Application of the moist vorticity vector in the analysis of a heavy rainfall event in North China

The moist vorticity vector (MVV), defined as (zeta(a)x del q(v))/rho introduced by Gao et al. is used to study a heavy rainfall event in North China. The MVV has zonal, meridional and vertical components in a three-dimensional framework. Analysis of domain-mean and mass-integrated quantities shows that the variation of the vertical component of the MVV closely follows the variation of the cloud hydrometeors, with a linear correlation coefficient of 0.95, indicating that the vertical component of the MVV is strongly associated with midlatitude convection. Further analysis shows that the vertical component of the MVV reflects the interaction between the horizontal vorticity and the horizontal specific humidity gradient, which can associate dynamic and thermodynamic processes with cloud microphysical processes. Thus, this study can help to understand how the interaction between circulations and clouds aids the development of convection, and the MVV can be used to trace the development and evolution of heavy rainfall.