precipitation on the Korean peninsula is produced by heavy precipitation systems (HPSs) during summer. HPSs over the Korean peninsula could be classified into four major types (Convection bands, Cloud clusters, Isolated thunderstorms, and Squall lines) by phenomenological analysis (Lee and Kim, 2007). Among four major types of HPSs, cloud clusters occur most frequently and produce large amount of rainfall over broad area.

In this study, structure and evolution of cloud clusters have been investigated using various observation data and Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF). Low-level moisture flux seems to play an important role in the development of cloud clusters. And the rear-inflow may be an important factor for the structure of cloud clusters.