Graphical Abstract

• Tweet

Inoue, H. Y., K. Kusunoki, K. Arai, N. Ishitsu, T. Adachi, S. Yoshida, and C. Fujiwara, 2016: Structure and evolution of misovortices observed within a convective snowband in the Japan Sea coastal region during a cold-air outbreak on 31 December 2007. J. Meteor. Soc. Japan, 94, 507-524.
https://doi.org/10.2151/jmsj.2016-029   Graphical Abstract with highlights

• Original PDF

Highlights:

• The structure and temporal evolution of the misovortices within a convective snowband during landfall were investigated using high-resolution data obtained from two X-band Doppler radars in the Japan Sea coastal region.
• The vortices developed along a low-level convergence line with horizontal shear, suggesting that horizontal shearing instability was responsible for their initial development.
• The vortex extended upward with time as it approached the coast. During landfall, its core diameter contracted markedly and its peak tangential velocity and vertical vorticity increased at lower altitudes (Fig.1).
• Such a temporal change of low-level vortex was associated with an intensification of low-level convergence around the vortex and the convergence line, suggesting that stretching of the low-level vortex was responsible for it (Fig.2).