edu.ucar.opensky::articles:25119 UCAR/NCAR - Library OpenSky Support PO Box 3000 Boulder CO 80307-3000 opensky@ucar.edu http://opensky.ucar.edu/ homepage pointOfContact 2025-12-24T23:04:26.321497 ISO 19115-2 Geographic Information - Metadata - Part 2: Extensions for Imagery and Gridded Data ISO 19115-2:2009(E) https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7xk8k3s https://doi.org/10.26023/VD76-2S0X-E10V https Related Dataset #1 Surface Station Data. Version 1.0 https://doi.org/10.5065/D6CC0XWZ https Related Dataset #2 TIMREX: NCAR S-Pol radar moments data with Particle ID, DORADE. Version 1.0 The spatiotemporal characteristics of near-surface water vapor in a coastal region revealed from radar-derived refractivity 2021-09-01T00:00:00Z publication https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7xk8k3s https://doi.org/10.1175/MWR-D-20-0425.1 Feng, Ya-Chien author Hsu, H. author Weckwerth, Tammy author Lin, P. author Liou, Y. author Wang, T. C. author UCAR/NCAR - Library publisher The radar-retrieved refractivity fields provide detailed depictions of the near-surface moisture distribution at the meso-gamma scale. This study represents a novel application of the refractivity fields by examining the spatiotemporal characteristics of moisture variability in a summertime coastal region in Taiwan over 4 weeks. The physiography in Taiwan lends itself to a variety of flow features and corresponding moisture behavior, which has not been well studied. Highresolution refractivity analyses demonstrate how a highly variable moisture field is related to the complex interaction between the synoptic-scale winds, diurnal local circulations, terrain, storms, and heterogeneous land use. On average, higher refractivity (water vapor) is observed along the coastline and refractivity decreases inland toward the foothills. Under weak synoptic forcing conditions, the daytime refractivity field develops differently under local surface wind directions determined by the synoptic-scale prevailing wind and the sea-breeze fronts. High moisture penetrates inland toward the foothills with southwesterly winds, but it stalls along the coastline with southerly and northwesterly winds. The moisture distribution may further affect the occurrence of the inland afternoon storms. During the nighttime, the dry downslope wind decreases the moisture from the foothills toward the coast and forms a refractivity gradient perpendicular to the meridionally oriented mountains. Furthermore, the refractivity fields illustrate higher-resolution moisture distribution over surface station point measurements by showing the lagged daytime sea-breeze front between the urban and rural areas and the detailed nighttime heterogeneous moisture distribution related to land-use and rivers. UCAR/NCAR - Library OpenSky Support PO Box 3000 Boulder CO 80307-3000 opensky@ucar.edu http://opensky.ucar.edu/ homepage pointOfContact PDF Text theme Resource Type 2016-01-01T00:00:00Z publication Copyright 2021 American Meteorological Society (AMS). None eng geoscientificInformation