The anomalous variation of the lightning activity in southern China during the 1997/98 El Niño event

This paper presents the EOF analysis results of the lightning density (LD) anomalies for the different seasons in southeastern China and Indochina Peninsula by using the OTD/LIS database (June 1995 to Feb. 2003) of the global LD with 2.5Ü×2.5× resolution offered by Global Hydrology Resource Center. It is shown that the LD positive anomalies in the region occurred at the same time of NINO3 SSTA steep increase in the spring of 1997 and remained to be a higher level till the next spring, as well the corresponding anomaly percent maximum in different seasons was 89%, 30%, 45%, 498% and 55% successively from the beginning to the end of the 1997/98 El Niño event (ENSO). The centre of the LD positive anomalies for the spring or winter season is located at southeastern China and the adjacent coastal areas, but it for the summer or autumn season is located at the southern Indochina Peninsula and Gulf of Thailand, whose position for each season in the ENSO as contrasted with the normal years has a westward shift, and especially for winter or spring season a northward shift at the same time. In addition, an analysis of the interannual variations in the LD anomaly percent, convective precipitation and H-CAPE days in southern China shows that each among the three anomaly percents is correlative with the other for the positive anomaly zone and Kuroshio area. The relative variation of LD during the El Niño period is the highest among the three rates and is larger than that during the non-El Niño period, meaning that the response of lightning activities to the ENSO is the most sensitive in both areas. But the response of lightning activities and precipitation to the ENSO appears to be more complex and diversified either in Kuroshio area or in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and northwestern and northeastern China.     

南印度洋海温偶极子型振荡及其气候影响

印度洋海表温度（Sea Surface Temperature，简称SST）的方差分析和相关分析表明南印度洋也存在一个海温偶极子型振荡，并定义了一个南印度洋海表温度异常偶极子指数.夏、秋季（南半球冬、春）的南印度洋偶极子指数与后期热带500hPa和100hPa高度场异常有显著而持续的相关，在冬、春达到最大，并可以持续到次年夏、秋.前期夏、秋季节的南印度洋偶极模对次年我国大陆东部夏季降水异常有显著的影响，对应偶极子正位相，次年夏季印度洋、南海（东亚）夏季风偏弱；副高加强且南撤、西伸，南亚高压偏强且位置偏东，易形成我国长江流域降水偏多，华南降水偏少；负位相年反之.后期冬季西太平洋暖池是联系南印度洋偶极子与次年我国夏季降水异常关系的一条重要途径.南印度洋偶极子表现出了明显的独立于ENSO（El Nio Southern Oscillation，简称ENSO）的特征.     

不同强度El Ni?o的衰减过程.Ⅱ,中等和较弱El Ni?o的衰减过程

在第二部分,我们研究了中等和较弱El Ni?o的衰减过程. 结果表明,对中等El Ni?o而言,在其发展阶段和盛期,负异常信号在西太平洋产生,但由于强度不足,在El Ni?o盛期之后迅速衰减,这是一种夭折的类西太平洋振子过程. 因此,与强El Ni?o不同,中等El Ni?o衰减进入平常态. 而较弱El Ni?o以截然不同的另一种方式进行位相转换,伴随东南太平洋副高的加强和西移,东风异常和海表温度负异常自赤道东太平洋向西扩展,这是一种平流模态过程,导致较弱El Ni?o衰减进入La Nia.     

Interannual climate variability in South America: impacts on seasonal precipitation, extreme events, and possible effects of climate change

Interannual variability is an important modulator of synoptic and intraseasonal variability in South America. This paper seeks to characterize the main modes of interannual variability of seasonal precipitation and some associated mechanisms. The impact of this variability on the frequency of extreme rainfall events and the possible effect of anthropogenic climate change on this variability are reviewed. The interannual oscillations of the annual total precipitation are mainly due to the variability in austral autumn and summer. While autumn is the dominant rainy season in the northern part of the continent, where the variability is highest (especially in the northeastern part), summer is the rainy season over most of the continent, thanks to a summer monsoon regime. In the monsoon season, the strongest variability occurs near the South Atlantic Convergence Zone (SACZ), which is one of the most important features of the South American monsoon system. In all seasons but summer, the most important source of variability is ENSO (El Ni?o Southern Oscillation), although ENSO shows a great contribution also in summer. The ENSO impact on the frequency of extreme precipitation events is also important in all seasons, being generally even more significant than the influence on seasonal rainfall totals. Climate change associated with increasing emission of greenhouse gases shows potential to impact seasonal amounts of precipitation in South America, but there is still great uncertainty associated with the projected changes, since there is not much agreement among the models’ outputs for most regions in the continent, with the exception of southeastern South America and southern Andes. Climate change can also impact the natural variability modes of seasonal precipitation associated with ENSO.     

Influence of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation on South Korean streamflow variability

Deciphering the mechanisms through which the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) affects hydrometeorological parameters in the tropics and extratropics is of great interest. We investigate climatic teleconnections between warm or cold phases of ENSO and streamflow patterns over South Korea using an empirical methodology designed to detect regions showing a strong and consistent hydroclimatic signal associated with ENSO. We calculate not only spatial coherence values by monthly streamflow composite formed over 2‐year ENSO cycle and the first harmonic fit to detect candidate regions but also temporal consistency rates by aggregate composite and index time series to determine core regions. As a result, the core regions, namely, the Han river basin and the Nakdong river basin, are detected with a high level of response of ENSO phenomena to streamflow patterns. The ENSO composites for both core regions indicate drier (wetter) conditions in early autumn of the warm (cold) episode years and wetter (drier) conditions from winter to spring of the following year. For both regions, the spatial coherences are over 92% (82%) and the temporal consistencies are 71% (75%) during the El Niño (La Niña) events. In addition, for the core regions identified by composite‐harmonic analysis for both extreme episodes, the results of comparative analyses by using correlation, annual cycle, and Wilcoxon rank sum test indicate that 2 opposite phases‐streamflow relationships have a tendency of sign reversal of the streamflow anomaly. Also, the positive departures during the El Niño years show more coherent and strong responses than the negative anomalies in the La Niña events. In conclusion, South Korea experiences climatic teleconnection between ENSO forcing and midlatitude streamflow patterns.     

Dynamical effect of the zonal wind anomalies over the tropical western Pacific on ENSO cycles

The circulation and zonal wind anomalies in the lower troposphere over the equatorial western Pacific and their roles in the developing and decaying processes of the 1982–1983, 1986 –1987, 1991–1992 and 1997–1998 El Ni?o events and the occurrence of La Ni?a events are analyzed by using the observed data in this paper. The results show that before the developing stage of these El Ni?o events, there were cyclonic circulation anomalies in the lower troposphere over the tropical western Pacific, and the anomalies brought the westerly anomalies over the Indonesia and the tropical western Pacific. However, when the El Ni?o events developed to their mature phase, there were anticyclonic circulation anomalies in the lower troposphere over the tropical western Pacific, and the anomalies made the easterly anomalies appear over the tropical western Pacific. A simple, dynamical model of tropical ocean is used to calculate the response of the equatorial oceanic waves to the observed anomalies of wind stress near the sea surface of the equatorial Pacific during the 1997/98 ENSO cycle, which was the strongest one in the 20th century. It is shown that the zonal wind stress anomalies have an important dynamical effect on the devel-opment and decay of this El Ni?o event and the occurrence of the following La Ni?a event.     

Influences of Indian Ocean interannual variability on different stages of El Nio: A FOAM1.5 model approach

Both the tropical Indian and tropical Pacific Oceans are active atmosphere-ocean interactive regions with robust interannual variability, which also constitutes a linkage between the two basins in the mode of variability. Using a global atmosphereocean coupled model, we conducted two experiments(CTRL and PC) to explore the contributions of Indian Ocean interannual sea surface temperature(SST) modes to the occurrence of El Ni?o events. The results show that interannual variability of the SST in the Indian Ocean induces a rapid growth of El Ni?o events during the boreal autumn in an El Ni?o developing year. However, it weakens El Ni?o events or even promotes cold phase conversions in an El Ni?o decaying year. Therefore, the entire period of the El Ni?o is shortened by the interannual variations of the Indian Ocean SST. Specifically, during the El Ni?o developing years, the positive Indian Ocean Dipole(IOD) events force an anomalous Walker circulation, which then enhances the existing westerly wind anomalies over the west Pacific. This will cause a warmer El Ni?o event, with some modulations by ocean advection and oceanic Rossby and Kelvin waves. However, with the onset of the South Asian monsoon, the Indian Ocean Basin(IOB) warming SST anomalies excite low level easterly wind anomalies over the west tropical Pacific during the El Ni?o decaying years. As a result, the El Ni?o event is prompted to change from a warm phase to a cold phase. At the same time, an associated atmospheric anticyclone anomaly appears and leads to a decreasing precipitation anomaly over the northwest Pacific. In summary, with remote forcing in the atmospheric circulation, the IOD mode usually affects the El Ni?o during the developing years, whereas the IOB mode affects the El Ni?o during the decaying years.     

Conceptual model about the interaction between El Ni?o/Southern Oscillation and Quasi-Biennial Oscillation in far west equatorial Pacific

Interaction between the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation in far west equatorial Pacific (QBOWP) and the El Ni?o/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is studied using a new conceptual model. In this conceptual model, the QBOWP effects on ENSO are achieved through two ways: (1) the oceanic Kelvin wave along equatorial Pacific, and (2) the Atmospheric Walker Circulation anomaly, while ENSO effects on QBOWP can be accomplished by the atmospheric Walker Circulation anomaly. Diagnosis analysis of the model results shows that the Atmospheric bridge (Walker circulation) plays a more important role in interaction between the ENSO and QBOWP than the oceanic bridge (oceanic Kelvin wave along equatorial Pacific); It is found that by the interaction of the ENSO and QBOWP, a free ENSO oscillation with 3–5 years period could be substituted by a oscillation with the quasi-biennial period, and the dominant period of SST anomaly and wind anomaly in the far west equatorial Pacific tends to be prolonged with enhanced ENSO forcing. Generally, the multi-period variability in the coupled Atmosphere-Ocean System in the Tropical Pacific can be achieved through the interaction between ENSO and QBOWP.     

El Ni?o and El Ni?o Modoki variability based on a new ocean reanalysis

A new ocean reanalysis, covering the period from 1990 to 2009, is evaluated against observational sea surface temperature (SST) and sea surface height (SSH) data in reproducing the temporal characteristics of El Ni?o and El Ni?o Modoki. The new reanalysis assimilates the available SST, temperature–salinity profile, and satellite altimetry data sets into a global ocean model forced with surface boundary conditions from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction atmospheric reanalysis 2. Using the Ni?o 3 index and the improved El Ni?o Modoki index, to distinguish between El Ni?o and El Ni?o Modoki signals, our results show that the two time series in the new reanalysis are in agreement with those obtained from observations during the study period. A composite analysis method is used to demonstrate the temporal evolution of these two types of El Ni?o. The new reanalysis has the advantage of representing the strength and location of El Ni?o events better than the control run, with an increase in the spatial correlation, but El Ni?o variability in the reanalysis is weak in the eastern Pacific, particularly off the coast of South America. As for the El Ni?o Modoki events, the initiation, development, and termination of the warm SST anomalies all occur in the central Pacific. All main features associated with the warm SST anomaly pattern of El Ni?o Modoki are well represented in the reanalysis. Furthermore, using this new ocean reanalysis, we select two strong cases to investigate possible mechanisms that may lead to the different warm SST anomaly patterns.     

Advances in Understanding Top-of-Atmosphere Radiation Variability from Satellite Observations

This paper highlights how the emerging record of satellite observations from the Earth Observation System (EOS) and A-Train constellation are advancing our ability to more completely document and understand the underlying processes associated with variations in the Earth’s top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiation budget. Large-scale TOA radiation changes during the past decade are observed to be within 0.5?Wm^?2 per decade based upon comparisons between Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) instruments aboard Terra and Aqua and other instruments. Tropical variations in emitted outgoing longwave (LW) radiation are found to closely track changes in the El Ni?o-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). During positive ENSO phase (El Ni?o), outgoing LW radiation increases, and decreases during the negative ENSO phase (La Ni?a). The coldest year during the last decade occurred in 2008, during which strong La Nina conditions persisted throughout most of the year. Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) observations show that the lower temperatures extended throughout much of the troposphere for several months, resulting in a reduction in outgoing LW radiation and an increase in net incoming radiation. At the global scale, outgoing LW flux anomalies are partially compensated for by decreases in midlatitude cloud fraction and cloud height, as observed by Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer and Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer, respectively. CERES data show that clouds have a net radiative warming influence during La Ni?a conditions and a net cooling influence during El Ni?o, but the magnitude of the anomalies varies greatly from one ENSO event to another. Regional cloud-radiation variations among several Terra and A-Train instruments show consistent patterns and exhibit marked fluctuations at monthly timescales in response to tropical atmosphere-ocean dynamical processes associated with ENSO and Madden–Julian Oscillation.     

西南区域持续性干旱事件的行星尺度和天气尺度扰动信号

以2009-2010年发生在中国西南地区的持续性干旱事件为例,通过干旱和大气变量的物理分解得到了一些干旱事件发生的新认识.气象干旱多为年循环的气候干季与干旱扰动的叠加所致.一次干旱扰动大约为30-50天,而一次持续性干旱事件是由几次干旱扰动组成的.大气高度场和风场中存在三种时间尺度的扰动.一种是年际行星尺度的大气扰动,与ENSO冷暖事件有关,起源于赤道并传播到中高纬度地区需要2-4年.另一种是季节内行星尺度的大气扰动,与来自赤道地区的30-50天振荡有关.此外,大气中还存在天气尺度的扰动.利用行星尺度大气扰动向赤道外传播与天气尺度扰动的叠加,区域持续性干旱事件能够找到前期预报信号.     

厄尔尼诺持续时间与大气环流异常形势

针对不同持续时间的El Nio事件,进行了大尺度大气环流及其演变的合成分析研究.其结果清楚地表明,不同持续时间的El Nio事件的发生、发展和消亡过程,对流层低层风场和对流层高层速度势场的距平都有极为显著差异.分析得到了对El Nio事件的发生和消亡起着重要作用的大气环流异常形势.还发现对于持续时间较长的El Nio事件,东北太平洋上850hPa异常气旋性环流减弱和西北太平洋上异常反气旋性环流增强较慢,因此赤道太平洋异常西风维持的时间也较长,而与澳大利亚冬季风加强相关联的南半球西太平洋的速度势正距平的维持,对El Nio的持续也起一定作用;对应持续时间较短的El Nio事件,西太平洋上200hPa速度势正距平的迅速东移,对El Nio的迅速消亡起重要作用.     

Relationship and its instability of ENSO — Chinese variations in droughts and wet spells

Monthly data of Self-Calibrated Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) from 1951 to 2000 are calculated using historical precipitation and temperature data for Chinese 160 stations. Temporal and spatial patterns of the first empirical orthogonal function (EOF) of the PDSI reveals a fairly linear trend resulting from trends in precipitation and surface temperature, which is similar to the linear PDSI trend during 1951–2000 calculated using all monthly data. The EOF analysis also reveals that the leading mode correlates significantly with ENSO events in time and space. The ENSO EOF shows that during the typical warm phase of ENSO, surface conditions are drier in most regions of China, especially North China, but wetter than normal in the southern regions of Changjiang River, and Northwest China. During the typical cold phase of ENSO, these anomalies reverse sign. From 1951 to 2000, there are large multi-year to decadal variations in droughts and wet spells over China, which are all closely related to strong El Niño events. In other words, when one strong El Niño event happens, there is a possible big variability in droughts and wet spells over China on the multi-year or decadal scale. Studies also suggest that during the last 2–3 decades climate changes over China, especially North China’s drying and northwest China’s wetting, are closely related to the shift in ENSO towards warmer events and global warming since the late 1970s. The instability of the relationship is also studied. It is revealed that there is a good correlation between ENSO and Chinese variations in droughts and wet spells in the 3–8-year band, but the correlation between ENSO and Chinese variations in droughts and wet spells is instable. Studies suggest that there are decadal changes in the correlation: the wavelet coherency between ENSO and Chinese variations in droughts and wet spells is high during 1951–1962 and 1976–1991, but low during 1963–1975 and 1992–2000.     

Conceptual model about the interaction between El Nio/Southern Oscillation and Quasi-Biennial Oscillation in far west equatorial Pacific

In the tropical Pacific region, El Ni?o/Southern Os- (COADS SST from 1945 to 1993) in the eastern cillation (ENSO) and the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation in (150°W-90°W, 5°S-5°N) and the observed SST far west equatorial Pacific (QBOWP) are two most and zonal wind in the far western equatorial Pacific prominent interannual variation phenomena. The for- (120°-140°E, 0°-10°N) (Fig.1), in the eastern Pa- mer is characterized by coupled SST-wind variability cific the period of S…     

平流层爆发性增温对中国天气气候的影响 及其在ENSO影响中的作用

本文通过分析1957~2002年平流层爆发性增温(SSW)的环流特征,研究平流层爆发性增温可能对我国天气气候的影响.平流层爆发性增温发生后平流层高纬地区有异常的环流变化,但是这种变化并不仅局限于平流层内部,其产生的环流异常能够向下传播,并对对流层的天气和气候产生影响.研究发现,平流层出现强爆发性增温后,平流层异常温度场和位势高度场在中、高纬度形成AO型振荡并向下传播,使得对流层低层西伯利亚高压增强、阿留申低压加深,500 hPa东亚大槽加深且偏西,导致东亚冬季风增强,我国北部大部分地区气温偏低.而在爆发性增温前,强行星波扰动使得东亚大槽加深,西伯利亚高压和阿留申低压同时增强,也可能导致东亚冬季风偏强.El Nio可能激发出强行星波,有利于强SSW事件的发生.通过上述的两个过程可能造成东亚冬季风的加强,这将会对"El Nio事件通过对流层过程而引起东亚冬季风减弱"的结论有一定影响. 因此,ENSO事件影响东亚冬季风及中国的天气气候存在不止一种途径,具体影响情况应该是几种途径的综合结果.     

The effect of ENSO on rainfall characteristics in the tropical peatland areas of Central Kalimantan,Indonesia

Abstract

The effect of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on rainfall characteristics in the tropical peatland areas of Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, is demonstrated. This research used rainfall data collected between 1978 and 2008. The results suggest a relationship between ENSO events and the trend in rainfall observed in the study area. Further analyses show that El Niño events have a stronger effect on the rainfall compared to La Niña events. El Niño events were also correlated to the increase in the number of days with less than 1 mm of rainfall in the dry season. The analysis reveals that the impact of El Niño events on rainfall in dry seasons is intensifying annually. Furthermore, ENSO events are not the only factors affecting rainfall trends in the observed area. Other factors, such as deforestation, may also affect the trend.

Editor Z.W. Kundzewicz

Citation Susilo, G.E., Yamamoto, K., Imai, T., Ishii, Y., Fukami, H., and Sekine, M., 2013. The effect of ENSO on rainfall characteristics in the tropical peatland areas of Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 58 (3), 539–548.     

Correlation between El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and precipitation in South‐east Asia and the Pacific region

The relationship between El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events versus precipitation anomalies, and the response of seasonal precipitation to El Niño and La Niña events were investigated for 30 basins that represent a range of climatic types throughout South‐east Asia and the Pacific region. The teleconnection between ENSO and the hydroclimate is tested using both parametric and non‐parametric approaches, and the lag correlations between precipitation anomalies versus the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) several months earlier, as well as the coherence between SOI and precipitation anomalies are estimated. The analysis shows that dry conditions tend to be associated with El Niño in the southern zone, and part of the middle zone in the study area. The link between precipitation anomalies and ENSO is statistically significant in the southern zone and part of the middle zone of the study area, but significant correlation was not observed in the northern zone. Patterns of precipitation response may differ widely among basins, and even the response of a given river basin to individual ENSO events also may be changeable. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

2005—2017年两次强ENSO事件对中国区域陆地水储量变化影响的卫星重力观测

近年来极端气候事件的频发对全球和区域性水循环产生了重大影响,特别是2005—2017年间两次强ENSO(El Nino-Southern Oscillation)事件使得全球陆地水储量出现了较大的年际波动.GRACE(Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment)重力卫星随着数据质量的提高、后处理方法的完善和超过十年的连续观测,捕捉陆地水储量异常的能力明显提高,这为研究2005—2017年间两次强ENSO事件对中国区域陆地水储量变化的影响提供了观测基础.本文综合利用GRACE卫星重力数据、GLDAS水文模型和实测降水资料分析了中国区域陆地水储量年际变化和与ENSO的关系.研究发现:长江流域中、下游地区和东南诸河流域与ENSO存在较高的相关性,与ENSO的相关系数最大值分别为0.55、0.78、0.70,较ENSO分别滞后约7个月、5个月和5个月.其中长江流域下游地区与ENSO的相关性最强,2010/11 La Nina和2015/16 El Nino两次强ENSO事件使得陆地水储量分别发生了约-24.1亿吨和27.9亿吨的波动.在2010/11 La Nina期间,长江流域下游地区和东南诸河流域陆地水储量异常约在2011年4—5月达到谷值,而长江流域中游地区晚1~2月达到谷值.在2015/16 El Nino期间,长江流域中、下游地区和东南诸河流域陆地水储量从2015年9月到2016年7月持续出现正异常信号.其中,2015年秋冬季(2015年9月至2016年1月)陆地水储量异常明显是受此次El Nino同期影响的结果;2016年春季(4—5月)陆地水异常是受到此次厄尔尼诺峰值的滞后影响所致;2016年7月的陆地水储量异常则与西北太平洋存在的异常反气旋环流有关.     

Aquifer responses to El Niño-Southern Oscillation, Southwest British Columbia

We used climatological composite analysis to investigate El Ni?o-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) signals in long-term shallow ground water level observations from four wells in the lower Fraser Valley of British Columbia. Significance of differences between warm-phase, cold-phase, and neutral climate states was assessed with a Monte Carlo bootstrap technique. We also considered time series of local precipitation and streamflow for comparison. Composite annual hyetographs suggest that ENSO precipitation impacts are largely limited to winter and spring, with higher and lower rainfall occurring, respectively, under cold-phase and warm-phase episodes. This is consistent with prior work in the region and is found to be directly reflected in both streamflow and ground water level data. The mean magnitude of ENSO terrestrial hydrologic anomalies can be up to approximately 50% of the average seasonal cycle amplitude. ENSO does not appear to systematically affect annual hydrometeorological cycle timing in this study area. However, relative to the surface hydrologic systems considered, aquifers are observed to retain a stronger memory of seasonal ENSO-related precipitation anomalies, with changes potentially extending through the following summer, presumably reflecting storage effects. Most responses appear to be somewhat nonlinear.     

由TOPEX/Poseidon和Jason-1/2探测的1993—2012中国海海平面时空变化

海平面变化是社会经济发展和科学研究的重要内容.利用1993年1月至2012年12月共20年的TOPEX/Poseidon、Jason-1和Jason-2卫星测高数据,研究中国海海平面的时空变化.首先通过三颗卫星伴飞阶段数据得到三颗卫星之间的逐点海面高系统偏差,进行逐点海面高改正,建立了20年的中国海海面高异常时间序列.分析了中国海海面高异常空间分布,给出了1月到12月月均平均海平面异常的空间变化规律.分析了中国海海面高异常的时变规律,分别给出了年、季度和月的海面上升速率.利用小波分析研究了中国海海面高异常周期变化规律,分别给出了渤海、黄海、东海和南海的海面高变化周期.讨论了ENSO对海面高异常的影响.