A NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF THE EFFECT ON CHINESE REGIONAL CLIMATE DUE TO SEASONAL VARIATION OF LAND SURFACE PARAMETERS (PART Ⅱ)*

The effect on climate due to seasonal variation of vegetation and roughness length was simulated in Part Ⅰ of this essay.In Part Ⅱ,the individual effect of albedo and the joint effect of all those factors (vegetation,roughness length and albedo) were calculated by numerical sensitivity experiments.The results showed that: (1) There is no significant effect on precipitation if the albedo of 4 seasons is used to replace the CRCM's climate average data,but the effect on land surface temperature can be seen clearly.And the effect also can be seen in adjacent regions.(2)If all these three factors are used to replace the CRCM's climate average data at the same time,the effect on precipitation is significant,the most variation value is 300mm.And the effect on temperature is similar to what we can see if only one of these factors in CRCM is replaced by monthly or seasonal data.(3)Seasonal variation of land surface parameters has important effect not only on regional climate,but also on global environment.     

A NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF THE EFFECT ON CHINESE REGIONAL CLIMATE DUE TO SEASONAL VARIATION OF LAND SURFACE PARAMETERS(PART I)

Sensitivity experiment is an important method to study the effect on regional climate due toseasonal variation of land surface parameters.Using China Regional Climate Model(CRCM)nested in CCM1.we first simulate Chinese regional climate,then two numerical sensitivityexperiments on the effect of vegetation and roughness length are made.The results show that:(1)If the vegetation is replaced with the monthly data of 1997.precipitation and land-surfacetemperature are both changed clearly,precipitation decreases and land surface temperatureincreases,but there is no regional correspondence between these changes.And the results aremuch better than the results when climate average vegetation was used in the CRCM.(2)If theroughness length is replaced with the monthly data of 1997,there is significant change on landsurface temperature,and there is very good regional correspondence between these changes.Butthe effect on precipitation is very small.     

CHARACTERISTICS OF VEGETATION COVER,ROUGHNESS AND ALBEDO DISTRIBUTION OVER CHINA

To build land surface dataset for climate model,with application of remote sensing techniqueas well as the Geographic Information System(GIS),the data of surface type,roughness andalbedo over China in 1997 were retrieved,resolutions being 10 km×10 km.Based on these data,an analysis is conducted on the geographic distributions and seasonal variations of surfacevegetation cover and roughness as well as albedo over China.Results show that surface vegetationcover is mainly located to the south of Yangtze River,in Southwest and Northeast China andsparse vegetation cover is in the Northwest.The variation of land surface cover affects thevariations of land surface roughness and albedo.High albedo occurred in the north of XinjiangAutonomous Region,the north of Northeast China and the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau in winter,incorrespondence with the location of snow cover.For most part of China,surface roughness decreases and albedo increases in winter,while theroughness increases and the albedo decreases in summer,which could mainly result from landsurface cover(snow cover and vegetation cover)and soil moisture changes.This shows that thegeographic distribution and seasonal variation of the albedo are almost opposite to those of theroughness,in agreement with theoretical results.Temporally,the amplitude of surface roughnesschange is quite small in comparison with the roughness itself.     

SEASONAL VARIATIONS OF THE TROPICAL INTRASEASONAL OSCILLATION AND ITS REPRODUCTION IN SAMIL-R_(42)L_9

Seasonal variations of the tropical intraseasonal oscillation (ISO) and relationship to seasonal variation of the climate background are studied by using NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data and output of SAMIL-R42L9. Analysis of NCEP data shows that spatial distribution of the tropical ISO has obvious seasonal variations, which are well consistent with the seasonal variation of climate background. The activity of the tropical ISO is, to a great extent, dependent on warm SST, strong convection, zonal western wind, strong precipitation and low-level moisture convergence. Main characteristics of the seasonal variations of the tropical ISO are captured by SAMIL-R42L9. Simulations of seasonal variation of climate background vary greatly with different variables. Results of SAMIL-R42L9 indicate that the seasonal variations of the tropical ISO in dynamical fields are more dependent on climate background than in heating fields and SAMIL-R42L9 cannot represent well the strong dependence of the ISO on the climate background present in NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data. It also suggests that seasonal variations of the ISO do not completely depend on that of climate background.     

The Interactive Climate and Vegetation Along the Pole-Equator Belts Simulated by a Global Coupled Model

The interaction between climate and vegetation along four Pole-Equator-Pole （PEP） belts were explored using a global two-way coupled model, AVIM-GOALS, which links the ecophysiological processes at the land surface with the general circulation model （GCM）. The PEP belts are important in linking the climate change with the variation of sea and land, including terrestrial ecosystems. Previous PEP belts studies have mainly focused on the paleoclimate variation and its reconstruction. This study analyzes and discusses the interaction between modern climate and vegetation represented by leaf area index （LAI） and net primary production （NPP）. The results show that the simulated LAI variation, corresponding to the observed LAI variation, agrees with the peak-valley variation of precipitation in these belts. The annual mean NPP simulated by the coupled model is also consistent with PIK NPP data in its overall variation trend along the four belts, which is a good example to promote global ecological studies by coupling the climate and vegetation models. A large discrepancy between the simulated and estimated LAI emerges to the south of 15°N along PEP 3 and to the south of 18°S in PEP 1S, and the discrepancy for the simulated NPP and PIK data in the two regions is relatively smaller in contrast to the LAI difference. Precipitation is a key factor affecting vegetation variation, and the overall trend of LAI and NPP corresponds more obviously to precipitation variation than temperature change along most parts of these PEP belts.     

Numerical simulation of the impact of vegetation index on the interannual variation of summer precipitation in the Yellow River Basin

Two sets of numerical experiments using the coupled National Center for Environmental Prediction General Circulation Model （NCEP/GCM T42L18） and the Simplified Simple Biosphere land surface scheme （SSiB） were carried out to investigate the climate impacts of fractional vegetation cover （FVC） and leaf area index （LAI） on East Asia summer precipitation, especially in the Yellow River Basin （YRB）. One set employed prescribed FVC and LAI which have no interannual variations based on the climatology of vegetation distribution; the other with FVC and LAI derived from satellite observations of the International Satellite Land Surface Climate Project （ISLSCP） for 1987 and 1988. The simulations of the two experiments were compared to study the influence of FVC, LAI on summer precipitation interannual variation in the YRB. Compared with observations and the NCEP reanalysis data, the experiment that included both the effects of satellite-derived vegetation indexes and sea surface temperature （SST） produced better seasonal and interannual precipitation variations than the experiment with SST but no interannual variations in FVC and LAI, indicating that better representations of the vegetation index and its interannual variation may be important for climate prediction. The difference between 1987 and 1988 indicated that with the increase of FVC and LAI, especially around the YRB, surface albedo decreased, net surface radiation increased, and consequently local evaporation and precipitation intensified. Further more, surface sensible heat flux, surface temperature and its diurnal variation decreased around the YRB in response to more vegetation. The decrease of surface-emitting longwave radiation due to the cooler surface outweighed the decrease of surface solar radiation income with more cloud coverage, thus maintaining the positive anomaly of net surface radiation. Further study indicated that moisture flux variations associated with changes in the general circulation also contributed to the precipitation interannual variation.     

DISTRIBUTION OF WATER VAPOR CONTENT ( WVC ) AND ITS SEASONAL VARIATION OVER THE MAINLAND OF CHINA

Based on the meteorological data of 105 aerological stations during the period of 1960-1969, the monthly average water vapor content ( WVC) in air column over the mainland of China is calculated. Charts showing the distribution of mean WVC for January and July and its seasonal variation associated with the atmospheric circulation in the lower troposphere over East Asia are also presented. Results obtained from this analysis will contribute to the assessment of water resources, as well as the studies of the formation of rainfall and climate.     

STUDY ON THE MAIN CLIMATE MODES OF SHANDONG PRECIPITATION AND THEIR RELATIONS WITH THE EAST ASIAN WESTERLY JET

Summer precipitation patterns of Shandong Province are relatively independent with regard to the whole eastern China region.To study the rules and causes of precipitation variations,three main climate modes-on the annual,seasonal,and climatic intra-seasonal oscillation(CISO) scales-are extracted using a harmonic analysis method based on daily precipitation of Shandong during 1965-2009 and multi-year averaged pentad precipitation at 722 stations in China during 1971-2000.Among the three precipitation climate modes,the annual mode is closely related to the annual cycle of Earth-Atmosphere thermal system,which is characterized by the periodic dry and wet seasons.The seasonal mode reflects the monsoon effect on precipitation and the main flood season’s contribution to annual precipitation variations.As an important climatic signal,the CISO mode is more evident during summer monsoon.The gradual modulations of the CISO mode,seasonal mode,and annual mode control the annual variation of precipitation.To study the relationship between precipitation climate modes and atmospheric circulations,an East Asian Westerly Jet Index(EAWJI) is defined in this paper.It is revealed that precipitation of Shandong is closely related to EAWJI in all climate modes.A wet or dry phase of each climate mode corresponds to a specific atmospheric circulation pattern.The phase of the annual mode is reverse to that of EAWJI.During the wet phase of the seasonal mode(weak phase of EAWJI),the atmospheric circulation in and around Shandong is characterized by upper-level divergence and low-level convergence.A reversed atmospheric circulation exists for the dry phase(strong phase for EAWJI).In the summer wet phase of CISO mode(strong phase of EAWJI),Shandong is controlled by upper-level divergence and low-level convergence.Again,the dry phase is corresponding to a reversed circulation structure.The methodology employed in this research,i.e.studying the precipitation climatic variations in terms of independent components of different temporal scales,provides a new approach for annual and seasonal precipitation prediction.     

The Impact of Agricultural Practices in China on Land-Atmosphere Interactions

Human-induced land use changes and the resulting alterations in vegetation features are major but poorly recognized drivers of regional climatic patterns.In order to investigate the impacts of anthropogenically-induced seasonal vegetation cover changes on regional climate in China,harmonic analysis is applied to 1982-2000 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(NOAA) Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer(AVVHRR)-derived normalized difference vegetation index(NDVI) time series(ten day interval data).For two climatic divisions of South China,it is shown that the first harmonic term is in phase with air temperature,while the second and third harmonics are in phase with agricultural cultivation.The Penman-Monteith Equation and the Complementary Relationship Areal Evapotranspiration(CRAE) model suggest that monthly mean evapotranspiration is out of phase with temperature and precipitation in regions with signiffcant second or third harmonics.Finally,seasonal vegetation cover changes associated with agricultural cultivation are identiffed:for cropped areas,the temperature and precipitation time series have a single maximum value,while the monthly evapotranspiration time series has a bimodal distribution.It is hypothesized that multi-cropping causes the land surface albedo to sharply increase during harvesting,thereby altering the energy distribution ratio and contributing to observed seasonal vegetation cover changes.     

Snow Albedo’s Dependence on Solar Zenith Angle from In Situ and MODIS Data

Since snow cover is one of the fastest modi- fications to the land surface albedo, the treatment of snow-covered surface albedo is important for the simulation of land processes in weather and climate models. A simple formulation is developed here to represent the solar zenith angle (SZA) dependence of albedo under maximum snow cover condition on the basis of Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) algorithm. The SZA dependence of black-sky (or direct) albedo is weaker under snow condition than that under snow-free condition, and it does not differ much among different vegetation types. The blue-sky albedo (or combined albedo from direct and diffuse radiations) based on the above formulation and in situ diffuse ratio of solar radiation is consistent with in situ data from two Canadian sites (grassland and evergreen needleleaf forest) and one U.S. grassland site. In particular, the SZA dependence of blue-sky snow albedo is almost always weak because of high diffuse ratios for high SZA in winter. With the snow albedo formulation from this study and snow-free albedo formulations from the authors’ previous studies, albedos with partial snow cover can be obtained as the snow fraction-weighted average of snow and snow-free albedos. Citation: Wang, Z., and X. Zeng, 2008: Snow albedo’s dependence on solar zenith angle from in situ and MODIS data, Atmos. Oceanic Sci. Lett., 1, 45-50     

中国降水分区

Precipitation regimes of China were mapped by using empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis with orthogonal rotation based on normalized monthly mean precipitation data at 400 stations from 1961 to 2006.The regional boundaries were defined with the maximum-loading approach.The results identified 13 consistent and contiguous precipitation regions with distinct regional variations in China that are expected to reflect dominant regional patterns focusing on seasonal and interannual precipitation variations.The precipitation regionalization is operationally useful for seasonal and interannual climate predictions.     

Diurnal and Seasonal Variation of Clear-Sky Land Surface Temperature of Several Representative Land Surface Types in China Retrieved by GMS-5

The retrieved results in this paper by GMS-5/VISSR thermal infrared data with single time/dual channel Split-Window Algorithm reveal the characteristics of diurnal and seasonal variation of clear-sky land surface temperature (LST) of several representative land surface types in China,including Tarim Basin,Qinghai- Tibetan Plateau,Hunshandake Sands,North China Plain,and South China.The seasonal variation of clear-sky LST in above areas varies distinctly for the different surface albedo,soil water content,and the extent of influence by solar radiation.The monthly average diurnal ranges of LST have two peaks and two valleys in one year.The characteristics of LST in most land of East Asia and that of sea surface temperature (SST) in the south of Taiwan Strait and the Yellow Sea are also analyzed as comparison.Tarim Basin and Hunshandake Sands have not only considerable LST diurnal cycle but also remarkable seasonal variation. In 2000,the maximum monthly average diurnal ranges of LST in both areas are over 30 K,and the annual range in Hunshadake Sands reaches 58.50 K.Seasonal variation of LST in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau is less than those in East Asia,Tarim Basin,and Hunshandake Sands.However,the maximum diurnal range exists in this area.The yearly average diurnal range is 28.05 K in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in 2000.The characteristics of diurnal,seasonal,and annual variation from 1998 to 2000 are also shown in this research. All the results will be valuable to the research of climate change,radiation balance,and estimation for the change of land surface types.     

The impact of ecosystem functional type changes on the La Plata Basin climate

In this paper, the effects of land cover changes on the climate of the La Plata Basin in southern South America are investigated using the Weather and Research Forecasting (WRF) Model configured on a 30/10km two-way interactive nested grid. To assess the regional climate changes resulting from land surface changes, the standard land cover types are replaced by time-varying Ecosystem Functional Types (EFTs), which is a newly devised land-cover classification that characterizes the spatial and interannual variability of surface vegetation dynamics. These variations indicate that natural and anthropogenic activities have caused changes in the surface physical parameters of the basin, such as albedo and roughness length, that contributed to regional climate changes. EFTs are obtained from functional attributes of vegetation computed from properties of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) to represent patches of the land surface with homogeneous energy and gas exchanges with the atmosphere. Four simulations are conducted, each experimental period ranging from September to November in two contrasting years, 1988 and 1998. The influence of an identical EFT change on the surface heat fluxes, 2-m temperature and humidity, 10-m winds, convective instabilities and large-scale moisture fluxes and precipitation are explored for 1988 (a dry year) and 1998 (a wet year). Results show that the surface and atmospheric climate has a larger response to the same EFT changes in a dry year for 2-m temperature and 10-m wind; the response is larger in a wet year for 2-m water vapor mixing ratio, convective available potential energy, vertically integrated moisture fluxes and surface precipitation. For EFTs with high productivity and a weak seasonal cycle, the nearsurface temperature during the spring of 1988 and 1998 increased by as much as 1℃ in the central and western portions of La Plata Basin. Additionally, for higher productivity EFTs, precipitation differences were generally positive in both dry and wet years, although the patterns are not uniform and exhibit certain patchiness with drier conditions.     

Interannual Variability of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index on the Tibetan Plateau and Its Relationship with Climate Change

The Qinghai-Xizang Plateau, or Tibetan Plateau, is a sensitive region for climate change, where the manifestation of global warming is particularly noticeable. The wide climate variability in this region significantly affects the local land ecosystem and could consequently lead to notable vegetation changes. In this paper, the interannual variations of the plateau vegetation are investigated using a 21-year normalized difference vegetation index （NDVI） dataset to quantify the consequences of climate warming for the regional ecosystem and its interactions. The results show that vegetation coverage is best in the eastern and southern plateau regions and deteriorates toward the west and north. On the whole, vegetation activity demonstrates a gradual enhancement in an oscillatory manner during 1982-2002. The temporal variation also exhibits striking regional differences： an increasing trend is most apparent in the west, south, north and southeast, whereas a decreasing trend is present along the southern plateau boundary and in the central-east region. Covariance analysis between the NDVI and surface temperature/precipitation suggests that vegetation change is closely related to climate change. However, the controlling physical processes vary geographically. In the west and east, vegetation variability is found to be driven predominantly by temperature, with the impact of precipitation being of secondary importance. In the central plateau, however, temperature and precipitation factors are equally important in modulating the interannual vegetation variability.     

Some Phenomena of the Interaction Between Vegetation and a Atmosphere on Multiple Scales

This article studies the response of the distribution pattern and the physiological characteristics of the ecosystem to the spontaneous precipitation and the interaction between vegetation and the atmosphere on multiple scales in arid and semi-arid zones, based on measured data of the ecological physiological parameters in the Ordas Plateau of northern China. The results show that the vegetation biomass and the energy use efficiency of photosynthesis are especially sensitive to the annual precipitation; strong and complex interactions exist between the vegetation and the atmosphere on multiple scales leading to supernormal thermal heterogeneity of the underlying surface, the strong vortex movement and turbulence. This study can facilitate understanding of the land surface processes and the influences of global climate change as well as human activities on the human environment in the arid and semi-arid zones. It also aids in improving the parameterization schemes of turbulent fluxes of a heterogeneous underlying surface for land surface processes in climate models.     

Comparison of the Influence of Interannual Vegetation Variability between Offline and Online Simulations

This study investigates the influence of interannual vegetation variability. Two sets of offline and online simulations were performed using the Community Earth System Model. The interannual Global LAnd Surface Satellite （GLASS） leaf area index （LAI） dataset from 1985 to 2000 and its associated climatological LAI were used to replace the default climatological LAI data in version 4 of the Community Land Model （CLM4）. The re- sults showed that on a global scale, canopy transpiration and evaporation, as well as total evapotranspiration in offline simulations were significantly positively corre- lated with LAI, whereas ground evaporation and ground temperature showed significant negative correlation with LAI. However, the correlations in online simulations were reduced markedly because of interactive feedbacks between albedo, changed climatic factors and atmospheric variability. In the offline simulations, the fluctuations of differences in interannual variability of evapotranspiration and ground temperature focused on vegetation growing regions and the magnitudes were smaller. Those in online simulations spread over more regions and the magnitudes were larger. These results highlight the influence of interannual vegetation variability, particularly in online simulations, an effect that deserves consideration and attention when investigating the uncertainty of climate change.     

Development and Validation of an Evaporation Duct Model.Part Ⅰ:Model Establishment and Sensitivity Experiments

Based on the Coupled Ocean-Atmospheric Response Experiment（COARE）bulk algorithm and the Naval Postgraduate School（NPS）model,a universal evaporation duct（UED）model that can flexibly accommodate the latest improvements in component（such as stability function,velocity roughness,and scalar roughness）schemes for different stratification and wind conditions,is proposed in this paper.With the UED model,the sensitivity of the model-derived evaporation duct height（EDH）to stability function（Ψ）,ocean wave effect under moderate to high wind speeds,and scalar roughness length parameterization,is investigated,and relative contributions of these factors are compared.The results show that the stability function is a key factor influencing the simulated EDH values.Under unstable conditions,the EDH values from stability functions of Fairall et al.（1996）and Hu and Zhang（1992）are generally higher than those from others;while under stable conditions,unreasonably high EDHs can be avoided by use of the stability functions of Hu and Zhang（1992）and Grachev et al.（2007）.Under moderate to high wind speeds,the increase in velocity roughness length z₀ due to consideration of the true ocean wave effect acts to reduce modeled EDH values;this trend is more pronounced under stable conditions.Although the scalar roughness length parameterization has a minor effect on the model-derived EDH,a positive correlation is found between the scalar roughness length z_0qand the model-derived EDH.     

Study of Aerodynamic Parameters on Different Underling Surfaces

Aerodynamic parameters including the zero-plane displacement (d), roughness length (20), and friction velocity (u*) on the different underlying surfaces of heavy-grazing site, medium-grazing site, light-grazing site, no-grazing site, dune, inter-dune, grassland, rice paddy site, wheat site, soybean site, and maize site have been computed based on the Monin-Obukhov similarity theory by utilizing the micrometeorologically observed data of dune and vegetation in the semi-arid area at Naiman, Inner Mongolia of China, conducted jointly by the Institute of Desert Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences and the National Institute of Agro-Environmental Sciences of Japan in 1990-1994. And their relationships between wind speed and Richardson number are analyzed. The aerodynamic characteristics of different man-made disturbed grassland ecosystems are also compared. Result shows that the vegetation coverage and the above-ground biomass decrease with the increase in man-made stress of the grassland. The roughness length for different underlying surfaces is closely related to vegetation height, above-ground biomass, and ground surface undulation, and Richardson number Ri is also its influencing factor. The friction velocity varies largely on different underlying surfaces, and it is positively proportional to wind speed and roughness length. The aerodynamic parameters of various times on the same underlying surface are different, too. Above results indicate that grassland and vegetation are of significance in preventing desertification, especially in the arid and semi-arid land ecosystems. And the results of this paper are also important for constructing the land surface physical process as well as regional climate model.     

POTENTIAL PREDICTABILITY OF MONTHLY PRECIPITATION OVER CHINA

In this paper,based on the data at 70 stations selected evenly over China for 31 years from1961—1991.three methods to estimate climatic noise have been discussed and then the climaticnoise and potential predictability of monthly precipitation(January.July.April and October)havebeen examined.The estimating of climatic noise is based on the method of Madden and improvedmethods of Trenberth and Yamamoto et al.(1985).The potential predictability is approximatedby the ratio of the estimated interannual variation to the natural variation.Generally.the climaticnoise of monthly precipitation over China has obvious seasonal variation and it is greater in summerthan in winter,a bit greater in autumn than in spring.In most areas,the climatic noise isprominently decreasing from south to north and from coast to inland.The potential predictabilityof monthly precipitation also has obvious seasonal and regional difference,but the potentialpredictability is greater in winter than in summer in most parts of China.Whereas the comparisonof spring and autumn is not obvious.Comparing with the method of Madden,the estimated valuesof climatic noise based on the improved methods of Trenberth and Yamamoto et al.are relativelylower.     

Characteristics of Momentum and Heat Transfer over Semiarid Grasslands with Different Grazing Intensities in Inner Mongolia, China

The drag coefficient (C d) and heat transfer coefficient (C h) with the bulk transfer scheme are usually used to calculate the momentum and heat fluxes in meteorological models.The aerodynamic roughness length (z 0m) and thermal roughness length (z 0h) are two crucial parameters for bulk transfer equations.To improve the meteorological models,the seasonal and interannual variations of z 0m,z 0h,coefficient kB 1,C d,and C h were investigated based on eddy covariance data over different grazed semiarid grasslands of Inner Mongolia during the growing seasons (May to September) from 2005 to 2008.For an ungrazed Leymus chinensis grassland (ungrazed since 1979),z 0m and z 0h had significant seasonal and interannual variations.z 0m was affected by the amount and distribution of rainfall.kB 1 exhibited a relatively negative variation compared with z 0h,which indicates that the seasonal variation of z 0h cannot be described by kB 1.To parameterize z 0m and z 0h,the linear regressions between ln(z 0m),ln(z 0h),and the leaf area index (LAI) were performed with R 2 =0.71 and 0.83.The monthly average kB 1 was found to decrease linearly with LAI.The four-year averaged values of C d and C h were 4.5×10 3 and 3.9×10 3,respectively.The monthly average C d only varied by 8% while the variation of C h was 18%,which reflects the different impacts of dead vegetation on momentum and heat transfer at this natural grassland.Moreover,with the removal of vegetation cover,grazing intensities reduced z 0m,z 0h,C d,and C h.