A Review of Satellite Observed Heavy Rainfall Cloud Clusters

Mesoscale convective systems (MCSs) which produce heavy rainfall are commonly depicted as heavy rainfall cloud clusters (HRCCs) on satellite cloud imagery. Since Maddox found the mesoscale convective complexes (MCC), which produce the bulk of the warm season rainfall over much of midwestern Unite States, the early studies mainly focus on these kinds of long-lived and large-scaled HRCCs.A brief review of HRCCs including the proper and advantaged scales of HRCCs for satellite observation, the MCC, the Meiyu frontal HRCC especially in the East Asia, and the satellite data assimilation/modeling of HRCCs are presented. Meanwhile, some prospects are discussed for future HRCCs studies.In the past decades, most HRCCs studies are synoptic and/or statistic analyses, only a few reports are on the satellite assimilation and modeling. Also the integration with the rapid developing mesoscale theories is not enough that new theories and new diagnostic methodologies are still less documented. The future HRCCs studies should be more closely combined with mesoscale theories and remote sensing reanalysis techniques to study further into the mechanism of HRCC initiation and development.In order to combine HRCCs studies with practice, not only oval-shaped MCCs but also other shape MCSs should be considered. In a word, new HRCCs classification should be adopted according to their cloud-top shapes and scales. And the general characteristics of HRCCs in China, including their life cycle, activities etc, would be gained through abroad investigation.Furthermore, up-to-date remote sensing techniques are providing a great many data, for example, the temperature/moisture profiles from AMSU/TOVS retrieval and the cloud hydrometers from TMI/TRMM retrieval. These new data should be introduced to HRCC study for concerning inner cloud dynamics, thermodynamic processes and microphysics issues.