全球气候变暖背景下索马里急流变化的预估研究

索马里急流的变化对亚洲季风和气候变动具有重要的影响,未来索马里急流到底会如何演变?如何受全球变暖的影响?针对这个问题,文中利用IPCC第四次评估报告(IPCC AR4)的多个海气耦合模式的模拟结果,评估了多个模式在当前气候(20C3M)条件下对夏季低空索马里急流的模拟能力;预估模式在SRESA2排放情景下对21世纪(2010-2099)的索马里急流变化.研究结果表明,18个模式在现代气候条件下对索马里急流有较好的模拟能力;18个模式的集合平均结果预测夏季索马里低空急流在21世纪的变化过程是:初期(2010-2040)增强至减弱,中期(2050-2060)增加至最强,末期(2070-2090)减至最弱.与现代气候条件模拟结果相比,夏季索马里低空急流在未来气候变暖背景条件下是趋于减弱的过程,在21世纪末期最弱.研究还表明了夏季低空索马里急流的变化幅度与全球平均气温的变化幅度是一个非线性的关系,各模式对二者关系的描述存在不确定性,鉴于索马里急流对印度季风和东亚季风及中国气候的重要性,索马里急流的变化规律和未来演变是科学界特别需要深入研究的问题.     

Impact of the Preceding Boreal Winter Southern Annular Mode on the Summertime Somali Jet

One of the major high-latitude circulation systems in the Southern Hemisphere is the Southern Annular Mode（SAM）. Its effect on the Somali Jet（SMJ）, which connects the Southern and Northern hemispheres, cannot be ignored. The present reported results show that time series of both the Southern Annular Mode Index（SAMI） during the preceding winter and the summertime Somali Jet intensity Index（SMJI） display a significant increasing trend and have similar interdecadal variation. The latter was rather strong around 1960, then became weaker up to the mid-1980 s, before starting to strengthen again. The lead-lag correlations of monthly mean SAMI with the following summertime SMJI showed significant positive correlations in November, December, and January. There are thus connections across two seasons between the SAM and the SMJ. The influence of the winter SAM on the summer SMJ was explored via analyses of SST anomalies in the Southern Indian Ocean. During strong（weak） SAM/SMJ years, the SST east of Madagascar is colder（warmer） while the SST west of Australia is warmer（colder）, corresponding to the positive（negative） Southern Indian Ocean Dipole-like（SIODL） event. Subsequently, the SIODL excites an anticyclone located over the Arabian Sea in summer through air-sea coupling from winter to summer, which causes an increase in the summer SMJ intensity. The anticyclone/high branch of the SAM over the Southern Hemisphere subtropics and the cyclone/low over the east coast of Madagascar play an important role in the formation of Southern Indian Ocean ＂bridge＂ from winter to summer.     

索马里急流与我国西南地区5月降水的联系及其年代际变化

利用1951~2010年的NECP/NCAR再分析资料和GPCC(Global Precipitation Climatology Centre)降水资料,分析了索马里急流强度与西南降水的联系。研究结果表明:索马里急流与西南降水在初夏5月有很好的正相关关系,当索马里急流偏强时,西南地区降水偏多;反之,索马里急流偏弱时,西南地区降水偏少。进一步的分析发现,两者的联系存在明显的年代际变化,事实上,西南地区5月降水与索马里急流之间的关系在1980年代以后显著加强。低层风场辐合是西南地区5月降水的关键环流配置特征,在1980年之前,5月索马里急流强度仅仅与从孟加拉湾到我国东部地区的低层西南风场相关;但在1980年之后,其与我国西南地区以西的西南风和其以东的东北风均有密切的联系。索马里急流强度与中国西南初夏降水关系的加强,主要是由于索马里急流作用的东伸加强,这可能与印度洋对东亚季风影响作用的加强有关。     

Asian summer monsoon prediction in ECMWF System 4 and NCEP CFSv2 retrospective seasonal forecasts

The seasonal prediction skill of the Asian summer monsoon is assessed using retrospective predictions (1982–2009) from the ECMWF System 4 (SYS4) and NCEP CFS version 2 (CFSv2) seasonal prediction systems. In both SYS4 and CFSv2, a cold bias of sea-surface temperature (SST) is found over the equatorial Pacific, North Atlantic, Indian Oceans and over a broad region in the Southern Hemisphere relative to observations. In contrast, a warm bias is found over the northern part of North Pacific and North Atlantic. Excessive precipitation is found along the ITCZ, equatorial Atlantic, equatorial Indian Ocean and the maritime continent. The southwest monsoon flow and the Somali Jet are stronger in SYS4, while the south-easterly trade winds over the tropical Indian Ocean, the Somali Jet and the subtropical northwestern Pacific high are weaker in CFSv2 relative to the reanalysis. In both systems, the prediction of SST, precipitation and low-level zonal wind has greatest skill in the tropical belt, especially over the central and eastern Pacific where the influence of El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is dominant. Both modeling systems capture the global monsoon and the large-scale monsoon wind variability well, while at the same time performing poorly in simulating monsoon precipitation. The Asian monsoon prediction skill increases with the ENSO amplitude, although the models simulate an overly strong impact of ENSO on the monsoon. Overall, the monsoon predictive skill is lower than the ENSO skill in both modeling systems but both systems show greater predictive skill compared to persistence.     

索马里急流和澳洲越赤道气流年际变异不同配置及其影响

使用NCEP/NCAR大气再分析资料、Hadley中心海表温度分析资料和中国160站降水观测资料,分析了夏季索马里急流与澳洲越赤道气流年际变异之间的关系及相关联的海表温度、大气环流和中国降水异常分布特征。结果表明:夏季索马里急流和澳洲越赤道气流的年际变异存在两类关系,即多数的反位相和少数的同位相关系。当夏季索马里急流和澳洲越赤道气流呈前者减弱、而后者增强的反位相变化时,热带印度洋—太平洋海气异常表现为处于发展阶段的经典的东部El Nio型,造成东亚夏季风显著减弱,中国降水呈南方偏多、北方偏少的偶极型分布;当夏季索马里急流和澳洲越赤道气流同位相增强时,海气异常表现为处于成熟阶段的中太平洋El Nio型,东亚夏季风增强,中国降水呈长江流域降水偏少、而华北和华南沿海降水显著偏多的三极型分布。     

CLIMATOLOGICAL VARIATION OF GLOBAL CROSS-EQUATORIAL FLOWS FOR THE PERIOD 1948-2004

By using monthly NCEP/NCAR meridional gridpoint wind data at the levels of 1000, 850, 700,600, 500, 400, 300, 200, 150 and 100 hPa from 1948 to 2004, the intensity of global cross-equatorial flows is calculated. The spatial and temporal variation of global cross-equatorial flows at the 850-hPa level are shown and discussed. The results show that the strength of the 850-hPa global cross-equatorial flows represent obvious long-term variation and interdecadal change during the period. Evidence suggests that the cross-equatorial flow of the passages at 45 - 50 °E in June to August, 105 - 115 °E in May to September,130 - 140 °E in May to September and May to November and 20 - 25 °E in February to April intensified and that the cross-equatorial flow of the passages at 50 - 35 °W in June to August weaken in the past 57 years, with an increase of 0.25m/s/10a for summer Somali Jet and increase of 0.32 m/s/10a for crossequatorial flow at 130 - 140 °E in May to September The results of Singular Spectrum Analysis (SSA) for the time series indicate that for the cross-equatorial flow at 850 hPa, the interdecadal and long-term trend changes are 35% - 45%, and the interannual variation is no more than 30%, in variance contribution. The results also reveal that the interannual variation of intensity of the summer cross-equatorial flows in the Pacific is significantly correlated with Southern Oscillation. With weak Southern Oscillation, strong crossequatorial flows in Pacific will happen, though the summer Somali Jet is only a little positively correlated with North Atlantic Oscillation (NAD).     

Seasonal Prediction of the Global Precipitation Annual Modes with the Grid-Point Atmospheric Model of IAP LASG

A right annual cycle is of critical importance for a model to improve its seasonal prediction skill. This work assesses the performance of the Grid-point Atmospheric Model of IAP LASG （GAMIL） in retrospective prediction of the global precipitation annual modes for the 1980 2004 period. The annual modes are gauged by a three-parameter metrics： the long-term annual mean and two major modes of annual cycle （AC）, namely, a solstitial mode and an equinoctial asymmetric mode. The results demonstrate that the GAMIL one-month lead prediction is basically able to capture the major patterns of the long-term annual mean as well as the first AC mode （the solstitial monsoon mode）. The GAMIL has deficiencies in reproducing the second AC mode （the equinoctial asymmetric mode）. The magnitude of the GAMIL prediction tends to be greater than the observed precipitation, especially in the sea areas including the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal （BOB）, and the western North Pacific （WNP）. These biases may be due to underestimation of the convective activity predicted in the tropics, especially over the western Pacific warm pool （WPWP） and its neighboring areas. It is suggested that a more accurate parameterization of convection in the tropics, especially in the Maritime Continent, the WPWP and its neighboring areas, may be critical for reproducing the more realistic annual modes, since the enhancement of convective activity over the WPWP and its vicinity can induce suppressed convection over the WNP, the BOB, and the South Indian Ocean where the GAMIL produces falsely vigorous convections. More efforts are needed to improve the simulation not only in monsoon seasons but also in transitional seasons when the second AC mode takes place. Selection of the one-tier or coupled atmosphere-ocean system may also reduce the systematic error of the GAMIL prediction. These results offer some references for improvement of the GAMIL seasonal prediction skill.     

The Unprecedented Freezing Disaster in January 2008 in Southern China and Its Possible Association with the Global Warming

The unprecedented disaster of low temperature and persistent rain, snow, and ice storms, causing widespread freezing in the Yangtze River Basin and southern China in January 2008, is not a local or regional event, but a part of the chain events of large-scale low temperature and snow storms in the same period in Asia. The severity and impacts of the southern China 2008 freezing disaster were the most significant among others. This disastrous event was characterized by three major features： （1） snowfall, freezing rain, and rainfall, the three forms of precipitation, coexisted with freezing rain being the dominant producer responsible for the disaster; （2） low temperature, rain and snow, and freezing rain exhibited extremely great intensity, with record-breaking measurements observed for eight meteorological variables based on the statistics made by China National Climate Center and the provincial meteorological services in the Yangtze River Basin and southern China; （3） the disastrous weathers persisted for an exceptionally long time period, unrecorded before in the meteorological observation history of China.
The southern China 2008 freezing disaster may be resulted from multiple different factors that superimpose on and interlink with one another at the right time and place. Among them, the La Nina situation is a climate background that provided conducive conditions for the intrusions of cold air into southern China; the persistent anomaly of the atmospheric circulation in Eurasia is the direct cause for a succession of cold air incursions into southern China; and the northward transport of warm and moist airflows from the Bay of Bengal and South China Sea finally warranted the formation of the freezing rain and snow storms and their prolonged dominance in the southern areas of China.
A preliminary discussion of a possible association of this disastrous event with the global warming is presented. This event may be viewed as a short-term regional perturbation to the global warming. There is no     

Results of a CLM4 Land Surface Simulation over China Using a Multisource Integrated Land Cover Dataset

In this study, the high-accuracy multisource integrated Chinese land cover （MICLCover） dataset was used in version 4 of the Community Land Model （CLM4） to assess how the new land cover information affected land surface simulation over China. Compared to the default land cover dataset in CLM4, the MICL data indicated lower values for bare soil （14.6% reduction）, nee- dleleaf tree （3.6%）, and broadleaf tree （1.9%）; higher values for shrub cover （1.8% increase）, grassland （9.9%）, cropland （5.0%）, glaciers （0.5%）, lakes （1.6%）, and wetland （1.1%）; and unchanged for urban areas. Two comparative CLM4 simulations were conducted for the 33-yr period from 1972 to 2004, one using the MICL dataset and the other using the default dataset. The results revealed that the MICL data produced a 0.3% lower mean annual surface albedo over China than the original data. The largest contributor to the reduced value was semiarid regions （2.1% reduction）. The MICL-data albedo value agreed more closely with observations （MODIS broad- band black-sky albedo products） over arid and semiarid regions than for the original data to some extent. The simulated average sensible heat flux over China increased by only 0.1 W m 2 owing to the reduced values in arid and semiarid regions, as opposed to increases in humid and semihumid regions, while an increased latent heat flux of I W m-2 was reflected in almost identical changes over the whole region. In addition, the mean annual runoff simulated by CLM4 using MICL data decreased by 6.8 mm yr-1, primarily due to large simulated decreases in humid regions.     

2005年南海夏季风建立偏晚和持续异常偏南的成因分析

通过分析大气环流及其热力结构演变特征,揭示2005年春末夏初南海季风爆发偏迟和持续异常偏南的原因。结果表明,阿拉伯高压偏强,与中高纬度高压脊叠加,导致较高纬度冷空气南下青藏高原南侧及中南半岛一带,抑制了中南半岛附近地区大气增温,不利于南海季风的爆发;索马里急流及赤道西风建立偏晚使中南半岛对流凝结潜热偏弱,是中南半岛一带大气增温偏迟的另一重要原因。6月上中旬,印度半岛北部冷空气势力偏强,大气增温缓慢,使印度季风和亚洲南部季风槽向北推进迟缓,使强劲的西南季风径直向东输送进入南海,有利于南海西南季风长期持续偏南。春末青藏高原积雪偏多,积雪融化抑制了地面增温和大气感热加热,是南海季风爆发偏晚的另一重要原因。6月上中旬,西南季风北上偏迟导致高原对流偏弱,热源偏弱,负反馈作用抑制了西南季风进一步北上,导致西南季风持续异常偏南。     

索马里越赤道气流对越南降水变化的影响

基于1979-2002年CMAP全球降水资料和NCEP／NCAR再分析资料，研究了越南降水的季节和年际变化特征及其受索马里越赤道气流的影响。结果表明，越南南北方降水具有不同的季节和年际变化特征，南方降水主要集中在夏季和秋季，且夏、秋季降水的变化呈反位相关系，而北方降水则集中在夏季。夏季索马里气流与同期及后期越南南方降水有很好的相关性，同期为显著的正相关，后期为显著的负相关。相对而言，索马里越赤道气流和越南北方降水的关系不显著。另外，夏季赤道印度洋西风与越南夏秋季降水的相关与索马里气流类似，表明索马里越赤道气流可能是通过改变纬向水汽输送来影响越南南方降水。     

Preliminary Assessment of the Common Land Model Coupled with the IAP Dynamic Global Vegetation Model

The Common Land Model（CoLM） was coupled with the IAP Dynamic Global Vegetation Model（IAPDGVM）, and the performance of this combined CoLMIAP model was evaluated. Offline simulations using both the original Common Land Model（CoLM-LPJ） and CoLM-IAP were conducted. The CoLM-IAP coupled model showed a significant improvement over CoLMLPJ, as the deciduous tree distribution decreased over temperate and boreal regions, while the distribution of evergreen trees increased over the tropics. Some biases in CoLM-LPJ were preserved, including the overestimation of evergreen trees in tropical savanna, the underestimation of boreal evergreen trees, and the absence of boreal shrubs. However, most of these biases did not exist in a further coupled simulation of IAP-DGVM with the Community Land Model（CLM）, for which the parameters of IAP-DGVM were optimized. This implies that further improvement is needed to deal with the differences between CoLM and CLM in parameterizations of landbased physical and biochemical processes.     

The Soil Moisture and Net Primary Production Affected by CO_2 and Climate Change Using a Coupled Model

In this paper, a coupled model was used to estimate the responses of soil moisture and net primary production of vegetation （NPP） to increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration and climate change. The analysis uses three experiments simulated by the second-generation Earth System Model （CanESM2） of the Canadian Centre for Climate Modelling and Analysis （CCCma）, which are part of the phase 5 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project （CMIP5）. The authors focus on the magnitude and evolution of responses in soil moisture and NPP using simulations modeled by CanESM, in which the individual effects of increasing CO2 concentration and climate change and their combined effect are separately accounted for. When considering only the single effect of climate change, the soil moisture and NPP have a linear trend of 0.03 kg m^-2 yr^-1 and-0.14 gC m^- 2 yr^-2, respec- tively. However, such a reduction in the global NPP results from the decrease of NPP at lower latitudes and in the Southern Hemisphere, although increased NPP has been shown in high northern latitudes. The largest negative trend is located in the Amazon basin at -1.79 gC m^-2 yr^-2. For the individual effect of increasing CO2 concentration, both soil moisture and NPP show increases, with an elevated linear trend of 0.02 kg m^-2 yr^-1 and 0.84 gC m^-2 yr^-2, respectively. Most regions show an increasing NPP, except Alaska. For the combined effect of increasing atmospheric CO2 and climate change, the increased soil moisture and NPP exhibit a linear trend of 0.04 kg m^2 yr^-1 and 0.83 gC m^2 yr^-2 at a global scale. In the Amazon basin, the higher reduction in soil moisture is illustrated by the model, with a linear trend of-0.39 kg m^-2 yr^-1, for the combined effect. Such a change in soil moisture is caused by a weakened Walker circulation simulated by this coupled model, compared with the single effect of increasing CO2 concentration （experiment M2）, and a consequence of the reduction in NPP is also shown in this area, with a linear trend of-     

Characteristics of Gaseous Pollutants at a Regional Background Station in Southern China

Measurements of gaseous pollutants （03, NOx, SO2, and CO） were conducted at Dinghushan background station in southern China from January to December 2013. The levels and variations of O3, NOx, SO2, and CO were analyzed and their possible causes discussed. The annual average concentrations of 03, NOx, SO2, and CO were 24.6 ± 23.9, 12.8 ± 10.2, 4.0 ± 4.8, and 348 ± 185 ppbv, respectively. The observed levels of the gaseous pollutants are comparable to those at other background sites in China. The most obvious diurnal variation of 03 was observed in autumn, with minima in the early morning and maxima in the afternoon. The diurnal variations of SO2 showed high values during the day. The diurnal cycles of NOx showed higher values in the morning and lower values during the night. Higher CO concentrations were observed in spring followed by winter, autumn, and summer. Biomass burning, in combination with the transport of regional pollution, is an important source of CO, SO2, and NOx in spring and winter. Backward trajectories were calculated and analyzed together with corresponding pollutant concentrations. The results indicate that air masses passing over polluted areas are responsible for the high concentrations of gaseous pollutants at the Dinghushan background station.     

Integration of Multi-source Measurements to Monitor Dust over North China：A Case Study

The aerosol optical depth （AOD） data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer （MODIS） aboard Satellite Aqua, along with the altitude-resolved aerosol subtypes product from the Cloud-Aerosol LIdar with Orthogonal Polarization （CALIOP）, as well as surface PM 10 measurements, were utilized to investigate the dust activities common in springtime of northern China. Specifically, a dust storm episode that occurred over the North China Plain （NCP） during 17-21 March 2010 was identified. The PM 10 concentration at Beijing （39.8 °N, 116.47 °E） reached the peak value of 283 μgm -3 on 20 March 2010 from the background value of 15 μg m-3 measured on 17 March 2010, then dropped to 176 μgm-3 on 21 March 2010. Analysis of the CALIOP aerosol subtypes product showed that numerous large dust plumes floated over northern China, downwind of main desert source regions, and were lifted to altitudes as high as 3.5 km during this time period. The MODIS AOD data provided spatial distributions of dust load, broadly consistent with ground-level PM 10 , especially in cloud free areas. However, inconsistency between the MODIS AOD and surface PM 10 measurements under cloudy conditions did exist, further highlighting the unique capability of the CALIOP lidar. CALIOP can penetrate the cloud layer to give unambiguous and altitude-resolved dust measurements, albeit a relatively long revisit period （16 days） and narrower swath （90 m）. A back trajectory simulation using the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory （HYSPLIT） model was performed, and it was found that the sand-dust storm originated from the Gobi Desert on 18 March 2010 travelled approxi-mately 1200-1500 km day-1 eastward and passed over the NCP on 19 March 2010, in good agreement with previous findings. In addition, the multi-sensor measurements integrated with the HYSPLIT model output formed a three-dimensional view of the transport pathway for this dust episode, indicating that this episode was largely associated with the desert source regions to the northwest of the NCP. The results imply the importance of integration of multi-sensor measurements for clarifying the overall structure of dust events over northern China.     

1961-200年中国各季降水趋势变化

Trends in six indices of precipitation in China for seasons during 1961-2007 were analyzed based on daily observations at 587 stations. The trends were estimated by using Sen＇s method with Mann-Kendall＇s test for quantifying the significance. The geographical patterns of trends in the seasonal indices of extremes were similar to those of total precipitation. For winter, both total and extreme precipitation increased over nearly all of China, except for a small part of northern China. Increasing trends in extreme precipitation also occurred at many stations in southwestern China for spring and the midlower reaches of the Yangtze River and southern China for summer. For autumn, precipitation decreased in eastern China, with an increasing length of maximum dry spell, implying a drying tendency for the post-rainy season. Wetting trends have prevailed in most of western China for all seasons. The well-known ＇flood in the south and drought in the north＇ trend exists in eastern China for summer, while a nearly opposite trend pattern exist for spring.     

Tides and Wind-Driven Circulation in the Tropical and Southern Atlantic Ocean:The BRAZCOAST System

The Brazilian coast is characterized by dif- ferent tidal regimes and distinct meteorological influ- ences. The northern part has larger tidal amplitudes and is permanently affected by trade winds and tropical distur- bances; the southern portion has smaller tidal amplitudes and is frequently influenced by extratropical cyclone ac- tivity. Besides these aspects, many features regarding current structure and behavior are also present, such as the equatorial system of currents, the subtropical gyre and the corresponding western boundary currents, and the Bra- zil-Malvinas confluence region. Within this context, ef- forts were made to develop the BRAZCOAST system, capable of describing the processes that determine the oceanic circulation from large to coastal scales. A cus- tomized version of the Princeton Ocean Model （POM） was implemented in a basin-scale domain covering the whole of the tropical and southern Atlantic Ocean, with 0.5° spatial resolution, as well as three nested grids with （1/12）° resolution covering the different parts of the Bra- zilian shelf, in a one-way procedure. POM was modified to include tidal potential generator terms and a par- tially-clamped boundary condition for tidal elevations. The coarse grid captured large-scale features, while the nested grids detailed local circulations affected by bathymetry and coastal restrictions. An interesting aspect at the coarse grid level was the relevance of the Weddell Sea to the location of the tidal amphidromic systems.     

Marine-Atmospheric Boundary Layer Characteristics over the South China Sea During the Passage of Strong Typhoon Hagupit

The structures and characteristics of the marine-atmospheric boundary layer over the South China Sea during the passage of strong Typhoon Hagupit are analyzed in detail in this paper. The typhoon was generated in the western Pacific Ocean, and it passed across the South China Sea, finally landfalling in the west of Guangdong Province. The shortest distance between the typhoon center and the observation station on Zhizi Island(10 m in height) is 8.5 km. The observation data capture the whole of processes that occurred in the regions of the typhoon eye, two squall regions of the eye wall, and weak wind regions,before and after the typhoon's passage. The results show that:(a) during the strong wind(average velocityˉu 10 m s-1) period, in the atmospheric boundary layer below 110 m, ˉu is almost independent of height,and vertical velocity ˉw is greater than 0, increasing with ˉu and reaching 2–4 m s-1in the squall regions;(b) the turbulent fluctuations(frequency 1/60 Hz) and gusty disturbances(frequency between 1/600 and1/60 Hz) are both strong and anisotropic, but the anisotropy of the turbulent fluctuations is less strong;(c) ˉu can be used as the basic parameter to parameterize all the characteristics of fluctuations; and(d) the vertical flux of horizontal momentum contributed by the average flow(ˉu ·ˉw) is one order of magnitude larger than those contributed by fluctuation fluxes(u w and v w), implying that strong wind may have seriously disturbed the sea surface through drag force and downward transport of eddy momentum and generated large breaking waves, leading to formation of a strongly coupled marine-atmospheric boundary layer. This results in ˉw 0 in the atmosphere, and some portion of the momentum in the sea may be fed back again to the atmosphere due to ˉu ·ˉw 0.     

AAS has been accepted for Coverage by the Science Citation Index in 2009

In May 2008, ScienceWatch.com named Advances in Atmospheric Sciences a Rising Star among Geosciences journals. According to Essential Science IndicatorsSM from Thomson Reuters, the journal＇s cur-rent citation record includes 764 papers cited a total of 1,658 times between January 1, 1998 and February 29 2008.     

Correlation between Atmospheric Water Vapor and Diurnal Temperature Range over China

Diurnal temperature range （DTR） is an im- portant measure in studies of climate change and variability. The changes of DTR in different regions are affected by many different factors. In this study, the degree of correlation between the DTR and atmospheric precipitable water （PW） over China is explored using newly homogenized surface weather and sounding observations. The results show that PW changes broadly reflect the geographic patterns of DTR long-term trends over most of China during the period 1970-2012, with significant anticorrelations of trend patterns between the DTR and PW, especially over those regions with higher magnitude DTR trends. PW can largely explain about 40% or more （re 0.40） of the DTR changes, with a d（PW）/d（DTR） slope of -2% to -10% K^-1 over most of northwestern and southeastern China, despite certain seasonal dependencies. For China as whole, the significant anticorrelations between the DTR and PW anomalies range from -0.42 to -0.75, with a d（PW）/d（DTR） slope of-6% to -11% K^-1. This implies that long-term DTR changes are likely to be associated with opposite PW changes, approximately following the Clausius-Clapeyron equation. Furthermore, the relationship is more significant in the warm season than in the cold season. Thus, it is possible that PW can be considered as one potential factor when exploring long-term DTR changes over China. It should be noted that the present study has a largely statistical focus and that the underlying physical processes should therefore be examined in future work.