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SEASONAL RAINS BRING WIDESPREAD FLOODING TO SOUTHERN CHINA
The summer rainy season recently began in China, resulting in heavy rains
across 10 provinces in southern China. So far just over 200 fatalities have
been reported as a result of all the flooding with over a 100 more still
missing. The flooding also destroyed 200,000 homes and forced more than
2.3 million people to be evacuated. Heavy rains have been soaking southern
China for over a week now due to the start of the summer monsoon. Every year
as the sun makes its annual trek northward in the northern hemisphere summer,
it heats up the massive Asian continent causing air to rise, which results in
low pressure over the continent as well as a temperature difference with the
surrounding ocean areas. This pressure and temperature difference between
the land and ocean causes the winds to shift in a seasonal pattern. As warm
air rises over the continent, it draws in moist air from the surrounding
oceans. This pattern is known as a monsoon. In East Asia, the boundary
between the advancing humid air from the Indian and West Pacific oceans to
the south and the retreating continental air to the north often takes the
form of a stationary front. This front is known as the Baiu front in Japan
and the Mei-yu front in China. It migrates northward over eastern China,
Korea, Taiwan and Japan over the course of spring and early summer, providing
a focus for showers and rain especially when waves of low pressure move along
the front. Mei-yu literally means "plum rains" in China and refers to the
widespread rains that often occur at the time when plums ripen, which is
typically May and June.
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Launched back in November of 1997, the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission
satellite (better known as TRMM) has been measuring rainfall from space,
its primary objective, with an array of active radar and passive microwave
sensors. For increased coverage, TRMM can be used to calibrate rainfall
estimates from other additional satellites. The TRMM-based, near-real time
Multi-satellite Precipitation Analysis (TMPA) at the NASA Goddard Space
Flight Center can be used to monitor rainfall over the global Tropics. TMPA
rainfall totals are shown here for the 6-day period 14-21 June 2010 for
southeastern China and the surrounding coastal region. The TMPA rainfall
analysis shows that nearly all of southern China received at least 75 mm
(~3 inches, shown in bright blue) of rain for the period with the majority
of areas receiving at least 150 mm (~6 inches, shown in medium blue). Two
regions (shown in yellow) received significantly more. The first region
farther to the east includes the northern part of Jiangxi province and
shows between 450 mm (~18 inches, shown in yellow) to upwards of 600 mm
(~24 inches, shown in orange) of rain. The second region farther south and
west, which includes parts of Guizhou, Guangxi, and Hunan provinces, shows
between 450 mm to as much as 750 mm (~30 inches, shown in red) of rain
fell over the period.
The rains are expected to continue over the coming week. Flooding is a
common problem in China; last year China reported over 500 fatalities and
over 84 billion yuan (over $12 billion US) in damage due to flooding.
Click to see an animation showing recent rainfall accumulation in this area.
Click to see the rainfall analysis above in Google Earth (kml).
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TRMM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japanese space agency JAXA.
Image by Hal Pierce (SSAI/NASA GSFC) Caption by Steve Lang (SSAI/NASA GSFC)
SEE EXTREME EVENTS ARCHIVES
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Curator:
NASA Official: Dr Scott A. Braun
Last Updated:
Tuesday June 22,2010
Monday March 10, 2008
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