Changes in Summer Persistent Precipitation over the Middle–Lower Reaches of the Yangtze River and Associated Atmospheric Circulation Patterns

Persistence is an important property of precipitation and its related impacts. However, changes in persistent precipitation and the possible underlying mechanisms in the context of global warming have not yet been discussed in sufficient depth. In this study, the changes in persistent precipitation in summer and related atmospheric circulation patterns over the middle–lower reaches of the Yangtze River(MLRYZR)—a typical monsoon region frequently hit by consecutive rainfall events—are analyzed based on observed daily precipitation and NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data from 1961 to 2019. The results reveal that persistent precipitation events(PPs) tend to happen in a more persistent way, with increased frequency and intensity in the MLRYZR region. Mechanism analyses show that persistent precipitation has happened along with simultaneous enhancement of some large-scale atmospheric circulation patterns,including the Lake Baikal blocking(BB), the Okhotsk Sea blocking(OB), and the western Pacific subtropical high(WPSH). Such enhanced anomalous circulation patterns could persistently reinforce the convergence and supply of water vapor in the MLRYZR region, contributing to the increase in PPs in this region. Based on the above results, we are able to offer some new insights into the long-term changes in precipitation structure and the possible causes. This study is also expected to support attribution studies on regional precipitation changes in the future.     

Variability of Summer Atmospheric Moisture Flux and Its Effect on Precipitation over East China

1. IntroductionIt is known that droughts and floods result fromthe balance of water. Atmospheric water vapor notonly provides resources of water, but plays an impor-tant role in the water and heat cycle of climate sys-tem. IPCC (2001) pointed out that water cycle has anotable change on the background of climate change.Gutzler (1996) found that specific humidity at levelsof 1000, 700, and 300 hPa increases 3%-9% per decadeby using four sounding data in the western equato-rial Pacific. Howeve…     

Correlations between Sea Surface Temperature in Eastern Equatorial Pacific and Rain Days over China in Summer

Sea-surface temperature (SST) in the eastern, equatorial Pacific and rain days over China in summer are analysed using correlation moments that is proposed by author and principal component analysis(PCA). Occurrences of the strong rain-day anomalies over China are associated with extreme SSTs in some years. Areas significantly affected by the phenomena include North and Northeast China.     

Trends of Temperature Extremes in Summer and Winter during 1971–2013 in China

The diurnal temperature range(DTR) has decreased dramatically in recent decades, but it is not yet obvious whether the extreme values of DTR have also reduced. Based on the daily maximum and minimum temperature data of 653 stations in China, a set of monthly indices of warm extremes, cold extremes, and DTR extremes in summer(June, July, August) and winter(December, January, February) were studied for spatial and temporal features during the period 1971–2013. Results show that the incidence of warm extremes has been increasing in most parts of China, while the opposite trend was found in the cold extremes for summer and winter months. Both increasing and decreasing trends of monthly DTR extremes were identified in China for both seasons. For high DTR extremes, decreasing trends were identified in northern China for both seasons, but increasing trends were found only in southern China in summer, while in winter, they were found in central China. Monthly low DTR extreme indices demonstrated consistent positive trends in summer and winter, while significant increases(P 0.05) were identified for only a few stations.     

Winter Asia Jetstream and Seasonal Precipitation in East China

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Global Annual Mean Surface Air Temperature Anomalies and Their Link with Indian Summer Monsoon Failures

Analysis of the global mean annual temperature anomalies based on land and marine data for the last 88 years (1901-1988) of this century has been carried out with a view to find any relationship with failures in Indian summer monsoon rainfall. On the climatological scale (i.e. 30 years) it has been noticed that there is an abnormal increase in the frequency of drought years during epochs of global warming and cooling, while it is considerably less when global temperatures are near normal. Results are unchanged even when the data are filtered out for ENSO (El-Nino Southern Oscillation) effect.It has also been noticed that during warm and cold epochs in global temperatures the amount of summer monsoon rainfall decreases as compared to the rainfall during a normal temperature epoch.     

Moisture Sources and Their Contributions to Summer Precipitation in the East of Southwest China

Complex topography, special geographical location and sea-land-air interactions lead to high interannual variability of summer precipitation in the east of Southwest China (ESWC). However, the contributions, influencing factors and mechanisms of remote and local evaporation remain to be further investigated. Using clustering analysis and Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory version 5 model, we analyze the contributions of remote moisture transport and local evaporation to summer precipitation in the ESWC and their causes. There are mainly five remote moisture channels in the ESWC, namely the Arabian Sea channel, Bay of Bengal channel, western Pacific channel, Northwest channel 1 and Northwest channel 2. Among the five channels, the western Pacific channel has the largest number of trajectories, while the Bay of Bengal channel has the largest contribution rate of specific humidity (33.33%) and moisture flux (33.14%). The amount of regional average precipitation is close to that of the precipitation caused by remote moisture transport, and both are considerably greater than the rainfall amount caused by local evaporation. However, on interannual time scales, precipitation recirculation rates are negatively correlated to regional average precipitation and precipitation caused by remote moisture transport but are consistent with that caused by local evaporation. An apparent "+ ? +" wave train can be found on the height anomaly field in East Asia, and the sea surface temperature anomalies are positive in the equatorial Middle-East Pacific, the South China Sea, the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. These phenomena cause southwest-northeast moisture transport with strong updrafts, thereby resulting in more precipitation in the ESWC.     

Trends and Uncertainties in Surface Air Temperature over the Tibetan Plateau,1951–2013

Trends and uncertainties of surface air temperature over the Tibetan Plateau(TP)are evaluated by using observations at 100 meteorological stations during the period 1951–2013.The sampling error variances of gridded monthly data are estimated for every month and every grid box of data.The gridded data and their sampling error variances are used to calculate TP averages,their trends,and associated uncertainties.It is shown that large sampling error variances dominate northern and western TP,while small variances appear over southern and eastern TP.Every month from January to December has a positive linear trend during the study period.February has the largest trend of 0.34±0.18°C(10 yr)~(–1),and April the smallest at 0.15±0.11°C(10 yr)~(–1).The uncertainties decrease steadily with time,implying that they are not large enough to alter the TP warming trend.     

Joint Effect of East Asia–Pacific and Eurasian Teleconnections on the Summer Precipitation in North Asia

The East Asia-Pacific(EAP) and Eurasian(EU) teleconnections are independent of each other on the seasonal timescale(with a correlation coefficient of only 0.03).But they may occur concurrently with consistent or opposite phases.This paper investigates their synergistic effect on the summer precipitation in North Asia.Based on the signs/phases of EAP and EU indices,the EAP and EU teleconnection anomalies occur in four cases:(Ⅰ) positive EAP+positive EU,(Ⅱ) negative EAP+negative EU,(Ⅲ) positive EAP+negative EU,and(Ⅳ) negative EAP+positive EU.Further analyses show that these four configurations of EAP and EU anomalies are coherently related to different atmospheric circulations over the midlatitude Eurasian continent,leading to different summer precipitation modes in North Asia.Category Ⅰ(Ⅱ) corresponds to a zonal tripole structure of the geopotential height at 500 hPa over eastern Europe and the Sea of Japan,leading to less(more) than normal precipitation in eastern Europe,Japan,and the surrounding areas,and more(less) precipitation from central China to Lake Baikal and eastern Russia.Category Ⅲ(Ⅳ) corresponds to a meridional dipole structure of the geopotential height at 500 hPa over North Asia,leading to more(less) precipitation in the northern North Asia and less(more) precipitation in most of the southern North Asia.Independent analysis reveals that the EAP teleconnection itself is positively correlated with the precipitation in the region between the eastern part of Lake Baikal and Okhotsk Sea,and negatively correlated with the precipitation in the region between Northeast China and Japan.Coincidently,the EU pattern and precipitation have negative correlations in Ural Mountain and Okhotsk Sea areas and positive correlations in the Lake Baikal area.The respective relations of EAP and EU with the summer precipitation in North Asia suggest that the EAP northern lobe overlapped with the EU central and eastern lobes could extend the geopotential anomalies over Lake Baikal to Russian Far East,creating an EAP-EU synergistic effect on the summer precipitation in North Asia.     

Interannual and Interdecadal Variations in Atmospheric Circulation Factors and Rainfall in China and Their Relationship

Wavelet analysis is used to study the interannual and interdecadal variations of rainfall in China and atmospheric circulation factors, including the key atmospheric oscillations, W, C, E patterns and subtropical high. Regression analysis and correlation analysis are both used to study the relationship of atmospheric circulation factors and China rainfall on different time scale and spatial scale. The results are as follows: (1) The variations of atmospheric circulation and rainfall in China are characterized by interannual and interdecadal scales. The variations of atmospheric circulation and rainfall are composed of interannual and interdecadal variations. It is necessary to separate those two time scales when climate changes and forecast are studied. (2) The variations of China rainfall are due to the interaction of multi-factors rather than single factors. The marked factors which influence the interannual and interdecadal variations are various. Subtropical high is one of the marked factors which influence interannual variations of rainfall, while AO, NAO, and NPO are one of the marked factors which influence interdecadal variations of rainfall. (3) The longer the time scale is, and the larger the spatial scale is, and the more remarkable the relationships between atmospheric circulation and rainfall are.     

Application and Study of Precipitation Schemes in Weather Simulation in Summer and Winter over China

Through simulation of summer and winter precipitation cases in China, the cloud precipitation schemes of model were examined. Results indicate that it is discrepant between convective precipitation simulated by the Kain-Fritsch (KF) scheme and Betts-Miller (BM) scheme in summer, the former scheme is better than the latter in this case. The ambient atmosphere may be varied by different convective schemes. The air is wetter and the updraft is stronger in the KF scheme than in the BM scheme, which can induce the more grid scale precipitation in the KF scheme, i.e., the different cumulus schemes may have the different and important effect on the grid scale precipitation. However, there is almost no convective rain in winter in northern China, so the effect of cumulus precipitation on the grid scale precipitation can be disregarded. Therefore, the gird scale precipitation is primary in the winter of northern China.     

The Extreme Summer Precipitation over East China during 1982–2007 Simulated by the LASG/IAP Regional Climate Model

The extreme summer precipitation over East China during 1982-2007 was simulated using the LASG/IAP regional climate model CREM(the Climate version of a Regional Eta-coordinate Model).The results show that the probability density functions(PDFs) of precipitation intensities are reasonably simulated,except that the PDFs of light and moderate rain are underestimated and that the PDFs of heavy rain are overestimated.The extreme precipitation amount(R95p) and the percent contribution of extreme precipitation to the total precipitation(R95pt) are also reasonably reproduced by the CREM.However,the R95p and R95pt over most of East China are generally overestimated,while the R95p along the coastal area of South China(SC) is underestimated.The bias of R95pt is consistent with the bias of precipitation intensity on wet days(SDII).The interannual variation for R95p anomalies(PC1) is well simulated,but that of R95pt anomalies(PC2) is poorly simulated.The skill of the model in simulating PC1(PC2) increases(decreases) from north to south.The bias of water vapor transport associated with the 95th percentile of summer daily precipitation(WVTr95) explains well the bias of the simulated extreme precipitation.     

Changes in Seasonal Patterns of Temperature and Precipitation in China During 1971-2000

Many studies have shown evidence for significant changes in surface climate in different regions of the world and during different seasons over the past 100 years. Based on daily temperature and precipitation data from 720 climate stations in China, cluster analysis was used to identify regions in China that have experienced similar changes in the seasonal cycle of temperature and precipitation during the 1971-2000 climate normal period. Differences in 11-day averages of daily mean temperature and total precipitation between the first （1971-1985） and second （1986-2000） halves of the record were analyzed using the Mann- Whitney U test and the global κ-means clustering algorithm. Results show that most parts of China experienced significant increases in temperature between the two periods, especially in winter, although some of this warming may be attributable to the urban heat island effect in large cities. Most of western China experienced more precipitation in 1986-2000, while precipitation decreased in the Yellow River valley. Changes in the summer monsoon were also evident, with decreases in precipitation during the onset and decay phases, and increases during the wettest period.     

Synergistic Interdecadal Evolution of Precipitation over Eastern China and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation during 1951–2015

By using the multi-taper method(MTM) of singular value decomposition(SVD), this study investigates the interdecadal evolution(10-to 30-year cycle) of precipitation over eastern China from 1951 to 2015 and its relationship with the North Pacific sea surface temperature(SST). Two significant interdecadal signals, one with an 11-year cycle and the other with a 23-year cycle, are identified in both the precipitation and SST fields. Results show that the North Pacific SST forcing modulates the precip...     

The Dipole Mode of the Summer Rainfall over East China during 1958–2001

By examining the second leading mode(EOF2)of the summer rainfall in China during 1958–2001 and associated circulations,the authors found that this prominent mode was a dipole pattern with rainfall decreasing to the north of the Yangtze River and increasing to the south.This reverse relationship of the rainfalls to the north and to the south of the Yangtze River was related with the meridional circulations within East Asia and the neighboring region,excited by SST in the South China Sea-northwestern Pacific....     

Climate-Induced Variability of Sea Level in Stockholm： Influence of Air Temperature and Atmospheric Circulation

This study is focused on climate-induced variation of sea level in Stockholm during 1873-1995. After the effect of the land uplift, is removed, the residual is characterized and related to large-scale temperature and atmospheric circulation. The residual shows an overall upward trend, although this result depends on the uplift rate used. However, the seasonal distribution of the trend is uneven. There are even two months （June and August） that show a negative trend. The significant trend in August may be linked to fresh water input that is controlled by precipitation. The influence of the atmospheric conditions on the sea level is mainly manifested through zonal winds, vorticity and temperature. While the wind is important in the period January-May, the vorticity plays a main role during June and December. A successful linear multiple-regression model linking the climatic variables （zonal winds, vorticity and mean air temperature during the previous two months） and the sea level is established for each month. An independent verification of the model shows that it has considerable skill in simulating the variability.     

Tropical Cyclones over the Western North Pacific Strengthen the East Asia–Pacific Pattern during Summer

The contribution of tropical cyclones(TCs)to the East Asia–Pacific(EAP)teleconnection pattern during summer was investigated using the best track data of the Joint Typhoon Warning Center and NCEP-2 reanalysis datasets from 1979 to2018.The results showed that the TCs over the western North Pacific(WNP)correspond to a strengthened EAP pattern:During the summers of strong convection over the tropical WNP,TC days correspond to a stronger cyclonic circulation anomaly over the WNP in the lower troposphere,an enhanced seesaw pattern of negative and positive geopotential height anomalies over the subtropical WNP and midlatitude East Asia in the middle troposphere,and a more northward shift of the East Asian westerly jet in the upper troposphere.Further analyses indicated that two types of TCs with distinctly different tracks,i.e.,westward-moving TCs and northward-moving TCs,both favor the EAP pattern.The present results imply that TCs over the WNP,as extreme weather,can contribute significantly to summer-mean climate anomalies over the WNP and East Asia.     

Trends of Regional Precipitation and Their Control Mechanisms during 1979–2013

Trends in precipitation are critical to water resources. Considerable uncertainty remains concerning the trends of regional precipitation in response to global warming and their controlling mechanisms. Here, we use an interannual difference method to derive trends of regional precipitation from GPCP(Global Precipitation Climatology Project) data and MERRA(ModernEra Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications) reanalysis in the near-global domain of 60?S–60?N during a major global warming period of 1979–2013. We find that trends of regional annual precipitation are primarily driven by changes in the top 30% heavy precipitation events, which in turn are controlled by changes in precipitable water in response to global warming, i.e., by thermodynamic processes. Significant drying trends are found in most parts of the U.S. and eastern Canada,the Middle East, and eastern South America, while significant increases in precipitation occur in northern Australia, southern Africa, western India and western China. In addition, as the climate warms there are extensive enhancements and expansions of the three major tropical precipitation centers–the Maritime Continent, Central America, and tropical Africa–leading to the observed widening of Hadley cells and a significant strengthening of the global hydrological cycle.     

Monthly Changes in the Influence of the Arctic Oscillation on Surface Air Temperature over China

Partial Least Squares Regression （PLSR） is used to study monthly changes in the influence of the Arctic Oscillation （AO） on spring, summer and autumn air temperature over China with the January 500 hPa geopotential height data from 1951 to 2004 and monthly temperature data from January to November at 160 stations in China. Several AO indices have been defined with the 500-hPa geopotential data and the index defined as the first principal component of the normalized geopotential data is best to be used to study the influence of the AO on SAT （surface air temperature） in China. There are three modes through which the AO in winter influences SAT in China. The influence of the AO on SAT in China changes monthly and is stronger in spring and summer than in autumn. The main influenced regions are Northeast China and the Changjiang River drainage area.     

Abnormal Warming of the Summer Surface Air Temperature in Central Asia from 1980 to 2019北大核心CSCD

This work analyzes the abrupt change in summer surface air temperature (SAT) in Central Asia (CA) and its relationship with sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and snow cover in the Qinghai Tibet Plateau between 1980 and 2019 based on NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data, CRU SAT, and snow cover and global SST data. The results reveal a significant summer SAT change in CA in 2005. The standardized regional average temperature index in CA shifts from the previous negative phase to the subsequent positive phase, indicating a significant summer SAT increase in CA. Analysis of the anomalous atmospheric circulations related to interdecadal changes in summer SAT in CA shows the abnormally enhanced anticyclonic circulation system in the west of CA after 2005. The atmospheric subsidence associated with the anomalous anticyclone can cause warming. On the other hand, the reduction in the amount of cloud caused by this anticyclone anomaly enhancement results in the increase in downward short-wave radiation and thus is favorable for the increased summer temperature in CA. Furthermore, the interdecadal summer SAT changes in CA in 2005 are closely related to SST warming in the middle and high latitudes of the North Atlantic and the reduction in snow cover in the west of the Tibet Plateau (TP). The SST increase in the middle and high latitudes of the North Atlantic can stimulate a Rossby wave propagating downstream. The reduction in snow cover in the west of the TP can cause warming to the above atmosphere through the snow albedo effect. The changes in both the North Atlantic SST and the TP snow can strengthen the anticyclone over CA, leading to an abnormally high summer SAT over there. © 2023 Science Press. All rights reserved.