Wind profiler observation on vertical structure of a Mei-yu front cloud bands

An l-band wind profiler deployed at an industrial park (120.38°e,22.6°n) close to kao-hsiung city in southern taiwan is utilized to diagnose the vertical structure of mei-yu frontal precipitating cloud systems observed during 9-11 june 2006. observational results show several mesoscale convection systems associated with the mei-yu frontal cloud produced heavy rainfall over taiwan island. mei-yu precipitating clouds are classified into three types: convective,mixed convective-stratiform and stratiform based on vertical profile of signal-to-noise ratio (snr)/reflectivity and doppler velocity during approaching,passing,and leaving stages of the cloud systems. in approaching and pre-passing stages of mei-yu frontal clouds,a pre-dominant convective precipitation without a significant bright band is observed. in contrast,a pronounced bright band around 4 km was observed during post-passing and leaving stages of the frontal clouds with stratiform precipitation. doppler velocity profiles show hydrometeors (ice/snow) at 5 km and rain below 4 km for stratiform precipitation. for mei-yu frontal stratiform precipitation the melting particles accelerations of 3.3 ms -1 km -1 are observed for the bright band region. © 2011,meteorological society of japan.