Global monsoon: Dominant mode of annual variation in the tropics

This paper discusses the concept of global monsoon. We demonstrate that the primary climatological features of the tropical precipitation and low-level circulation can be represented by a three-parameter metrics: the annual mean and two major modes of annual variation, namely, a solstitial mode and an equinoctial asymmetric mode. Together, the two major modes of annual cycle account for 84% of the annual variance and they represent the global monsoon. The global monsoon precipitation domain can be delineated by a simple monsoon precipitation index (MPI), which is the local annual range of precipitation (MJJAS minus NDJFM in the Northern Hemisphere and NDJFM minus MJJAS in the Southern Hemisphere) normalized by the annual mean precipitation. The monsoon domain can be defined by annual range exceeding 300 mm and the MPI exceeding 50%.The three-parameter precipitation climatology metrics and global monsoon domain proposed in the present paper provides a valuable objective tool for gauging the climate models’ performance on simulation and prediction of the mean climate and annual cycle. The metrics are used to evaluate the precipitation climatology in three global reanalysis products (ERA40, NCEP2, and JRA25) in terms of their pattern correlation coefficients and root mean square errors with reference to observations. The ensemble mean of the three analysis datasets is considerably superior to any of the individual reanalysis data in representing annual mean, annual cycle, and the global monsoon domain. A major common deficiency is found over the Southeast Asia-Philippine Sea and southeast North America-Caribbean Sea where the east–west land–ocean thermal contrast and meridional hemispheric thermal contrast coexist. It is speculated that the weakness is caused by models’ unrealistic representation of Subtropical High and under-represented tropical storm activity, as well as by neglecting atmosphere–ocean interaction in the reanalysis. It is recommended that ensemble mean of reanalysis datasets be used for improving global precipitation climatology and water cycle budget. This paper also explains why the latitudinal asymmetry in the tropical circulation decreases with altitude.     

全球水循环的海洋分量研究

利用ＮＣＥＰ／ＮＣＡＲ再分析月平均和逐日资料,采用“余差”方法,计算了１９８４～１９９４年全球海气淡水通量,分析了全球水汽输送的特点。主要结果有：（１）在全球水循环中,副热带大洋是重要的水汽辐散区,热带辐合带、南太平洋辐合带和南太平洋东南海域是集中的水汽辐合区,赤道东风带是夏季印度洋季风环流的主要水汽通道;（２）再现了全球海气淡水通量的分布,例如副热带“海洋沙漠”带、热带辐合带和南太平洋辐合带净降水区等;展示了细节特征,如黑潮区的净蒸发特点等;（３）发现了北大西洋中高纬度地区存在一东北—西南向的净蒸发带,而前人结果中则为净降水带;（４）分析了各大洋海气淡水通量的季节、年际变化特征,讨论了太平洋相对于大西洋作为水汽汇的特点;指出热带辐合带和南太平洋辐合带是海气淡水通量变率最大的海域     

从海平面气压场的波谱分析比较南、北半球大气环流的变化

本文应用沿纬圈的谐波分析,对1951—1960年各年逐月南、北半球海平面气压进行分解,对比两个半球的副热带(30°N,30°S)及中纬度(50°N,50°S)的超长波活动发现:(1)南、北两个半球月平均大气环流都存在有性质不同的两类变化,即季节性变化与非季节性变化。在海陆对比明显的北半球,不论西风带还是副热带季节性变化都比较清楚。而南半球仅副热带季节性变化明显,西风带则是非季节性变化占优势。(2)南、北两个半球大气环流的季节变化,都有明显的年际差异。通常,北半球夏季建立(南半球是夏季结束)的年际差异大,北半球夏季结束(南半球是夏季建立)的年际差别较小。(3)超长波位置的年际变化与海陆分布有密切关系。陆地面积大的地区,占优势的超长波位置比较稳定,在几乎全为海洋的50°S,则超长波无论占优势与否,波槽位置的年际变化都较大。     

An assessment of monsoon precipitation changes during 1901�C2001

Changes of global land monsoon precipitation are assessed by using three sets of rain-gauge precipitation data for the period of 1901?C2002 compiled by GPCC, CRU and Dai-dataset, respectively. The three datasets show consistent long-term changes of precipitation over the monsoon region with slightly different amplitudes. During 1901?C2001, global land monsoon precipitation (GMI) exhibits multi-decadal variations, with an overall increasing trend from 1901 to 1955, followed by a decreasing trend up to 2001. The upward trends of global and Northern hemispheric land monsoon precipitation during 1901?C1955 are mainly resulted from the increased precipitation over the North African, Indian and East Asian monsoon domains. For the whole period of 1901?C2001, precipitation averaged over the Northern Hemisphere and global land monsoon areas both exhibit a decreasing trend although it is only statistically significant at the 5% level for the Northern Hemisphere. The robust decreasing trend of Northern hemispheric land monsoon precipitations during the twentieth century mainly comes from the downward trend of North African and eastern part of Indian monsoon precipitation and occurs mainly after the 1950s. The first leading mode of Empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis of precipitation annual range features a coherent change of North African, South Asian, Northeast China, southern South African, eastern Australian and western American monsoon, and a coherent change over the equatorial South African monsoon and eastern American monsoon. The corresponding principal component time series also indicate that the majority of global land monsoon precipitation has experienced an increasing tendency from 1901 to 1955 and a decreasing trend since the 1950s. Examination on the impact of station number change indicates a negligible influence on the results, especially after 1905.     

BALTEX 1/6-degree daily precipitation climatology 1996–1998

Summary A precipitation correction and analysis (PCA) model has been designed and tested during the preparation phase of the BALTEX main experiment BRIDGE. The PCA model consists of a dynamical bias correction module and a geostatistical module. The bias correction reduces the systematic undercatch of the rain gauges due to wind-induced, evaporation and wetting losses by taking instrument-specific properties plus additional information from synoptic observations into account; the mean correction factor is maximum in February (1.25–1.50) and minimum in August (1.02–1.05). The geostatistical module is an ordinary block kriging algorithm; it yields gridded daily precipitation values plus error estimates on the 1/6-degree resolution of the meso-scale BALTEX models. Here we use 3 years (1996–1998) of 4000 rain gauge observations collected by the BALTEX Meteorological Data Centre for a preliminary high-resolution climatology of the BALTEX catchment. It comprises: Time-series of area-averaged daily precipitation; and area distributions of monthly and annual precipitation. Largely independent is the worldwide monthly GPCP data set which includes also satellite data and is available from 1979 on. GPCP yields, for the years 1996–1998, an average of 2.10 mm/day while our evaluation yields 2.01 mm/day. The maximum difference (22%) occurs in January; during the summer months the values are about equal. Received September 27, 2000 Revised February 6, 2001     

南半球西风指数变化与中国夏季降水的关系

根据NCEP/NCAR提供的1950～2007年南半球12～2月、6～8月500 hPa位势高度的月平均再分析资料,采用合成分析方法讨论与中国夏季3类雨型相对应的南半球500 hPa距平高度场的分布特征;运用多变量方差分析方法确定12～2月和6～8月与3类雨型相对应的南半球西风指数波动关键区A;分析关键区A的西风波动与中国夏季降水之间的关系;寻找南、北半球西风相互作用影响中国夏季降水分布的可能途径。分析表明,6～8月与3类雨型相对应的南半球500 hPa距平高度场显示出不同的距平分布形式,并存在显著差异区在（35°N～50°N,35°E～80°E）。12～2月南半球的西风指数变化关键区A在22.5°W～2.5°W,6～8月关键区A在10°E～55°E。南半球关键区A的西风指数强弱变化与中国夏季降水的关系密切,且12~2月南半球的西风波动对北半球夏季关键区的西风环流的变化有预测意义,而前期南半球关键区A的平均西风指数与北半球夏季高度场的显著负相关区在贝加尔湖。南、北半球大气环流经向传播是两半球西风相互作用的可能途径,前期南半球的异常西风使夏季贝加尔湖的平均槽强度变化,进而造成北半球关键区的西风环流异常,从而影响中国夏季雨型的分布。     

On the northward shift of the West African monsoon

The regional climate model (MAR) is used to perform a simulation of the year 1992 over West Africa. It is shown that MAR is able to simulate the main features of the rainy regime over West Africa and especially the discontinuous seasonal progression of the West African Monsoon along the year. One particular feature that is reasonably well reproduced is the abrupt shift of the rain band from 5° to 10°N at the end of June (also called “monsoon jump”). This study suggests that such a phenomenon is associated with the shift of the Saharan heat low between two favourite positions: one being over the Sahelian area (10–15°N) and the other over the Saharan area (20–25°N). These two favourite locations of the heat low are linked to the spatial distribution of surface albedo over West Africa that drives the spatio-temporal location of the surface temperature maxima. A detailed analysis of this “monsoon jump” is performed and the causes of the strong decrease in precipitation that precedes the northward shift of the rain band are also investigated.     

Responses of global monsoon and seasonal cycle of precipitation to precession and obliquity forcing

In this paper, the response of global monsoon to changes in orbital forcing is investigated using a coupled atmosphere–ocean general circulation model with an emphasis on relative roles of precession and obliquity changes. When precession decreases, there are inter-hemispheric asymmetric responses in monsoonal precipitation, featuring a significant increase over most parts of the Northern Hemisphere (NH) monsoon regions and a decrease over the Southern Hemisphere (SH) monsoon regions. In contrast, when obliquity increases, global monsoon is enhanced except for the American monsoon. Dynamic effects (caused by changes in winds with humidity unchanged) dominate the monsoonal precipitation response to both precession and obliquity forcing, while thermodynamic effects (caused by changes in humidity with winds unchanged) is related to the northward extension of the North African summer monsoon. During minimum precession, the seasonal cycle of tropical precipitation is advanced with respect to the maximum precession. The rainfall increase in the transitional season (April-June in the NH and October-December in the SH) is dominated by the dynamic component. From an energetics perspective, the southward (northward) cross-equatorial energy transport during April-June (October-December) corresponds to a northward (southward) shift of tropical precipitation, which results in a seasonal advance in the migration of tropical precipitation. Nonetheless, there is no significant change in the seasonal cycle in response to obliquity forcing.

     

1961～1997年110～140。E垂直经圈环流的年际变化特征及其与海温变化的关系

用NCEP/NCAR再分析资料，分析了196l～1997各年1月和7月的大气垂直经圈环流的变化特征，特别分析了110～140°E平均的垂直经圈环流和其中的东亚季风环流。计算了各年的经圈环流与多年平均垂直经圈环流之相似系数、差异系数和相对强度。文中除讨论了它们的年际和10年际变化外，还讨论了东亚季风环流强弱变化与ENSO循环的关系。结果表明:(1)垂直经圈环流除有年变化外，存在着较明显的年际和年代际变化。1月的全球平均经圈环流1966～1974年较弱，1976～1987年较强；7月的全球垂直经圈环流则是1963～1974年较强，1986～1995年则相对较弱。(2)110～140°E的平均经圈环流主要特点是:1月东亚季风环流圈代替了北半球的Ferrel环流圈，7月东亚季风环流圈代替了北半球的Hadley环流圈，而且其10年际变化也比较明显。(3)东亚季风环流强弱的变化与ENSO循环有一定的关系。     

近百年北半球陆面及中国年降水的区域特征与相关分析

根据插补延长的1900－1996年北半球陆面年总降水资料，采用旋转经验正交展开（REOF）对其进行了分区研究。基于上述分区，对北半球不同区域的降水的长期变化特征作了一些初步讨论。另外，对中国区域的年降水也作了同样的分区，并运用相关分析方法，初步讨论了我国降水在全球大背景下的变化特征。     

全球变暖背景下对流性降水变化特征及影响 因子分析

根据NCEP/NCAR逐日、逐月温度资料和相对湿度资料,及长江中下游60个气象站逐日降水资料,采用趋势分析、突变检验等方法,研究了近60年来全球和北半球地表温度变化趋势,分析了温度增加前后,夏季(6～8月)对流性降水的变化特征及其部分影响因子.结果表明:近60年来,北半球年平均及夏季平均地面温度为增暖趋势,1998年为增暖突变年份;变暖后,长江中下游地区夏季对流性降水事件的发生频率呈增多趋势且强度增强;全球增暖后,对流层中、高层水汽含量呈下降趋势,对流层低层水汽含量呈上升趋势;热含量除个别月份外,在700、850、1000 hPa均有明显增长;大气中不稳定性也显著增强.这些与对流性降水事件发生频率的增加和强度的增强有很好的对应关系,说明全球变暖导致的大气中水汽含量变化、湿空气热含量增加和不稳定性增强对对流性降水事件可能有重要影响.     

中国东部云-降水对应关系的分析与模式评估

为评估和改进模式中不同类型云与降水的对应关系,利用1998—2007年卫星-台站融合降水资料和国际卫星云气候计划的卫星观测云资料,采用诊断方法分析了中国东部季风区冬季层云、夏季对流云、层云与降水的水平分布及季节变化对应关系,并评估了BCC_AGCM模式的T42和T106分辨率版本对云-降水对应关系的模拟能力。观测资料分析结果表明,中国东部冬季云带和雨带都稳定少动,降水主要来自雨层云和高层云,南部沿海层云和层积云也对降水有贡献;夏季,中国东部表现为层积混合云降水特征,对流云带与降水带具有较好的对应关系,并具有一致的移动特征。对流降水主要来自深对流云和卷层云,深对流云云量和降水中心完全吻合,卷层云云带则表现出比深对流云主体和降水带偏北的现象;层云降水主要来自高层云和层积云。模式评估结果表明,中、低分辨率版本的BCC_AGCM模式均模拟出了冬季层云和稳定少动的降水带、夏季深对流云、卷层云和降水带的对应关系及随季风推进的移动特征。与T42模式版本相比,T106模式版本在夏季对流云云量的模拟及其与降水带的对应关系方面有所改善,说明改进的BCC_AGCM积云对流参数化方案与高分辨率模式网格更匹配,但冬季层云云量模拟误差变大,与降水带的对应关系变差,其原因值得进一步分析研究。     

中国东部地区夏季降水和环流的年代际转型及其与PDO的联系

利用1951—2013年全国160个测站逐月降水资料、NCEP/NCAR月平均再分析资料和NOAA全球月平均海表温度等资料,分析了中国东部地区夏季降水的年代际转型及相关大气环流变化。研究结果表明,1970s中后期和1990s PDO两次位相转换给中国东部地区夏季降水带来显著的年代际变化,前者使得东亚夏季风进一步减弱,夏季雨带南退至长江中下游地区,后者使得东亚夏季风恢复增强,雨带北移至淮河流域。进一步研究发现,1990s PDO年代际突变导致东亚夏季大气环流场发生显著变化,贝加尔湖地区增暖导致向北的经向温度梯度增大以及副热带高压的东退北抬是导致1990s东部地区夏季降水年代际变化的可能原因。     

太阳辐射变化对我国中东部和西非夏季风雨量的影响

60年代后期以来，尤其进入80年代，全球气候显著增暖，但从北半球以至我国来看，此种增暖主要出现于冬季，而在盛夏的东亚—西非季风雨带却呈现出明显南移趋势。经严格统计检验并获得数值试验的支持，发现此种南移趋势及伴随的华北和Sahel区雨量的减少，与北半球—我国晴空太阳直接辐射的减少趋势有关。后者的出现是近年来火山活动频繁和大气污染加剧综合作用的结果。     

近百年北半球陆面降水资料的插补及初步分析

采用ＥＯＦｓ展开方法插补延长了一个北半球陆面月降水资料,并讨论了该资料插补工作的合理性。利用该资料初步分析了近百年北半球陆面降水的基本特点。     

1948～2001年全球陆地12～2月降水旱涝长期变化

本文利用1948～2001全球陆地月降水资料(PREC／L)，研究了全球、北、南半球及欧亚、非洲、澳洲、北美、南美和南极大陆6个大尺度区域12～2月的降水趋势变化及早涝气候变化。结果表明：全球、南、北半球的12～2月的陆面降水有明显的年代际变化，全球12～2月降水量从1975年开始有明显的下降趋势，回归系数约为-0．017mm／a。北半球有明显的降水减少，约为-0．028mm／a，南半球12～2月降水表现为极微弱的下降趋势，且在统计上是不显著的。划分出了全球、南北半球、全球6个大尺度区域12～2月旱涝年，指出全球及北、南半球12～2月的旱涝有明显的年代际变化。70年代中期以前是全球洪涝多发期，80年代到90年代为全球干旱多发期。北半球旱涝特征与全球特征相近，南、北半球12～2月的旱涝没有明显的联系。12～2月大尺度区域中：欧亚大陆、北美洲、南极大陆旱涝年的分布有明显的年代际特征，并指出全球大部分地区的旱涝年降水量有显著的差异。6个大尺度区域12～2月的降水相关关系中，欧亚大陆和非洲大陆的相关系数最高，为-0．35，北美大陆与欧亚大陆，南美洲和澳洲的12～2月降水也有较高的相关关系。     

Some Statistical Characteristics of Monthly and Annual Pluviometric Irregularity for the Spanish Mediterranean Coast

Summary  Seven series of monthly pluviometric amounts, sometimes exceeding recording periods of 100 years and compiled by the Instituto Nacional de Meteorología (Spain), are used to study the irregularity of the pluviometric regime along the Spanish Mediterranean coast and nearby Atlantic coast. First of all, three statistical functions (gamma, log-normal and a combination of Poisson and gamma distributions) and moment-ratio diagrams are used to model the monthly and annual empirical distributions of precipitation amounts, each distribution being tested by means of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. It is noteworthy that, whereas most of the monthly cases require the gamma distribution, the pluviometric behaviour of the summer months is well described by the Poisson-gamma distribution. Moreover, both the log-normal and the gamma distributions satisfactorily model empirical annual amounts. Consequently, rainfall amounts are not identically distributed along a year for each gauge tested. Second, temporal trends deduced for annual and seasonal amounts are computed and their statistical significance evaluated. The most notable fact is that, although some linear trends are close to 1 mm/year, their significance levels exceed the assumed threshold value and, excepting the winter season for Barcelona, they are considered non-significant from a statistical point of view. Finally, by again using monthly and annual amounts, three temporal irregularity indexes are computed for each pluviometric series, the temporal disparity of the rainfall patterns of the Mediterranean region being enhanced as a result. It addition to the temporal irregularity, a change with latitude is observed both in the parameters of the statistical distributions and the temporal irregularity indexes for the rain gauges analysed. The two most southerly rain gauges constitute a special case in comparison with the remaining stations, because they also receive the Atlantic influences due to their proximity to this ocean. Received February 25, 1999/Revised August 2, 1999     

Impacts of Cumulus Convective Parameterization Schemes on Summer Monsoon Precipitation Simulation over China

By using the Betts-Miller-Janjic, Grell-Devenyi, and Kain-Fritsch cumulus convective parameterization schemes in theWeather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model, long time simulations from 2000 to 2009 are conducted to investigate the impacts of different cumulus convective parameterization schemes on summer monsoon precipitation simulation over China. The results show that all the schemes have the capability to reasonably reproduce the spatial and temporal distributions of summer monsoon precipitation and the corresponding background circulation. The observed north-south shift of monsoon rain belt is also well simulated by the three schemes. Detailed comparison indicates that the Grell-Devenyi scheme gives a better performance than the others. Deficiency in simulated water vapor transport is one possible reason for the precipitation simulation bias.     

Precipitation sensitivity to regional SST in a regional climate simulation during the West African monsoon for two dry years

The influence on precipitation of regional sea surface temperature (SST) during a drought period of the West African monsoon is determined, using a regional climate model (RCM). The results from three simulations of two realistic dry years are compared. The first two experiments are initialised and nested respectively in 1983 and 1984 reanalysis data sets. The third experiment is a hybrid simulation of 1983 which is the same as the first experiment except that the SST field is the 1984 SST. Precipitation from the RCM is compared with several precipitation data sets and, as in observations, the RCM reasonably simulates the West African monsoon (seasonal cycle and monsoon sub-period) for the two different years. In particular, the model reproduces stage by stage the motion of the monsoon band well: installation phase, high rain period with abrupt northward shift of the rain band, and the retreat southward phase. Interannual variability and wet or dry tendencies are also represented. The most significant effect of SST is shown by the hybrid simulation, when the regional SST appears as a major factor in the seasonal and interannual monsoon precipitation regime over the African continent (up to 12°N) although this influence is modulated both by the surface conditions (soil and vegetation) and by the reanalysis flow introduced at the lateral boundaries. Dynamically, a warmer SST leads to a decrease in the magnitude of the African Easterly Jet and an increase in northward equivalent water content transport (from equator to 12°N).     

近十五年全球臭氧变化

利用卫星观测臭氧总含量ＴＯＭＳ（第７版）资料,在剔除季节变化后对全球６０°Ｓ－６０°Ｎ范围首先进行了沿纬度分布的线性趋势和周期分析。结果表明：自本世纪７０年代末,各纬带上的臭氧总量都呈下降趋势,强度随纬度升高而加剧,并发现总体上北半球臭氧的下降趋势较南半球更加明显;同时证实了准两年振荡是臭氧变化中除年周期外最显著的周期。并对臭氧变化中的准两年振荡作了遥相关分析;发现准两年振荡在强度和位相上基本呈纬向分布并主要表现出赤道对称的特征。１３５～１７０°Ｅ地区臭氧总量变化所表现出的不同于其它地区的原因可能是这一地区常年频繁出现的对流活动;而臭氧总量下降趋势表现出的北半球同纬度地区均大于南半球的南北半球差异可能是由两半球人类活动的差异引起