Research on Water-Vapor Distribution in the Air over Qilian Mountains

Based on the remote sensing data, the radiosonde data and precipitation data observed by weather stations, distributions of atmospheric water-vapor and cloud motion wind over the Qilian Mountains are analyzed. Moreover, on the basis of water-vapor and cloud motion wind analyses, relations of atmospheric water-vapor distribution with precipitation~ atmospheric circulation, and terrain are investigated. The results show that distributions of atmospheric water-vapor and precipitation in the Qilian Mountains are affected by the westerly belt, the southerly monsoon （the South Asian monsoon and plateau monsoon）, and the East Asian monsoon. In the northwest Qilian Mountains, water-vapor and precipitation are entirely affected by the westerly belt, and there is no other direction water-vapor transport except westerly watervapor flux, hence, the northwest region is regarded as the westerly belt region. In the south and middle of the mountaili, water-vapor is mainly controlled by the southerly monsoon, 37.7% of the total watervapor is from the south, especially in summer, the southerly water-vapor flux accounts for 55.9% of the total, and furthermore the water-vapor content in the southerly flow is more than that in the westerly flow. The southerly monsoon water-vapor is influenced by the South Asian monsoon from the Indian Ocean and the plateau monsoon in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, thus, the south and middle region is called southerly monsoon region. But in the northeast Qilian Mountains, the East Asian monsoon is the main climate system affecting the water-vapor. Besides west and northwest water-vapor fluxes, there are a lot of easterly water-vapor fluxes in summer. The frequency of easterly cloud motion winds in summer half year accounts for 27.1% of the total, though the frequency is not high, it is the main water-vapor source of summer precipitation in this region, therefore, the northwest region is a marginal region of the East Asian monsoon. On the other hand, atmospheric water-vapor, precipitation, and conver     

FURTHER RESEARCH ON MECHANISM OF TBO IN SOUTH ASIAN MONSOON REGION

The results of this study prove that there is significant troposphere biennial oscillation （TBO） in the South Asian climate, especially with the Indian summer monsoon rainfall. In order to explore the mechanism of TBO in the South Asian region, we defined a unified South Asian monsoon index to depict South Asian summer monsoon （SASM） and South Asian winter monsoon （SAWM） and the transition features between SASM and SAWM. Through further analysis, the connection between the abnormity of SASM and SAWM was discovered. Normally, a strong SAWM is beneficial for a weak SASM later, while a weak SAWM favors a strong SASM. Meanwhile, a strong SASM is favorable for a weak SAWM and a weak SAWM always happens after a weak SASM. Such results suggest the evolution of the South Asian monsoon, which may be an important mechanism to excite TBO in South Asia.     

Intermodel Diversity in the Zonal Location of the Climatological East Asian Westerly Jet Core in Summer and Association with Rainfall over East Asia in CMIP5 Models

The East Asian westerly jet(EAJ), an important midlatitude circulation of the East Asian summer monsoon system,plays a crucial role in affecting summer rainfall over East Asia. The multimodel ensemble of current coupled models can generally capture the intensity and location of the climatological summer EAJ. However, individual models still exhibit large discrepancies. This study investigates the intermodel diversity in the longitudinal location of the simulated summer EAJ climatology in the present-day climate and its implications for rainfall over East Asia based on 20 CMIP5 models. The results show that the zonal location of the simulated EAJ core is located over either the midlatitude Asian continent or the western North Pacific(WNP) in different models. The zonal shift of the EAJ core depicts a major intermodel diversity of the simulated EAJ climatology. The westward retreat of the EAJ core is related to a warmer mid–upper tropospheric temperature in the midlatitudes, with a southwest–northeast tilt extending from Southwest Asia to Northeast Asia and the northern North Pacific, induced partially by the simulated stronger rainfall climatology over South Asia. The zonal shift of the EAJ core has some implications for the summer rainfall climatology, with stronger rainfall over the East Asian continent and weaker rainfall over the subtropical WNP in relation to the westward-located EAJ core.     

TYPICAL STRONG AND WEAK SOUTH ASIAN SUMMER MONSOON YEARS AND SEA SURFACE TEMPERATURE OF ARABIAN SEA

1 INTRODUCTIONThe South Asian Summer Monsoon (SASM) is animportant member of the monsoon system for Asia. It ismade up of low-level subsystems of the Mascarenehigh in the Southern Hemisphere, cross-equatorialSomali jet stream, 850-hPa westerly jet over theArabian Sea,Indian monsoon trough north of the Bayof Bengal through west India and upper-level tropicaleasterly jet centered at 5°N and South Asia highcentered at 30°N[1]. During the summer monsoon,convection is intense in Sou…     

THE ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE SUBSYSTEMS OF THE ASIAN SUMMER MONSOON

In this study, the relationship between the subsystems of Asian summer monsoon is analyzed using U.S. National Centers for Environmental Protection/National Center for Atmospheric Research reanalysis and Climate Prediction Center Merged Analysis of Precipitation monthly mean precipitation data. The results showed that there is significant correlation between the subsystems of Asian summer monsoon. The changes of intensity over the same period show that weak large-scale Asian monsoon, Southeast Asia monsoon and South Asian monsoon are associated with strong East Asian monsoon and decreasing rainfall in related areas. And when the large-scale Asian monsoon is strong, Southeast Asia and South Asia monsoons will be strong and precipitation will increase. While the Southeast Asia monsoon is strong, the South Asia monsoon is weak and the rainfall of South Asia is decreasing, and vice versa. The various subsystems are significantly correlated for all periods of intensity changes.     

The Dynamic Plateau Monsoon Index and Its Association with General Circulation Anomalies

Based on monthly ECMWF reanalysis-Interim(ERA-Interim) reanalysis data,along with monthly precipitation and temperature data,the Dynamic Plateau Monsoon Index(DPMI) is defined.The results of a contrast analysis of the DPMI versus the Traditional Plateau Monsoon Index(TPMI) are described.The response of general circulation to northern Qinghai-Xizang Plateau summer monsoon anomalies and the correlation of the DPMI with general circulation anomalies are investigated.The results show that,the DPMI reflected meteorological elements better and depicted climate variation more accurately than the TPMI.In years when the plateau summer monsoon is strong,the low over the plateau and the trough near the eastern coast of Asia are deeper and higher than normal over South China.This correlation corresponds to two anomalous cyclones over the plateau and the eastern coast of Asia and an anomalous anticyclone in South China.The plateau and its adjacent regions are affected by anomalous southwesterly winds that transport more moisture to South China and cause more precipitation.The lower reaches of the Yangtze River appear to receive more precipitation by means of the strong westerly water vapor flow transported from the "large triangle affecting the region".In years when the plateau summer monsoon is weak,these are opposite.The plateau monsoon is closely related to the intensity and position of the South Asian high,and the existence of a teleconnection pattern in the mid-upper levels suggests a possible linkage of the East Asian monsoon and the Indian monsoon to the plateau summer monsoon.     

Variations of the summer Somali and Australia cross-equatorial flows and the implications for the Asian summer monsoon

The temporal variations during 1948-2010 and vertical structures of the summer Somali and Australia cross-equatorial flows(CEFs) and the implications for the Asian summer monsoon were explored in this study.The strongest southerly and northerly CEFs exist at 925 hPa and 150 hPa level,respectively.The low-level Somali(LLS) CEFs were significantly connected with the rainfall in most regions of India(especially the monsoon regions),except in a small area in southwest India.In comparison to the climatology,the lowlevel Australia(LLA) CEFs exhibited stronger variations at interannual time scale and are more closely connected to the East Asian summer monsoon circulation than to the LLS CEFs.The East Asian summer monsoon circulation anomalies related to stronger LLA CEFs were associated with less water vapor content and less rainfall in the region between the middle Yellow River and Yangtze River and with more water vapor and more rainfall in southern China.The sea-surface temperature anomalies east of Australia related to summer LLA CEFs emerge in spring and persist into summer,with implications for the seasonal prediction of summer rainfall in East Asia.The connection between the LLA CEFs and East Asian summer monsoon rainfall may be partly due to its linkage with El Nino-Southern Oscillation.In addition,both the LLA and LLS CEFs exhibited interdecadal shifts in the late 1970s and the late 1990s,consistent with the phase shifts of Pacific Decadal Oscillation(PDO).     

Atmospheric circulation characteristics associated with the onset of Asian summer monsoon

The onset of the Asian summer monsoon has been a focus in the monsoon study for many years. In this paper, we study the variability and predictability of the Asian summer monsoon onset and demonstrate that this onset is associated with specific atmospheric circulation characteristics. The outbreak of the Asian summer monsoon is found to occur first over the southwestern part of the South China Sea (SCS) and the Malay Peninsula region, and the monsoon onset is closely related to intra-seasonal oscillations in the lower atmosphere. These intra-seasonal oscillations consist of two low-frequency vortex pairs, one located to the east of the Philippines and the other over the tropical eastern Indian Ocean. Prior to the Asian summer monsoon onset, a strong low-frequency westerly emerges over the equatorial Indian Ocean and the low-frequency vortex pair develops symmetrically along the equator. The formation and evolution of these low-frequency vortices are important and serve as a good indicator for the Asian summer monsoon onset. The relationship between the northward jumps of the westerly jet over East Asia and the Asian summer monsoon onset over SCS is investigated. It is shown that the northward jump of the westerly jet occurs twice during the transition from winter to summer and these jumps are closely related to the summer monsoon development. The first northward jump (from 25–28N to around 30N) occurs on 8 May on average, about 7 days ahead of the summer monsoon onset over the SCS. It is found that the reverse of meridional temperature gradient in the upper-middle troposphere (500–200 hPa) and the enhancement and northward movement of the subtropical jet in the Southern Hemispheric subtropics are responsible for the first northward jump of the westerly jet.     

Current Progresses in Study of Impacts of the Tibetan Plateau on Asian Summer Climate

The current progresses in the study of impacts of the Tibetan Plateau on Asian summer climate in the last decade are reviewed. By analyzing evolution of the transitional zone between westerly to the north and easterly to the south (WEB), it is shown that due to the strong heating over the Tibetan Plateau in spring, the overturning in the prevailing wind direction from easterly in winter to westerly in summer occurs firstly over the eastern Bay of Bengal (BOB), accompanied with vigorous convective precipitation to its east. The area between eastern BOB and western Indo-China Peninsula thus becomes the area with the earliest onset of Asian monsoon, which may be referred as BOB monsoon in short. It is shown that the summertime circulations triggered by the thermal forcing of the Iranian Plateau and the Tibetan Plateau are embedded in phase with the continental-scale circulation forced by the diabatic heating over the Eurasian Continent. As a result, the East Asian summer monsoon is intensified and the drought climate over the western and central Asian areas is enhanced. Together with perturbations triggered by the Tibetan Plateau, the above scenarios and the associated heating have important influences on the climate patterns over Asia. Furthermore, the characteristics of the Tibetan mode of the summertime South Asian high are compared with those of Iranian mode. Results demonstrate that corresponding to each of the bimodality of the South Asian high, the rainfall anomaly distributions over Asia exhibit different patterns.     

Differences and Links between the East Asian and South Asian Summer Monsoon Systems: Characteristics and Variability

This paper analyzes the differences in the characteristics and spatio–temporal variabilities of summertime rainfall and water vapor transport between the East Asian summer monsoon(EASM) and South Asian summer monsoon(SASM) systems. The results show obvious differences in summertime rainfall characteristics between these two monsoon systems. The summertime rainfall cloud systems of the EASM show a mixed stratiform and cumulus cloud system, while cumulus cloud dominates the SASM. These differences may be caused by differences in the vertical shear of zonal and meridional circulations and the convergence of water vapor transport fluxes. Moreover, the leading modes of the two systems' summertime rainfall anomalies also differ in terms of their spatiotemporal features on the interannual and interdecadal timescales. Nevertheless, several close links with respect to the spatiotemporal variabilities of summertime rainfall and water vapor transport exist between the two monsoon systems. The first modes of summertime rainfall in the SASM and EASM regions reveal a significant negative correlation on the interannual and the interdecadal timescales. This close relationship may be linked by a meridional teleconnection in the regressed summertime rainfall anomalies from India to North China through the southeastern part over the Tibetan Plateau, which we refer to as the South Asia/East Asia teleconnection pattern of Asian summer monsoon rainfall. The authors wish to dedicate this paper to Prof. Duzheng YE, and commemorate his 100 thanniversary and his great contributions to the development of atmospheric dynamics.     

CAUSATION ANALYSIS OF THE DIRECT CLIMATE EFFECTS OF ANTHROPOGENIC AEROSOL ON EAST-ASIAN SUMMER MONSOON

A regional climate model coupled with an aerosol model is employed to numerically simulate the direct climate effects of the anthropogenic aerosol emitted in South Asia and China in the East Asian summer monsoon during 1988 to 2009. Based on the data of the numerical simulation, composite analysis and correlation analysis are used to make diagnostic study of climate dynamics. Results show that the month of maximum emission of the mean column burden of the anthropogenic aerosol in the main emission areas of South Asia is opposite in phase to that in China. Summer is the season of maximum emission amount in China, but the emission amounts are more in South Asia in spring and winter. On the whole, the mean column burden of the anthropogenic aerosol in China is relatively high compared with that in South Asia. The trend of distribution of aerosol is SW-NE in China, and Sichuan Basin is the emission center of aerosol. The effect of negative short wave radiative forcing alters the gradient of pressure between land and sea, weakening the development of East Asian summer monsoon over the northern part of Yangtze-Huaihe River Basin. We also discuss the feedback effect of East-Asian summer monsoon which is changed by the anthropogenic aerosol on the concentration and distribution of aerosol in China.     

Simulation of Asian Monsoon Seasonal Variations with Climate Model R42L9／LASG

The seasonal variations of the Asian monsoon were explored by applying the atmospheric general circulation model R42L9 that was developed recently at the State Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (LASG/IAP/CAS). The 20-yr (1979-1998) simulation was done using the prescribed 20-yr monthly SST and sea-ice data as required by Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project (AMIP)Ⅱ in the model. The monthly precipitation and monsoon circulations were analyzed and compared with the observations to validate the model‘s performance in simulating the climatological mean and seasonal variations of the Asian monsoon. The results show that the model can capture the main features of the spatial distribution and the temporal evolution of precipitation in the Indian and East Asian monsoon areas. The model also reproduced the basic patterns of monsoon circulation. However, some biases exis tin this model. The simulation of the heating over the Tibetan Plateau in summer was too strong. The overestimated heating caused a stronger East Asian monsoon and a weaker Indian monsoon than the observations. In the circulation fields, the South Asia high was stronger and located over the Tibetan Plateau. The western Pacific subtropical high was extended westward, which is in accordance with the observational results when the heating over the Tibetan Plateau is stronger. Consequently, the simulated rainfall around this area and in northwest China was heavier than in observations, but in the Indian monsoon area and west Pacific the rainfall was somewhat deficient.     

Monsoon Change in East Asia in the 21st Century: Results of RegCM3

The authors investigate monsoon change in East Asia in the 21st century under the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios (SRES) A1B scenario using the results of a regional climate model, RegCM3, with a high horizontal resolution. First, the authors evaluate the model’s performance compared with NCEP-NCAR reanalysis data, showing that the model can reliably reproduce the basic climatology of both winter and summer monsoons over East Asia. Next, it is found that the winter monsoon in East Asia would slightly weaken in the 21st century with spatial differences. Over northern East China, anomalous southerly winds would dominate in the mid-and late-21st century because the zonal land-sea thermal contrast is expected to become smaller, due to a stronger warming trend over land than over ocean. However, the intensity of the summer monsoon in East Asia shows a statistically significant upward trend over this century because the zonal land-sea thermal contrast between East Asia and the western North Pacific would become larger, which, in turn, would lead to larger sea level pressure gradients throughout East Asia and extending to the adjacent ocean.     

Possible Impacts of the Arctic Oscillation on the Interdecadal Variation of Summer Monsoon Rainfall in East Asia

The influences of the wintertime AO (Arctic Oscillation) on the interdecadal variation of summer monsoon rainfall in East Asia were examined. An interdecadal abrupt change was found by the end of the 1970s in the variation of the AO index and the leading principal component time series of the summer rainfall in East Asia, The rainfall anomaly changed from below normal to above normal in central China, the southern part of northeastern China and the Korean peninsula around 1978. However,the opposite interdecadal variation was found in the rainfall anomaly in North China and South China.The interdecadal variation of summer rainfall is associated with the weakening of the East Asia summer monsoon circulation. It is indicated that the interdecadal variation of the AO exerts an influence on the weakening of the monsoon circulation. The recent trend in the AO toward its high-index polarity during the past two decades plays important roles in the land-sea contrast anomalies and wintertime precipitation anomaly. The mid- and high-latitude regions of the Asian continent are warming, while the low-latitude regions are cooling in winter and spring along with the AO entering its high-index polarity after the late 1970s. In the meantime, the precipitation over the Tibetan Plateau and South China is excessive, implying an increase of soil moisture. The cooling tendency of the land in the southern part of Asia will persist until summer because of the memory of soil moisture. So the warming of the Asian continent is relatively slow in summer. Moreover, the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean which are located southward and eastward of the Asian land, are warming from winter to summer. This suggests that the contrast between the land and sea is decreased in summer. The interdecadal decrease of the land-sea heat contrast finally leads to the weakening of the East Asia summer monsoon circulation.     

Influence of soil moisture in eastern China on the East Asian summer monsoon

The sensitivity of the East Asian summer monsoon to soil moisture anomalies over China was investigated based on ensembles of seasonal simulations(March–September) using the NCEP GCM coupled with the Simplified Simple Biosphere Model(NCEP GCM/SSi B). After a control experiment with free-running soil moisture, two ensembles were performed in which the soil moisture over the vast region from the lower and middle reaches of the Yangtze River valley to North China(YRNC) was double and half that in the control, with the maximum less than the field capacity. The simulation results showed significant sensitivity of the East Asian summer monsoon to wet soil in YRNC. The wetter soil was associated with increased surface latent heat flux and reduced surface sensible heat flux. In turn, these changes resulted in a wetter and colder local land surface and reduced land–sea temperature gradients, corresponding to a weakened East Asian monsoon circulation in an anomalous anticyclone over southeastern China, and a strengthened East Asian trough southward over Northeast China. Consequently, less precipitation appeared over southeastern China and North China and more rainfall over Northeast China. The weakened monsoon circulation and strengthened East Asian trough was accompanied by the convergence of abnormal northerly and southerly flow over the Yangtze River valley, resulting in more rainfall in this region.In the drier soil experiments, less precipitation appeared over YRNC. The East Asian monsoon circulation seems to show little sensitivity to dry soil anomalies in NCEP GCM/SSi B.     

Change in Sea Ice Cover is Responsible for Non-Uniform Variation in Winter Temperature over East Asia

Observed winter(December–February)surface air temperature over East Asia(0°–60°N,100–140°E)(TEA)shows non-uniform variation during 1979–2013,with cooling and weak warming north and south of40°N.To understand this,the authors perform statistical analysis(linear regression and composite)on the observed data.The results suggest that reduced(increased)autumn sea ice cover in the Barents-Kara Sea(BK-ASIC)lowers(warms)TEA over northern East Asia,which is consistent with previous studies.In comparison,increased(decreased)winter sea ice cover in the Sea of Okhotsk(O-WSIC),warms(cools)the air over southern East Asia.The mechanism can be described as follows:When the BK-ASIC decreases,the East Asian winter monsoon tends to be stronger with an intensified Siberian high,leading to cooling over northern East Asia.An O-WSIC increase is associated with cold anomalies north of 50°N,altering the meridional temperature gradient between the midlatitudes and tropics,and leading to a northward shift of the East Asian jet steam in the upper troposphere.In the low atmosphere,anomalous northeasterly winds prevail north of50°N and anomalous southerly winds control the southern coast of East Asia,contributing to the weak warming over southern East Asia.Version 3 of the Community Atmosphere Model also provides evidence for the impact of increased O-WSIC on the warm southern mode of TEA.     

A FURTHER STUDY ON INTERACTION BETWEEN ANOMALOUS WINTER MONSOON IN EAST ASIA AND EL NINO

The interaction between anomalous winter monsoon in East Asia and El Nino is further stud-ied in this paper.The new results still more proved a previous conclusion:there are clear interac-tions between El Nino and winter monsoon in East Asia.The continual westerly burst andstronger cumulus convection over the equatorial central-western Pacific caused by stronger wintermonsoon in East Asia can respectively excite anomalous oceanic Kelvin wave and stronger atmo-spheric intraseasonal oscillation in the tropics,then excite the El Nino event through air-sea inter-action.In El Nino winter,there are warmer and weaker winter monsoons in East Asia.The El Ni-no will still reduce the intensity of intraseasonal oscillation and leads it to be barotropic structure.     

Recent Advances in Understanding Multi-scale Climate Variability of the Asian Monsoon

Studies of the multi-scale climate variability of the Asian monsoon are essential to an advanced understanding of the physical processes of the global climate system. In this paper, the progress achieved in this field is systematically reviewed,with a focus on the past several years. The achievements are summarized into the following topics:(1) the onset of the South China Sea summer monsoon;(2) the East Asian summer monsoon;(3) the East Asian winter monsoon; and(4) the Indian summer monsoon. Sp...     

ASIAN-PACIFIC OSCILLATION IN AUTUMN AND ITS RELATIONSHIPS WITH THE SUBTROPICAL MONSOON IN EAST ASIA

Based on the 1961-2010 NCEP/NCAR reanalysis, this work uses empirical orthogonal function(EOF) and composite analysis to study the distributions of zonal land-sea thermal contrast between Asia and the Pacific during transitions from the summer monsoon to the winter monsoon in East Asian subtropics, and investigates the interannual variations of the thermal contrast and their relationships with circulation systems over the East Asian subtropics. The findings are as follows. 1) In autumn, the interannual variations of the temperature deviation in the middle and upper troposphere show significant east-west out-of-phase teleconnection over Asia and the central and eastern Pacific, i.e. the Asian-Pacific Oscillation, or APO. 2) While not as significant as in summer with regard to coverage and intensity, the APO shows interannual variations in autumn that well depicts the change in the intensity of the subtropical monsoon. In the high(low) APO year, the current subtropical summer monsoon is strong(weak) and the winter monsoon is weak(strong) in East Asia as derived from the general circulation and wind field of the East Asian-Pacific region.     

The interannual variation in monthly temperature over Northeast China during summer

The interannual variations of summer surface air temperature over Northeast China （NEC） were investigated through a month-to-month analysis from May to August. The results suggested that the warmer temperature over NEC is related to a local positive 500-hPa geopotential height anomaly for all four months. However, the teleconnection patterns of atmospheric circulation anomalies associated with the monthly surface air temperature over NEC behave as a distinguished subseasonal variation, although the local positive height anomaly is common from month to month. In May and June, the teleconnection pattern is characterized by a wave train in the upper and middle troposphere from the Indian Peninsula to NEC. This wave train is stronger in June than in May, possibly due to the positive feedback between the wave train and the South Asian rainfall anomaly in June, when the South Asian summer monsoon has been established. In July and August, however, the teleconnection pattern associated with the NEC temperature anomalies is characterized by an East Asia/Pacific （EAP） or Pacific/Japan （PJ） pattern, with the existence of precipitation anomalies over the Philippine Sea and the South China Sea. This pattern is much clearer in July corresponding to the stronger convection over the Philippine Sea compared to that in August.