Future change of extreme temperature climate indices over East Asia with uncertainties estimation in the CMIP5

How well the climate models simulate extreme temperature over East Asia and how the extreme indices would change under anthropogenic global warming are investigated. The indices studied include hot days (HD), tropical nights (TN), growing degree days (GDD), and cooling degree days (CDD) in summer and heating degree days (HDD) and frost days (FD) in winter. The representative concentration pathway 4.5 (RCP 4.5) experiments for the period of 2075–2099 are compared with historical simulations for the period of 1979–2005 from 15 coupled models that are participated in phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP5). To optimally estimate future change and its uncertainty, groups of best models are selected based on Taylor diagrams, relative entropy, and probability density function (PDF) methods previously suggested. Overall, the best models’ multi-model ensemble based on Taylor diagrams has the lowest errors in reproducing temperature extremes in the present climate among three methods. Selected best models in three methods tend to project considerably different changes in the extreme indices from each other, indicating that the selection of reliable models are of critical importance to reduce uncertainties. Three groups of best models show significant increase of summerbased indices but decrease of the winter-based indices. Over East Asia, the most significant increase is seen in the HD (336 ± 23.4% of current climate) and the most significant decrease is appeared in the HDD (82 ± 4.2%). It is suggested that the larger future change in the HD is found over in the Southeastern China region, probably due to a higher local maximum temperature in the present climate. All of the indices show the largest uncertainty over Southeastern China, particularly in the TN (~3.9 times as large as uncertainty over East Asia) and in the HD (~2.4). It is further noted that the TN reveals the largest uncertainty over three East Asian countries (~1.7 and 1.4 over Korea and Japan, respectively). These future changes in extreme temperature events have an important implication for energy-saving applications and human molarity in the future.     

Distribution of seasonal rainfall in the East Asian monsoon region

Summary ?This study deals with the climatological aspect of seasonal rainfall distribution in the East Asian monsoon region, which includes China, Korea and Japan. Rainfall patterns in these three countries have been investigated, but little attention has been paid to the linkages between them. This paper has contributed to the understanding of the inter-linkage of various sub-regions. Three datasets are used. One consists of several hundred gauges from China and South Korea. The second is based on the Climate Prediction Center (CPC) Merged Analysis of Precipitation (CMAP). The two sources of precipitation information are found to be consistent. The third dataset is the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis 850-hPa winds. The CMAP precipitation shows that the seasonal transition over East Asia from the boreal winter to the boreal summer monsoon component occurs abruptly in mid-May. From late March to early May, the spring rainy season usually appears over South China and the East China Sea, but it is not so pronounced in Japan. The summer monsoon rainy season over East Asia commonly begins from mid-May to late May along longitudes of eastern China, the Korean Peninsula, and Japan. A strong quasi-20-day sub-seasonal oscillation in the precipitation appears to be dominant during this rainy season. The end date of the summer monsoon rainy season in eastern China and Japan occurs in late July, while the end date in the Korean Peninsula is around early August. The autumn rainy season in the Korean Peninsula has a major range from mid-August to mid-September. In southern China, the autumn rainy season prevails from late August to mid-October but a short autumn rainy season from late August to early September is noted in the lower part of the Yangtze River. In Japan, the autumn rainy season is relatively longer from mid-September to late October. The sub-seasonal rainfall oscillation in Korea, eastern China and Japan are explained by, and comparable to, the 850-hPa circulation. The strong westerly frontal zone can control the location of the Meiyu, the Changma, and the Baiu in East Asia. The reason that the seasonal sea surface temperature change in the northwestern Pacific plays a critical role in the northward advance of the onset of the summer monsoon rainfall over East Asia is also discussed. Received October 5, 2001; revised April 23, 2002; accepted May 11, 2002     

Aerosol properties at gosan in Korea during two pollution episodes caused by contrasting weather conditions

We analyzed aerosol optical and chemical properties over Northeast Asia for two pollution episodes caused by contrasting weather conditions, stagnant anticyclone (November, 2011) and fastmoving continental outflow associated with migratory cyclone/anticyclone (February, 2003). Pollution levels were significantly high and even comparable with heavily polluted urban cities in China and Korea even though these levels were from the episodic measurements since Gosan is an internationally well-known remote background site. Space-borne MODIS measurements clearly show that the pollution plume with high aerosol optical depth (AOD) overlaid and very slowly moved over Northeast Asia during the stagnation episode. On the other hand, a strong synoptic wind transported the plume from eastern China to its downwind regions during the continental outflow episode. The two pollution episodes showed discriminative aerosol chemical compositions associated with different source characteristics. Concentrations of nss (non-sea-salt)-sulfates and ammonium in the continental outflow episode were almost two times higher than those in the stagnation episode due to the influence of anthropogenic emissions from China. A higher fraction of nitrate, accompanied with an increase of carbonaceous species in the stagnation episode, was attributable to vehicular emissions originated from Korea.     

不同区域气候模式对中国地区温度和降水的长期模拟比较

利用亚洲区域模式比较计划RMIP第二阶段五个区域模式和一个变网格全球模式，对中国地区1988年12月～1998年11月十年模拟的平均温度和降水结果，分析比较了不同区域气候模式对中国地区温度和降水的模拟能力。研究结果表明:几乎所有模式都能模拟出中国地区多年平均温度和降水的基本空间分布形态，但模式模拟的温度普遍偏低，在大部分区域，大多数模式模拟的降水偏多，而且不同模式之间存在较大差别。模式能较好地反映出中国地区温度的年际变化，对夏季降水的年际变化模拟较差，对冬季模拟较好。     

Assessment of future climate change over East Asia due to the RCP scenarios downscaled by GRIMs-RMP

This study assesses future climate change over East Asia using the Global/Regional Integrated Model system—Regional Model Program (RMP). The RMP is forced by two types of future climate scenarios produced by the Hadley Center Global Environmental Model version 2 (HG2); the representative concentration pathways (RCP) 4.5 and 8.5 scenarios for the intergovernmental panel on climate change fifth assessment report (AR5). Analyses for the current (1980–2005) climate are performed to evaluate the RMP’s ability to reproduce precipitation and temperature. Two different future (2006–2050) simulations are compared with the current climatology to investigate the climatic change over East Asia centered in Korea. The RMP satisfactorily reproduces the observed seasonal mean and variation of precipitation and temperature. The spatial distribution of the simulated large-scale features and precipitation by the RMP is generally less reflective of current climatic conditions than that is given by the HG2, but their inter-annual variations in East Asia are better captured by the RMP. Furthermore, the RMP shows higher reproducibility of climate extremes including excessive heat wave and precipitation events over South Korea. In the future, strong warming is distinctly coupled with intensified monsoonal precipitation over East Asia. In particular, extreme weather conditions are increased and intensified over South Korea as follows: (1) The frequency of heat wave events with temperature greater than 30 °C is projected to increase by 131 and 111 % in the RCP 8.5 and 4.5 downscaling, relative to the current climate. (2) The RCP 8.5 downscaling shows the frequency and variability of heavy rainfall to increase by 24 and 31.5 %, respectively, while the statistics given by the RCP 4.5 downscaling are similar to those of the current climate.     

Variability and teleconnections of South and East Asian summer monsoons in present and future projections of CMIP5 climate models

Coupled Model Inter-comparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) model outputs of the South and East Asian summer monsoon variability and their tele-connections are investigated using historical simulations (1861-2005) and future projections under the RCP4.5 scenario (2006-2100). Detailed analyses are performed using nine models having better representation of the recent monsoon teleconnections for the interactive Asian monsoon sub-systems. However, these models underestimate rainfall mainly over South Asia and Korea-Japan sector, the regions of heavy rainfall, along with a bias in location of rainfall maxima. Indeed, the simulation biases, underestimations of monsoon variability and teleconnections suggest further improvements for better representation of Asian monsoon in the climate models. Interestingly, the performance of Australian Community Climate and Earth System Simulator version 1.0 (ACCESS1.0) in simulating the annual cycle, spatial pattern of rainfall and multi-decadal variations of summer monsoon rainfall over South and East Asia appears to more realistic. In spite of large spread among the CMIP5 models, historical simulations as well as future projections of summer monsoon rainfall indicate multi-decadal variability. These rainfall variations, displaying certain epochs of more rainfall over South Asia than over East Asia and vice versa, suggest an oscillatory behaviour. Teleconnections between South and East Asian monsoon rainfall also exhibit a multi-decadal variation with alternate epochs of strengthening and weakening relationship. Furthermore, large-scale circulation features such as South Asian monsoon trough and north Pacific subtropical high depict zonal oscillatory behaviour with east-west-east shifts. Periods with eastward or westward extension of the Mascarene High, intensification and expansion of the upper tropospheric South Asian High are also projected by the CMIP5 models.     

东亚夏季风异常活动的空间多模态特征

利用ERA40再分析资料,采用相关、合成、自然正交函数展开（EOF分析）等方法,探讨了东亚地区夏季风活动的多空间模态特征及其与大气环流异常的可能联系。结果表明：1）东亚夏季风活动存在3种差异明显的典型空间模态。第一模态反映了夏季风活动在我国东部沿海及以东洋面与其以西地区的反相变化,主要体现了夏季风活动主体位置的东西变动;第二模态反映了自我国华南,经长江中下游、山东半岛、渤海湾至我国东北及朝鲜半岛一带夏季风活动的一致性变化,体现了东亚夏季风活动的整体强弱;第三模态主要反映了夏季风活动在中国以东洋面、朝鲜半岛、东北亚一带与我国华南地区的反相变化,主要体现了夏季风活动主体位置的南北移动。2）东亚夏季风活动的多空间模态对应的大气环流异常存在显著差异。东亚夏季风第一空间模态与亚洲南部区域以及鄂霍次克海上空的SLP呈负相关,而与北极极区、贝加尔湖地区及日本以东洋面的SLP呈正相关;而与同期500hPa高度场的相关分布主要表现为自极地经鄂霍次克海至日本以东洋面的“＋-＋”的波列分布特征。第二模态与SLP和500hPa高度场的相关分布具有非常相似的空间分布形势,均表现为东北、朝鲜半岛、日本海一带与菲律宾洋面、鄂霍次克海地区的反位相分布,自低纬向高纬呈现“＋-＋”的波列分布特征。第三模态与SLP和500hPa高度场的相关分布,主要表现为菲律宾附近洋面、日本及以东洋面、贝加尔湖到亚洲北部的负正相间的分布形势。     

The simulation of aerosol transport over East Asia region

This study was carried out to understand the contribution of PM10 from China emission to Seoul Metropolitan Area (SMA) during high concentration period in January, 2007. The hourly PM10 concentration in Seoul Metropolitan Area had reached up to over 150 μg/m³ on 17th and 23rd of January in 2007. The aerosol transports from China along the Northwestern wind becomes the background concentrations in Korea and the assessment of the amount of contribution from China is very important in managing the air quality improvement plan in SMA.The U.S. EPA's Models-3/CMAQ (Community Multiscale Air Quality) was used to simulate PM10 concentration. The CMAQ performance was evaluated by comparing with the measurements in SMA for the episode period. The predictions were relatively in a good agreement with the measurements.The results show that the PM10 transport from China to Korea is significant and its contribution reaches up to 80% in the episode period. In order to assess more extensively the aerosol transport in East Asia region, the study to run the model in full year with speciated PM component measurements in super site is underway.     

Consistent responses of East Asian summer mean rainfall to global warming in CMIP5 simulations

East Asia summer rainfall is of great social–economic importance. Based on observations, reanalysis and simulations of 16 Coupled Models Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5) models, the responses of East Asia summer precipitation, as well as some relevant features, to global warming are investigated. The CMIP5 historical simulation reasonably reproduces the climatology of summer rainfall, the associated circulation, the moisture and its transportation, and the mid-troposphere horizontal advection of temperature as well. Under global warming, the rainfall enhancement is robustly projected in the state-of-the-art models over North China, Northeast China, northern coast of Japan and the Kuroshio. As well, the total summer rainfall over East Asia is consistently increased in the models. For the consistent responses, the moisture budget analysis based on the simulations shows that two factors are responsible: one is increased moisture. As East Asia is a climatological ascent region in northern summer, increased moisture induced by global warming leads to more moisture transported upward and thus the rainfall rise. The other is enhanced evaporation, which may be caused by surface warming and provides more precipitable water to the atmosphere column. Furthermore, the results may provide some implications to the long-term variability of East Asia summer rainfall over the last several decades.     

Projected change in East Asian summer monsoon precipitation under RCP scenario

Future changes in East Asian summer monsoon precipitation climatology, frequency, and intensity are analyzed using historical climate simulations and future climate simulations under the RCP4.5 scenario using the World Climate Research Programme’s (WCRP) Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 5 (CMIP5) multi-model dataset. The model reproducibility is evaluated, and well performance in the present-day climate simulation can be obtained by most of the studied models. However, underestimation is obvious over the East Asian region for precipitation climatology and precipitation intensity, and overestimation is observed for precipitation frequency. The overestimation of precipitation frequency is mainly due to the large positive bias of the light precipitation (precipitation <10 mm/day) days, and the underestimation of precipitation intensity is mainly caused by the negative bias of the intense precipitation (precipitation >10 mm/day) intensity. For the future climate simulations, simple multi-model ensemble (MME) averages using all of the models show increases in precipitation and its intensity over almost all of East Asia, while the precipitation frequency is projected to decrease over eastern China and around Japan and increase in other regions. When the weighted MME is considered, no large difference can be observed compared with the simple MME. For the MME using the six best models that have good performance in simulating the present-day climate, the future climate changes over East Asia are very similar to those predicted using all of the models. Further analysis shows that the frequency and intensity of intense precipitation events are also projected to significantly increase over East Asia. Increases in precipitation frequency and intensity are the main contributors to increases in precipitation, and the contribution of frequency increases (contributed by 40.8 % in the near future and by 58.9 % by the end of the twenty-first century) is much larger than that of intensity increases (contributed by 29.9 % in the near future and by 30.1 % by the end of the twenty-first century). This finding also implies an increased risk of intense precipitation events over the East Asian region under global warming scenario. These results regarding future climate simulations show much greater reliability than those using CMIP3 simulations.     

CSIRO Mk3.6.0模式及其驱动下RegCM4.4模式对中国气候变化的预估

使用区域气候模式RegCM4.4,对全球模式CSIRO-Mk3.6.0在RCP4.5情景下的气候变化试验结果（1950-2100年）在东亚地区进行25 km动力降尺度试验,比较了CSIRO-Mk3.6.0和RegCM4.4预估中国地区的21世纪气候变化。结果表明,两个模式预估未来中国地区气温持续升高,升温幅度具有区域性特征,RegCM4.4预估区域平均升温幅度低于CSIRO-Mk3.6.0,但二者年际波动基本一致。两个模式预估未来降水在中国西部以持续增加为主,东部则表现出较大的不一致性,预估区域平均年降水量变化不大,呈现冬季明显增加,夏季微弱减少的特点。此外,为了解区域气候模式对中国降水预估的不确定性,对本研究和以往RegCM3使用相同分辨率模拟得到的未来降水预估进行了对比,两个区域模式预估中国西部大部分地区未来降水一致性增加,东部存在明显不一致（冬季中、高纬除外）。     

Assessment of the changes in extreme vulnerability over East Asia due to global warming

A number of indices have been employed to describe weather extremes on the basis of climate regimes and public concerns. In this study, we combined these traditional indices into four groups according to whether they relate to warm (T_warm), cold (T_cold), wet (P_wet), or dry (P_dry) extremes. Analysis of the combined indices calculated for the daily temperatures and precipitation at 750 meteorological stations in Korea, China, and Japan for 1960s?C2000s shows increasing trends in T_warm and P_dry events and decreasing trends in T_cold events in recent decades, particularly in the northern part of East Asia. A notable regional variation is an increase in the P_wet events in the Korean Peninsula. We applied the same analysis to a 200-year global climate model simulation for 1900?C2099 using the National Center for Atmospheric Research-Community Climate System Model 3. During the 20th century, the changes in T_warm and T_cold calculated from the model data are largely consistent with those calculated from the observations, especially in northern East Asia. The model projections for the 21st century indicate statistically significant increasing T_warm and decreasing T_cold trends in extreme events over the region. Results obtained from historical archives and model simulations using our combined weather extreme indices suggest that northern East Asia will be subject to increased warm and dry extremes and the Korea Peninsula will experience more wet extremes.     

Numerical study of 1998 late summer flood in East Asia

The Purdue Regional Model (PRM) is applied to study the evolution of regional climate and weather systems during the heavy precipitation over Korea and China between 30 July and 18 August 1998. The results show that heavy rainfall along the Mei-yu and Changma front was due to the combination of: (1) an anomalous 850 hPa subtropical high, (2) a stronger baroclinicity around 40°N over eastern Asia and a low pressure located to the north of the front, and (3) an excessive evaporation from abnormal wet, warm land. The precipitation ended by 18 August when the subtropical high had retreated and the low pressure in Mongolia moved away from Asia continent. The model reproduced in great detail the observed baroclinic waves to the north, subtropical high and low-level jet to the south, and the front with heavy precipitation extending from southern China, and the Korean peninsula to Japan. High correlations are found for mass, momentum, and moisture fields between model simulation and the European Center for Medium Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) reanalysis for the 20-day means.     

The simulation of aerosol transport over East Asia region

This study was carried out to understand the contribution of PM10 from China emission to Seoul Metropolitan Area (SMA) during high concentration period in January, 2007. The hourly PM10 concentration in Seoul Metropolitan Area had reached up to over 150 μg/m³ on 17th and 23rd of January in 2007. The aerosol transports from China along the Northwestern wind becomes the background concentrations in Korea and the assessment of the amount of contribution from China is very important in managing the air quality improvement plan in SMA.The U.S. EPA's Models-3/CMAQ (Community Multiscale Air Quality) was used to simulate PM10 concentration. The CMAQ performance was evaluated by comparing with the measurements in SMA for the episode period. The predictions were relatively in a good agreement with the measurements.The results show that the PM10 transport from China to Korea is significant and its contribution reaches up to 80% in the episode period. In order to assess more extensively the aerosol transport in East Asia region, the study to run the model in full year with speciated PM component measurements in super site is underway.     

Possible relationship between western North Pacific tropical cyclone activity and Arctic Oscillation

This study found that Arctic Oscillation (AO) has a significant influence on tropical cyclone (TC) activities in the western North Pacific during the boreal summer (July, August, and September). During low- (high-) AO years, more TCs formed over east (west) of 150° E, recurved in the east (west), and passed over the midlatitudes (southeast Asian region), including Korea and Japan (South China Sea and south China), compared to the high- (low-) AO years. In particular, the TC passage frequency difference between the two periods showed a dipole-like pattern between the regions of Southeast and Northeast Asia. The differences between these two periods were caused by a stronger anticyclonic circulation located around Korea and Japan during high-AO years. This circulation played a significant role in blocking the movement of TCs toward Korea and Japan during high-AO years. Instead, TCs moved westward toward the SCS and southern China along the easterly and southeasterly steering flow of this anticyclonic circulation. As a result, TC lifetime and intensity were shorter and weaker during high-AO years.     

Effects of El Ni?o Modoki on winter precipitation in Korea

This study compares the impacts of El Ni?o Modoki and El Ni?o on precipitation over Korea during the boreal winters from 1954 to 2009. Precipitation in Korea tends to be equal to or greater than the normal level during an El Ni?o Modoki winter, whereas there is no significant change during an El Ni?o winter. Greater than normal precipitation during El Ni?o Modoki was also found over the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, China and much of southern Japan. The latitudes of these regions are 5–10° further north than in southern China, where precipitation increases during El Ni?o. The following two anomalous atmospheric circulations were found to be causes that led to different precipitation distributions over East Asia. First, an atmospheric wave train in the lower troposphere, which propagated from the central tropical Pacific (cyclonic) through the southern Philippine Sea (anticyclonic) to East Asia (cyclonic), reached the southern China and northern Philippine Sea during El Ni?o, whereas it reached Korea and southern Japan during El Ni?o Modoki. Second, an anomalous local meridional circulation, which consists of air sinking in the tropics, flowing poleward in the lower troposphere, and rising in the subtropics, developed between the southern Philippine Sea and northern Philippine Sea during El Ni?o. During El Ni?o Modoki, however, this circulation expanded further to the north and was formed between the southern Philippine Sea and regions of Korea and southern Japan.     

Projections of annual mean air temperature and precipitation over the globe and in China during the 21st century by the BCC Climate System Model BCC_CSM1.0

Evaluating the projection capability of climate models is an important task in climate model development and climate change studies. The projection capability of the Beijing Climate Center (BCC) Climate System Model BCC CSM1.0 is analyzed in this study. We focus on evaluating the projected annual mean air temperature and precipitation during the 21st century under three emission scenarios (Special Report on Emission Scenarios (SRES) B1, A1B, and A2) of the BCC CSM1.0 model, along with comparisons with 22 CMIP3 (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 3) climate models. Air temperature averaged both globally and within China is projected to increase continuously throughout the 21st century, while precipitation increases intermittently under each of the three emission scenarios, with some specific temporal and spatial characteristics. The changes in globally-averaged and China-averaged air temperature and precipitation simulated by the BCC CSM1.0 model are within the range of CMIP3 model results. On average, the changes of precipitation and temperature are more pronounced over China than over the globe, which is also in agreement with the CMIP3 models. The projection capability of the BCC CSM1.0 model is comparable to that of other climate system models. Furthermore, the results reveal that the climate change response to greenhouse gas emissions is stronger over China than in the global mean, which implies that China may be particularly sensitive to climate change in the 21st century.     

Projections of Annual Mean Air Temperature and Precipitation over the Globe and in China During the 21st Century bythe BCC Climate System Model BCC_CSM1.0

Evaluating the projection capability of climate models is an important task in climate model development and climate change studies. The projection capability of the Beijing Climate Center (BCC) Climate System Model BCC_CSM1.0 is analyzed in this study. We focus on evaluating the projected annual mean air temperature and precipitation during the 21st century under three emission scenarios (Special Report on Emission Scenarios (SRES) B1, A1B, and A2) of the BCC_CSM1.0 model, along with comparisons with 22 CMIP3 (Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 3) climate models. Air temperature averaged both globally and within China is projected to increase continuously throughout the 21st century, while precipitation increases intermittently under each of the three emission scenarios, with some specific temporal and spatial characteristics. The changes in globally-averaged and China-averaged air temperature and precipitation simulated by the BCC_CSM1.0 model are within the range of CMIP3 model results. On average, the changes of precipitation and temperature are more pronounced over China than over the globe, which is also in agreement with the CMIP3 models. The projection capability of the BCC_CSM1.0 model is comparable to that of other climate system models. Furthermore, the results reveal that the climate change response to greenhouse gas emissions is stronger over China than in the global mean, which implies that China may be particularly sensitive to climate change in the 21st century.     

Tropospheric NO2 Columns over Northeastern North America： Comparison of CMAQ Model Simulations with GOME Satellite Measurements

We present comparisons of the NO2 regional Chemical Transport Model （CTM） simulations over North-eastern North America during the time period from May to September, 1998 with hourly surface NO2 observations and the NO2 columns retrieved from the GOME （Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment） satellite instrument. The model calculations were performed using the Mesoscale Meteorological Model 5 （MM5）, Sparse Matrix Operator Kernal Emissions （SMOKE）, and Community Multiscale Air Quality （CMAQ） modeling systems, using the emission data from the National Emissions Inventory （NEI） databases of 1996 （U.S.） and 1995 （Canada）. The major objectives were to assess the performance of the CMAQ model and the accuracy of the emissions inventories as they affected the simulations of this important short-lived atmospheric species. The modeled （NcMAQ） and measured （NGOME） NO2 column amounts, as well as their temporal variations, agreed reasonably well. The absolute differences （NcMAQ-NGOME） across the domain were between ±3.0×10^15 molecules cm^-2, but they were less than ±1.0×10^15 molecules cm^-2 over the majority （80%） of the domain studied. The overall correlation coefficient between the measurements and the simulations was 0.75. The differences were mainly ascribed to a combination of inaccurate emission data for the CTM and the uncertainties in the GOME retrievals. Of these, the former were the more easily identifiable.     

A Regional Air--Sea Coupled Model and Its Application over East Asia in the Summer of 2000

A regional air-sea coupled model,comprising the Regional Integrated Environment Model System (RIEMS)and the Princeton Ocean Model(POM)was developed to simulate summer climate features over East Asia in 2000.The sensitivity of the model's behavior to the coupling time interval(CTI),the causes of the sea surface temperature(SST)biases,and the role of air-sea interaction in the simulation of precipitation over China are investigated.Results show that the coupled model can basically produce the spatial pattern of SST,precipitation,and surface air temperature(SAT)with five different CTIs respectively.Also,using a CTI of 3,6 or 12 hours tended to produce more successful simulations than if using 1 and 24 hours.Further analysis indicates that both a higher and lower coupling frequency result in larger model biases in air-sea heat flux exchanges,which might be responsible for the sensitivity of the coupled model's behavior to the CTI. Sensitivity experiments indicate that SST biases between the coupled and uncoupled POM occurring over the China coastal waters were due to the mismatch of the surface heat fluxes produced by the RIEMS with those required by the POM.In the coupled run,the air-sea feedbacks reduced the biases in surface heat fluxes,compared with the uncoupled RIEMS,consequently resulted in changes in thermal contrast over land and sea and led to a precipitation increase over South China and a decrease over North China.These results agree well observations in the summer of 2000.