印度夏季风的年代际变化与我国北方的气候跃变

利用NCEP／NCAR再分析资料及台站实测资料分析了近几十年印度夏季风的年代际变化特征及我国北方所发生的气候变化，揭示了印度夏季风的减弱与我国北方地区的气候演变具有密切的联系。分析结果表明：在1960年代中期和1970年代后期印度夏季风环流经历了两次明显的减弱过程，这两次减弱过程的出现与我国北方地区所发生的气候跃变在时间上十分接近；印度夏季风的年代际变化与北方地区(包括华北、东北、蒙古东部及朝鲜半岛)对流层温度变化存在显著的正相关关系，北方地区对流层温度的不断下降改变了海陆之间的热力对比，从而引起印度夏季风的减弱。     

东亚夏季风年代际变化——基于全球观测海表温度驱动NCAR Cam3的模拟分析

利用1950~1999年逐月全球观测海表温度驱动的NCAR Cam3全球大气环流模式50年模拟结果及1958~1999年ECMWF再分析资料,通过定义东亚夏季风指数,对比分析了东亚夏季风的年代际变化及其对应的大气环流特征,初步探讨了20世纪70年代末东亚夏季风年代际减弱的可能机制。结果表明:模拟的东亚夏季风具有很明显的年代际变化,并在20世纪70年代末发生了突变,由强夏季风转为弱夏季风,大气环流也相应发生了明显变化。在强夏季风时期,500 hPa距平高度场上,在亚太地区从低纬度到高纬度为负、正、负距平分布,呈现出一个西南—东北向的波列;850 hPa距平风场上,在孟加拉湾及南海附近为异常反气旋,在西北太平洋区域则为强大的异常气旋,日本北部有一异常反气旋存在。西北太平洋副热带高压加强、南压、西伸。在垂直经向环流上,东亚Hadley环流减弱,对流层低层出现异常南风,东亚夏季风加强。在弱夏季风时期,大气环流变化则基本相反。通过对模拟的东亚夏季风与观测海温关系的探讨,发现20世纪70年代末东亚夏季风年代际减弱可能与北印度洋和南海附近海温年代际增暖并导致孟加拉湾、南海及日本附近产生异常气旋有关。     

20世纪60年代中期亚非夏季风减弱的全球气候背景异常分析

利用美国NASA格点月降水总量资料、美国CO2信息分析中心地表面温度异常月平均网格点资料、美国NCEP/NCAR再分析全球网格点资料和兰州高原大气物理研究所的台站地温观测资料分析了1960年代中期亚非夏季风环流圈年代际时间尺度的减弱及其与之有关的全球气候场异常现象。结果发现, 1960年代中期全球对流层大气温度和海洋温度场发生异常变化, 对流层大气有明显降温, 海洋主要以印度洋升温、 北太平洋和北大西洋降温为主要特征, 同时, 我国大陆土壤温度和青藏高原温度在1960年代中期有明显的下降, 导致亚洲大陆与印度洋之间的热力对比明显减弱, 东风急流减弱, 最终导致亚非夏季风明显减弱。     

海表温度异常影响东亚夏季风年代际变化的数值模拟

采用1950-2000年逐月观测的不同海域(全球、热带外、热带、热带印度洋-太平洋、热带印度洋及热带太平洋)海表温度分别驱动NCAR CAM3全球大气环流模式,进行了多组长时间积分试验,对比ERA-40和NCEP/NCAR再分析资料,讨论了这些海域海表温度异常对东亚夏季风年代际变化的影响。数值试验结果表明:全球、热带、热带印度洋-太平洋和热带太平洋海表温度变化对东亚夏季风的年代际变化具有重要作用,均模拟出了东亚夏季风在20世纪70年代中后期发生的年代际减弱现象,以及强、弱夏季风年代夏季大气环流异常分布的显著不同,这与观测结果较一致,表明热带太平洋是影响东亚夏季风此次年代际变化的关键海区;利用热带印度洋海表温度驱动模式模拟出的东亚夏季风在20世纪70年代中后期发生年代际增强现象,即当热带印度洋海表温度年代际偏暖(冷)时,东亚夏季风年代际增强(减弱),与热带太平洋海表温度变化对东亚夏季风年代际变化的影响相反;热带太平洋海表温度年代际背景的变化对东亚夏季风在20世纪70年代中后期的年代际减弱有重要作用。     

东亚夏季风降水年代际变异模态及其与太平洋年代际振荡的关系

利用全球陆地月平均降水资料、英国气象局哈德莱中心的月平均海表温度距平(SSTA)资料及NCEP/NCAR再分析大气环流资料,探讨东亚夏季风降水年代际变率及其与太平洋年代际振荡(PDO)的联系。研究指出:东亚夏季风降水年代际变异模态以及PDO均在1976年前后呈现显著的年代际转折,并且东亚夏季风降水与PDO在年代际尺度上具有较好的相关关系。PDO能够在对流层低层激发出与年代际东亚夏季风环流较为相似的大气环流异常特征,表明东亚夏季风环流的年代际变化可能受大气外强迫因子PDO在对流层低层的外源强迫作用影响,最终导致东亚夏季风降水发生年代际变化。     

亚洲夏季风指数的重新评估与季风的长期变化

使用NCEP/NCAR再分析资料对Webster与Yang的季风指数(WYI)进行计算和修改。WYI定义为850与200 hPa的纬向风差,但通过分析150—100 hPa和200 hPa的环流场、散度场与垂直运动场,发现200 hPa层并不能真正反映亚洲季风系统上层环流的变化,尤其是其最主要的环流特征即热带东风急流的变化,其核心位于150—100 hPa。纬向风切变U850-U(150 100)的值比U850-U200的值远大得多,更能真实反映季风的强度,并且与低层辐合耦合在一起的高层辐散最大位于150 hPa,在对流层高层取150 hPa比200 hPa更能反映季风系统的耦合关系。因此,在对流层上层选择150—100 hPa重新定义季风指数(DHI)为IDH=U8*50-U(*150 100),不但可以更好地表征亚洲纬向风切变中心的强度变化,也可以代表对流层上下层季风系统的变率。分别用季风指数DHI和WYI对亚洲夏季风的长期变化进行研究,发现DHI比WYI更合适。DHI的变化表明亚洲夏季风存在明显的年代际变化及突变,20世纪70年代末之后显著减弱,这主要是由于150—100 hPa层东风的减弱,但这种东风的减弱现象在200 hPa不明显。突变后总的来说:亚洲地区高层东风减弱,表明夏季风减弱;海陆气压差和海陆温差的减小导致季风减弱;相应高空辐散和水汽输送在印度半岛、中南半岛中部、中国华北与东北地区都是减弱的,也表明夏季风减弱。最后比较NCEP/NCAR和ERA-40两种再分析资料研究亚洲夏季风的强度及其长期变化的差异,以作参考。     

中国北方干旱化年代际特征与大气环流的关系

用CRU和ECMWF资料分析了近代中国北方干湿变化特征及其与东亚大气环流异常特征的关系.结果表明:中国北方干旱化具有显著的年际、年代际特征,20世纪70年代末干湿发生显著转变,西北东部和华北地区变干趋势明显,北方大部分地区干旱现象严重;中国北方地区当前的干旱化时空格局与东亚夏季风异常特征密切相关,夏季风减弱以及由此造成水汽输送量减少是导致干旱化发展的主要原因,而低层大气反气旋环流增强和气旋性环流减弱是引起干旱化的异常环流特征.     

不同年代际背景下AO与冬季中国东北气温的关系

采用1951—2006年北极涛动指数序列、NCEP/NCAR再分析资料和我国160站气温资料,利用滑动相关分析研究了不同年代际背景下北极涛动与冬季中国东北气温年际异常关系的变化情况。结果表明,两者的关系在20世纪60年代中后期显著增强,在80年代中后期减弱。不同年代际背景下,与AO相关联的中高纬度大气环流异常发生的明显改变是AO与东北冬季气温关系发生年代际变化的原因。强相关年代,西伯利亚高压与阿留申低压均明显减弱,东亚冬季风偏弱,对流层中下层异常东南风控制东北地区,对流层中层东亚大槽明显减弱,环流的经向性减弱,使该地区冬季气温偏高;相关较弱的年代则以上表现不明显。     

北极涛动年代际变化对华北地区干旱化的影响

华北地区夏季降水在20世纪70年代中期以后进入年代际偏少阶段,表现出明显的干旱化趋势。华北干旱加剧具有特殊的大气环流背景,主要表现为在20世纪70年代中期以后亚洲大陆东部的热低压减弱,同时对流层低层到高层东亚夏季风环流减弱。这种异常的大气环流背景主要是由海陆热力差异和北极涛动的年代际变化造成的。近二十几年来,北极涛动维持在高指数位相是导致东亚地区大气环流异常的重要原因,并由此造成了华北干旱的加剧。     

春季青藏高原表面感热加热的年际变化特征及其对印度夏季风爆发时间的影响

本文基于日本气象厅(JMA)的JRA-25再分析资料,分析了春季青藏高原表面感热加热年际变化的时空特征,及其对印度夏季风爆发过程的影响。EOF分析结果表明,春季高原感热加热的年际变化在高原中西部最为明显,这主要与局地地-气温差的年际变率有关。统计分析表明,当春季高原中西部表面感热偏强(弱)时,印度夏季风爆发偏早(晚),且高原中西部表面感热与ENSO事件无显著相关。春季高原中西部感热能够通过改变印度季风区对流层高层和低层的经向热力结构来影响印度夏季风的爆发时间。当春季高原中西部感热偏强时,造成的上升气流在高原以西的印度季风区北部下沉,通过绝热增暖引起局地对流层中上部的异常暖中心,令印度季风区对流层中上部平均温度经向梯度由冬至夏的季节性反转提早。同时,印度季风区北部的下沉运动能够抑制当地降水,令陆面温度升高,并通过非绝热过程造成对流层低层的异常暖中心,进一步增强了印度季风区的海陆热力对比。在印度季风区以北地区对流层高、低层异常增暖的共同作用下,印度夏季风提前爆发。     

Weakening of Indian summer monsoon in recent decades

The analysis of 43 years of NCEP-NCAR reanalysis data and station observations reveals the connections between tropospheric temperature variations and the weakening of the Indian summer monsoon circulation. The Indian summer monsoon variation is strongly linked to tropospheric temperature over East Asia, showing significant positive correlations of mean tropospheric temperature with all-Indian summer rainfall and the monsoon circulation intensity. The result shows that Indian summer monsoon circulation underwent two weakening processes in recent decades. The first occurred in circa the mid-1960s, and the other occurred in circa the late 1970s. The finding indicates that the mean tropospheric temperature may play a crucial role in the weakening of the Indian summer monsoon intensity via changing land-sea thermal contrast. The role of the tropospheric temperature contrast between East Asia and the tropical area from the eastern Indian Ocean to the tropical western Pacific is to weaken the Indian summer monsoon circulation.     

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE SEASONAL TRANSITION OF EAST ASIAN MONSOON CIRCULATION AND ASIAN-PACIFIC THERMAL FIELD AND POSSIBLE MECHANISMS

The NCEP/NCAR reanalysis, CMAP rainfall and Hadley Centre sea surface temperature (SST) datasets are used to investigate the relationship between the seasonal transition of East Asian monsoon and Asian-Pacific thermal contrast, together with the possible causes. Based on the 250 hPa air temperature over two selected key areas, the Asian-Pacific thermal difference (APTD) index is calculated. Results show that the APTD index is highly consistent with the Asian-Pacific Oscillation (APO) index defined by Zhao et al., in terms of different key areas in different seasons. Moreover, the time point of the seasonal transition of the Asian-Pacific thermal contrast can be well determined by the APTD index, indicative of seasonal variation in East Asian atmospheric circulation from winter to summer. The transition characteristic of the circulation can be summarized as follows. The continental cold high at lower tropospheric level moves eastward to the East China Sea and decreases rapidly in intensity, while the low-level northerlies turn to southerlies. At middle tropospheric level, the East Asia major trough is reduced and moves eastward. Furthermore, the subtropical high strengthens and appears near Philippines. The South Asia high shifts from the east of Philippines to the west of Indochina Peninsula, and the prevailing southerlies change into northerlies in upper troposphere. Meanwhile, both the westerly and easterly jets both jump to the north. The seasonal transition of atmospheric circulation is closely related to the thermal contrast, and the possible mechanism can be concluded as follows. Under the background of the APTD seasonal transition, the southerly wind appears firstly at lower troposphere, which triggers the ascending motion via changing vertical shear of meridional winds. The resultant latent heating accelerates the transition of heating pattern from winter to summer. The summer heating pattern can further promote the adjustment of circulation, which favors the formation and strengthening of the low-level southerly and upper-level northerly winds. As a result, the meridional circulation of the East Asian subtropical monsoon is established through a positive feedback between the circulation and thermal fields. Moreover, the time point of this seasonal transition has a significant positive correlation with the SST anomalies over the tropical central-eastern Pacific Ocean, providing a basis for the short-term climate prediction.     

亚洲夏季风的年际和年代际变化及其未来预测

本文是对我们近五年在亚洲夏季风年代际与年际变率及其未来预测方面研究的一个综述.主要包括下列三个问题:(1)根据123年中国夏季降水资料和印度学者的分析,检测出亚洲夏季风具有明显的年代际尺度减弱,这种年代际变化使中国东部(包括东亚)和南亚夏季降水的格局在过去60年中发生了明显变化.在东亚,从1970年代后期开始,主要异常雨带有不断南移的趋势,结果造成了南涝北旱的降水分布,这主要受到60～80年年代际振荡的影响.青藏高原前冬和春季积雪的年代际减少与热带中东太平洋海表温度的年代际增加是东亚降水型改变的主要原因,这是通过减弱亚洲地区夏季海陆温差与夏季风强度而实现的.未来亚洲夏季风的预测表明,东亚夏季风和南亚夏季风对气候变暖有十分不同的响应.东亚夏季风在本世纪将增强,雨带北推,尤其在2040年代之后;而南亚夏季风环流将继续减弱.这种不同的变化是由于两者对高低层海陆热力差异的不同响应造成.(2)年际尺度的变率在亚洲夏季风区主要表现为2年与4～7年的振荡.本文着重分析了2年振荡(TBO)形成的过程、机理及其对东亚降水的影响.对TBO-海洋机理进行了具体的改进,说明了东亚夏季风降水深受TBO影响的原因,尤其是阐明了长江型(YRV) TBO和淮河型(HRV) TBO的特征及其形成的循环过程.(3)在总结亚洲夏季风时期遥相关型的基础上,本文提出了季节内和年际尺度的低空遥相关型:即西北太平洋季风的遥相关型与印度“南支”和“北支”遥相关型.它们基本上反映了沿低空夏季风强风速带Rossby波群速度传播的结果.据此可以根据西北太平洋和印度夏季风的变化分别预测中国梅雨和华北雨季来临和降水异常.最后研究还表明,在本世纪亚洲夏季风可能更显著地受到人类活动造成的全球变暖的影响,未来的亚洲夏季风活动是人类排放的CO2引起的全球变暖与自然变化(海洋和陆面过程(积雪))共同作用的结果.     

East Asian summer monsoon circulation structure controlled by feedback of condensational heating

The East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) features strong humid low-level southerly flows and abundant rainfall over the subtropical East Asia. This study identified how condensational heating generated by the EASM rainfall can affect the EASM circulation by contrasting two 10-member ensembles of atmospheric General Circulation Model experiments with Community Climate Model version 3/National Center for Atmospheric Research respectively with and without feedback of condensational heating over the East Asian domain. Major results inferred from the experiments are as follows. Condensational heating is found to absolutely dominate diabatic heating over East Asia. Exclusion of the feedback of condensational heating leads to a significant weakening of summertime tropospheric warming over land and thus a large reduction of the land-sea thermal contrast between entire Asian continent and surrounding oceans. Associated with this, the lower-level EASM flows are weakened, South Asian High at 200 hPa migrates southward with reduced intensity and breaks over East Asia with southerly flows prevailing in the upper troposphere, in contrast to northerly flows in reality. Consequently, local EASM meridional cell disappears and the baroclinic structure featured by the EASM circulation that is dynamically determined by convective condensational heating over East Asia is altered to a barotropic structure. Therefore, it is concluded that the feedback of condensational heating acts to largely enhance lower-level flows of the EASM and essentially determine its baroclinic structure and meridional cell, once the solar radiation and inhomogeneity of the Earth’s surface form low-level monsoon flows in East Asia by enhancing land-sea thermal contrast.     

Boreal summer continental monsoon rainfall and hydroclimate anomalies associated with the Asian-Pacific Oscillation

With the twentieth century analysis data (1901–2002) for atmospheric circulation, precipitation, Palmer drought severity index, and sea surface temperature (SST), we show that the Asian-Pacific Oscillation (APO) during boreal summer is a major mode of the earth climate variation linking to global atmospheric circulation and hydroclimate anomalies, especially the Northern Hemisphere (NH) summer land monsoon. Associated with a positive APO phase are the warm troposphere over the Eurasian land and the relatively cool troposphere over the North Pacific, the North Atlantic, and the Indian Ocean. Such an amplified land–ocean thermal contrast between the Eurasian land and its adjacent oceans signifies a stronger than normal NH summer monsoon, with the strengthened southerly or southwesterly monsoon prevailing over tropical Africa, South Asia, and East Asia. A positive APO implies an enhanced summer monsoon rainfall over all major NH land monsoon regions: West Africa, South Asia, East Asia, and Mexico. Thus, APO is a sensible measure of the NH land monsoon rainfall intensity. Meanwhile, reduced precipitation appears over the arid and semiarid regions of northern Africa, the Middle East, and West Asia, manifesting the monsoon-desert coupling. On the other hand, surrounded by the cool troposphere over the North Pacific and North Atlantic, the extratropical North America has weakened low-level continental low and upper-level ridge, hence a deficient summer rainfall. Corresponding to a high APO index, the African and South Asian monsoon regions are wet and cool, the East Asian monsoon region is wet and hot, and the extratropical North America is dry and hot. Wet and dry climates correspond to wet and dry soil conditions, respectively. The APO is also associated with significant variations of SST in the entire Pacific and the extratropical North Atlantic during boreal summer, which resembles the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation in SST. Of note is that the Pacific SST anomalies are not present throughout the year, rather, mainly occur in late spring, peak at late summer, and are nearly absent during boreal winter. The season-dependent APO–SST relationship and the origin of the APO remain elusive.     

Potential future changes in the Indian summer monsoon due to greenhouse warming: analysis of mechanisms in a global time-slice experiment

In this study the potential impact of the anticipated increase in the greenhouse gas concentrations on different aspects of the Indian summer monsoon is investigated, focusing on the role of the mechanisms leading to these changes. Both changes in the mean aspects of the Indian summer monsoon and changes in its interannual variability are considered. This is done on the basis of a global time-slice experiment being performed with the ECHAM4 AGCM at a high horizontal resolution of T106. The experiment consists of two 30-year simulations, one representing the present-day climate (period: 1970–1999) and one representing the future climate (period: 2060–2089). The time-slice experiment predicts an intensification of the mean rainfall associated with the Indian summer monsoon due to the general warming, while the future changes in the large-scale flow indicate a weakening of the monsoon circulation in the upper troposphere and only little change in the lower troposphere. The intensification of the monsoon rainfall in the Indian region is related to an intensification of the atmospheric moisture transport into this region. The weakening of the monsoon flow is caused by a pronounced warming of the sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific and the associated alterations of the Walker circulation. A future increase of the temperature difference between the Indian Ocean and central India as well as a future reduction of the Eurasian snow cover in spring would, by themselves, lead to a strengthening of the monsoon flow in the future. These two mechanisms compensate for the weakening of the low-level monsoon flow induced by the warming of the tropical Pacific. The time-slice experiment also predicts a future increase of the interannual variability of both the rainfall associated with the Indian summer monsoon and of the large-scale flow. A major part of this increase is accounted for by enhanced interannual variability of the sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific.     

Reappraisal of Asian Summer Monsoon Indices and the Long-Term Variation of Monsoon

The Webster and Yang monsoon index (WYI)-the zonal wind shear between 850 and 200 hPa was calculated and modified on the basis of NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data. After analyzing the circulation and divergence fields of 150-100 and 200 hPa, however, we found that the 200-hPa level could not reflect the real change of the upper-tropospheric circulation of Asian summer monsoon, especially the characteristics and variation of the tropical easterly jet which is the most important feature of the upper-tropospheric circulation. The zonal wind shear U850-U(150 100) is much larger than U850-U200, and thus it can reflect the strength of monsoon more appropriately. In addition, divergence is the largest at 150 hPa rather than 200 hPa, so 150 hPa in the upper-troposphere can reflect the coupling of the monsoon system. Therefore, WYI is redefined as DHI, i.e., IDH=U850* - U(150 100)*, which is able to characterize the variability of not only the intensity of the center of zonal wind shear in Asia, but also the monsoon system in the upper and lower troposphere. DHI is superior to WYI in featuring the long-term variation of Asian summer monsoon as it indicates there is obvious interdecadal variation in the Asian summer monsoon and the climate abrupt change occurred in 1980. The Asian summer monsoon was stronger before 1980 and it weakened after then due to the weakening of the easterly in the layer of 150-100 hPa, while easterly at 200 hPa did not weaken significantly. After the climate jump year in general, easterly in the upper troposphere weakened in Asia, indicating the weakening of summer monsoon; the land-sea pressure difference and thermal difference reduced, resulting in the weakening of monsoon; the corresponding upper divergence as well as the water vapor transport decreased in Indian Peninsula, central Indo-China Peninsula, North China, and Northeast China, indicating the weakening of summer monsoon as well. The difference between NCEP/NCAR and ERA-40 reanalysis data in studying the intensity and long-term variation of Asian summer monsoon is also compared in the end for reference.     

夏季东亚高空西风急流气候特征分析

利用NCEP/NCAR全球再分析风场资料定义了西风急流强度指数和位置指数,然后利用EOF方法对西风急流进行了进一步的分析,分析了高空西风急流的空间分布特征,从强度和位置两方面分析了西风急流与东亚环流及其与海温的关系。分析表明： EOF第一模态反映了东亚高空急流的位置指数,第二模态反映了高空急流的强度指数。东亚高空急流与对流层大气环流包括南亚高压,西太平洋副热带高压,东亚夏季风存在着密切关系,其气候变化与热带副热带东太平洋、印度洋海温密切相关。     

梅雨期及其前后东亚地区的经向环流结构

本文分析了1983年江淮流域入梅前、梅雨期以及出梅后东亚地区各期平均的经向环流结构及其演变特征。在不同时期,印度热带季风环流和东亚热带及副热带季风环流具有显著差异。研究指出,江淮流域梅雨是亚洲夏季三个季风系统相互作用的结果,是东亚副热带季风系统中经向环流上升支中的产物,同时又与其它两个季风系统密切相关,梅雨结束则与印度热带季风环流减弱南撤、西太平洋高压加强西伸、东亚副热带季风环流北上有关。