Seasonal climatology of cut-off lows and associated precipitation patterns over Northeast China

Cut-off lows (COLs) are significantly associated with many convective events and anomalous regional climate in the Northeast China. By using 49-year NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data, COL events are detected and tracked by an objective and automatic method based on synoptic concept model. Based on this dataset and daily rain-gauge records in Northeast China during 1979–2005, seasonal climatology of COLs and associated precipitation patterns over Northeast China are investigated. Most COLs have a short lifetime of less than a week and have a spatial size ranging from 500 to 1,000 km, with slight seasonal differences. Temporal variation of COL occurrence exhibits a seasonal cycle, with a peak in summer, and considerable interannual variability. The COLs tend to occur more frequently over the northern Northeast China Plain, and the center for maximum frequency shows a zonal oscillation, with an extension to continent in summer and a shift to western North Pacific coast in winter. Most COLs form to the east of Lake Baikal and decay over the western North Pacific coast. COLs are apt to move along east or southeast passages around the year, and tracks are relatively more complicated in warm seasons. About a quarter of annual mean precipitation over Northeast China is associated with COLs. Moreover, COL-associated precipitation contributes greatly to total precipitation in northern and northwestern parts of Northeast China, and the ratios of COL contribution are stronger during spring and autumn than in summer.     

An analysis of precipitation climatology over Indian urban agglomeration

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - While urban areas in India are rapidly expanding, the analysis of how the precipitation regimes are changing is very limited. In the present study, an attempt...     

Numerical simulation of seasonal distribution of precipitation over the eastern Mediterranean with a RCM

Regional climate model (RCM) RegCM3 with 50 km horizontal resolution driven from the lateral boundaries by the data from NCEP/NCAR re-analysis is used in a series of ten climate downscaling experiments over the eastern Mediterranean (EM) region. Results of the experiments are characterized by seasonal precipitation patterns with notable offshore precipitation zones positioned ~50 km westward of a less intense precipitation zone over the coastal area. Atmospheric processes determining the distribution of seasonal precipitation patterns in the EM are analyzed based on results of the RCM experiments performed. Level of success of the model representation of the actual precipitation over the ECM appears to be depending on that of precipitation balance over different parts of the domain. Excessive moisture convergence over a sub-area usually takes place at the expense of moisture divergence from neighboring areas. Synoptic mechanism causing formation of the precipitation zone in the offshore zone appears to be associated with the role of meridionally oriented atmospheric trough systems extending from Scandinavia or Siberia to the EM during the period with rainy events. In such situations, air flows with strong northern components lead to intense transport of cold air masses to the EM. Meeting of the cold air masses the warm and humid air over the sea surface in the offshore zone causes formation of persistent squall lines and heavy rains there. Such processes may continue quite long as long as the troughs are stationary.     

ENSO及其组合模态对中国东部各季节降水的影响

近期的研究发现,热带太平洋低层大气存在两种主要模态,即经向对称ENSO模态和ENSO与海表温度(SST)年循环相互作用产生的经向反对称组合模态。主要探讨了这两种不同ENSO模态对中国东部各季节降水的影响。结果表明,厄尔尼诺年秋季,中国西南、长江及华南大部分区域呈现显著正降水异常;冬季,正降水异常范围扩大,覆盖华南、华东及华北东南部地区。这两个季节的异常降水都主要受ENSO模态的影响。与ENSO模态相关的正异常海温局地强迫导致120°E以西出现反气旋性环流,其西北侧增强的西南暖湿气流使得中国东部地区降水增多。次年春季,从中国华南延伸到东北出现正的异常降水,主要是ENSO组合模态的贡献。因为次年春季热带太平洋地区ENSO模态信号只局限于赤道地区,并没有对中国东部降水有显著的影响,而ENSO与海温年循环相互作用的组合模态使得与ENSO相关的赤道大气异常可以扩展到赤道以外地区。ENSO组合模态对中国降水异常有重要影响,在今后的研究和短期预测中需引起重视。      

ENSO及其组合模态对中国东部各季节降水的影响

基于1961-2016年中国地面台站降水观测资料和多种再分析资料,分析了东部型和中部型两类厄尔尼诺事件对中国夏季水汽输送和降水的不同影响。结果表明：（1）厄尔尼诺事件对中国夏季降水的影响在发生当年和次年有明显的不同,主要影响是在其发生的次年,中国大部分地区的夏季降水明显偏多。（2）东部型厄尔尼诺事件当年夏季,西北太平洋副热带高压（副高）偏东偏弱,水汽输送条件较弱,不利于中国大范围降水的发生;中部型事件当年夏季,低纬度印度洋和西太平洋蒸发异常偏强,来自阿拉伯海、孟加拉湾和西北太平洋向华南地区的水汽输送和净水汽收支增加,有利于华南地区降水的异常增多。（3）东部型厄尔尼诺事件次年夏季,副热带太平洋蒸发异常偏强,副高西伸,由于东亚-太平洋（EAP）遥相关型的建立,副高西侧的强西南气流将来自太平洋蒸发的大量水汽持续输送至中国中东部地区。此外,在东亚-太平洋遥相关型影响下中高纬度地区建立了亚洲双阻型环流,其间的低槽冷涡与上游阻高之间的强偏北气流有利于北冰洋的水汽持续输送到西北和华北北部地区,中国大部分地区净水汽收支均增加,中国北方和南方地区的降水均产生了明显的同步性增多响应,形成了南北两条异常雨带。中部型厄尔尼诺事件次年夏季,副高较常年偏西且偏北,来自太平洋蒸发的大量水汽输送到江淮地区,使其净水汽收支增加和降水偏多。因此,厄尔尼诺事件的发生不仅对长江流域和淮河流域等南方地区的降水有重要影响,对华北、东北和西北地区的降水异常也有相当的作用。     

Daily precipitation intensity projected for the 21st century: seasonal changes over the Pyrenees

A set of climate parameters (mean precipitation, number of wet days, daily intensity, and number of days with more than 50 mm rainfall) and a quantile-based approach are used to assess the expected changes in daily precipitation characteristics over the Pyrenees predicted for the 21st century using a set of regional climate models (RCMs). The features of the geographic location and topography of the Pyrenees imply that the climate of the region is highly complex. The results point toward an intensification of extremes, with a generalized tendency toward increasing drought periods, an increasing trend in daily intensity, and an increasing contribution of intense events to total precipitation; however, the results are subject to substantial spatial and seasonal variability, mainly related to the Atlantic-Mediterranean gradient and the longitudinal disposition of the main axis of the range.     

Assessment of CORDEX-SA experiments in representing precipitation climatology of summer monsoon over India

The present work assesses the performance of 11 regional climate simulations in representing the precipitation patterns of summer monsoon over India for the period 1970–2005. These simulations have been carried out under Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiment–South Asia (CORDEX-SA) project. The regional climate models (RCMs) have been inter-compared as well as evaluated against the observation to identify the common weaknesses and differences between them. For this, a number of statistical analysis has been carried out to compare the model precipitation field with the corresponding observation. Model uncertainty has been also evaluated through bias studies and analysis of the spread in the ensemble mean (hereafter, ensemble). The models which perform better than the rest are identified and studied to look for any improvement in the ensemble performance. These better performing experiments (best RCM experiments) are further assessed over the monsoon core region (MCR) of India. This has been done to understand how well the models perform in a spatially homogeneous zone of precipitation which is considered to be a representative region of Indian summer monsoon characteristics. Finally, an additional analysis has been done to quantify the skill of models based on two different metrics—performance and convergence including a combination of the two. The experiment with regional model RegCM4 forced with the global model GFDL-ESM2M shows the highest combined mean skill in capturing the seasonal mean precipitation. In general, a significant dry bias is found over a larger part of India in all the experiments which seems most pronounced over the central Indian region. Ensemble on an average tends to outperform many of the individual experiments with bias of smaller magnitude and an improved spatial correlation compared with the observation. Experiments which perform better over India improve the results but only slightly in terms of agreement among experiments and bias.     

An analysis of precipitation climatology in Jordan

Summary ?One of the most important features in analysing the climatology of any region is to study the precipitation and its periodicity of different harmonics in order to study the behavior of the observed data. In this study the amplitude of frequencies, phase angle and basic statistical parameters are calculated in order to depict spatial characteristics of precipitation over Jordan. Precipitation records of 17 stations were chosen according to climatic regions of Jordan. The first and second harmonic analyses explain more than 90% of the precipitation variation in Jordan effectively. The amplitudes of the first and second harmonic were calculated in order to describe the climatic regions in the country. The maximum amplitudes were found in the northern mountainous region. The phase angle representing the time of maximum rainfall is also used in the form of a contour chart. It is found that Jordan has its main rainfall season in winter with maximum around January. The coefficient of variation shows the high variability of rainfall of the country. Received February 4, 2002; revised August 1, 2002; accepted August 6, 2002     

Winter Asia Jetstream and Seasonal Precipitation in East China

ＷｉｎｔｅｒＡｓｉａＪｅｔｓｔｒｅａｍａｎｄＳｅａｓｏｎａｌＰｒｅｃｉｐｉｔａｔｉｏｎｉｎＥａｓｔＣｈｉｎａ￥ＬｉtｒｎｇＰｉｎｇｄｅ（梁平德）ａｎｄＬｉｕＡｉｘｉａ（刘爱霞）ＷｉｎｔｅｒＡｓｉａＪｅｔｓｔｒｅａｍａｎｄＳｅａｓｏｎａｌＰｒｅｃｉｐｉ?..     

Future changes in precipitation extremes over China using the NEX-GDDP high-resolution daily downscaled data-set

最近,NASA发布了一套基于CMIP5 21个耦合模式输出的高分辨率降尺度逐日数据集,简称NEX-GDDP。本文评估了NEX-GDDP对中国极端降水的模拟性能。研究发现:(1)相比CMIP5直接输出结果,NEX-GDDP能够更好刻画中国极端降水的空间分布;(2)未来中国极端降水事件明显增多、强度增强,NEX-GDDP在区域尺度上给出了更多的气候变化信息;(3)NEXGDDP预估的中国未来极端降水变化的不确定性范围相比CMIP5直接输出结果明显减少,使得预估结果更加可靠.     

About seasonal distribution of atmospheric precipitation in the south of the Khabarovsk Territory

The analyzed relations between the summer precipitation totals and precipitation totals of the previous winter periods of 1974–2008 based on the data from three weather stations of the Khabarovsk Territory showed that in 80% of cases the low precipitation total of the winter months is followed by a low precipitation total in summer, and, vice versa, in the case of a high (above a multiyear mean) precipitation total in winter, the precipitation total in summer is also above a multiyear mean. There is no relation between the precipitation total in summer and the precipitation total in the subsequent winter periods. It means that the change in the distribution of precipitation between the winter and subsequent summer seasons occurs in the winter months, which must allow forecasting the precipitation total in summer from the precipitation total in the previous winter period, for example, for assessing the fire danger in forests from the weather conditions.     

Bayesian regression model for seasonal forecast of precipitation over Korea

In this paper, we apply three different Bayesian methods to the seasonal forecasting of the precipitation in a region around Korea (32.5°N?C42.5°N, 122.5°E-132.5°E). We focus on the precipitation of summer season (June?CJuly?CAugust; JJA) for the period of 1979?C2007 using the precipitation produced by the Global Data Assimilation and Prediction System (GDAPS) as predictors. Through cross-validation, we demonstrate improvement for seasonal forecast of precipitation in terms of root mean squared error (RMSE) and linear error in probability space score (LEPS). The proposed methods yield RMSE of 1.09 and LEPS of 0.31 between the predicted and observed precipitations, while the prediction using GDAPS output only produces RMSE of 1.20 and LEPS of 0.33 for CPC Merged Analyzed Precipitation (CMAP) data. For station-measured precipitation data, the RMSE and LEPS of the proposed Bayesian methods are 0.53 and 0.29, while GDAPS output is 0.66 and 0.33, respectively. The methods seem to capture the spatial pattern of the observed precipitation. The Bayesian paradigm incorporates the model uncertainty as an integral part of modeling in a natural way. We provide a probabilistic forecast integrating model uncertainty.     

Reconstruction of seasonal and semiannual precipitation totals over europe from atmospheric pressure over the North Atlantic

A statistical method of reconstruction of winter and semiannual precipitation totals at the network of weather stations in Europe is considered. The sea-level pressure field in the North Atlantic is used as a predictor for precipitation reconstruction. The stability of pressure field filtration is studied from empirical orthogonal functions (EOF) with the help of informative parameter of the pressure vector components. Results of numerical experiments are presented.     

Probability of occurrence of monthly and seasonal winter precipitation over Northwest India based on antecedent-monthly precipitation

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - Winter (December, January, and February (DJF)) precipitation over northwest India (NWI) is mainly associated with the eastward moving mid-latitude synoptic...     

Future changes and uncertainties in temperature and precipitation over China based on CMIP5 models

Climate changes in future 21 st century China and their uncertainties are evaluated based on 22 climate models from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5(CMIP5). By 2081–2100, the annual mean surface air temperature(SAT) is predicted to increase by 1.3℃± 0.7℃, 2.6℃± 0.8℃ and 5.2℃± 1.2℃ under the Representative Concentration Pathway(RCP) scenarios RCP2.6, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, relative to 1986–2005, respectively. The future change in SAT averaged over China increases the most in autumn/winter and the least in spring, while the uncertainty shows little seasonal variation.Spatially, the annual and seasonal mean SAT both show a homogeneous warming pattern across China, with a warming rate increasing from southeastern China to the Tibetan Plateau and northern China, invariant with time and emissions scenario.The associated uncertainty in SAT decreases from northern to southern China. Meanwhile, by 2081–2100, the annual mean precipitation increases by 5% ± 5%, 8% ± 6% and 12% ± 8% under RCP2.6, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively. The national average precipitation anomaly percentage, largest in spring and smallest in winter, and its uncertainty, largest in winter and smallest in autumn, show visible seasonal variations. Although at a low confidence level, a homogeneous wetting pattern is projected across China on the annual mean scale, with a larger increasing percentage in northern China and a weak drying in southern China in the early 21 st century. The associated uncertainty is also generally larger in northern China and smaller in southwestern China. In addition, both SAT and precipitation usually show larger seasonal variability on the sub-regional scale compared with the national average.     

Temperature and Precipitation Changes in China During the Holocene

We review here proxy records of temperature and precipitation in China during the Holocene, especially the last two millennia. The quality of proxy data, methodology of reconstruction, and uncertainties in reconstruction were emphasized in comparing different temperature and precipitation reconstruction and clarifying temporal and spatial patterns of temperature and precipitation during the Holocene. The Holocene climate was generally warm and wet. The warmest period occurred in 9.6-6.2 cal ka BP, whereas a period of maximum monsoon precipitation started at about 11.0 cal ka BP and lasted until about 8.0-5.0 cal ka BP. There were a series of millennial-scale cold or dry events superimposed on the general trend of climate changes. During past two millennia, a warming trend in the 20th century was clearly detected, but the warming magnitude was smaller than the maximum level of the Medieval Warm Period and the Middle Holocene. Cold conditions occurred over the whole of China during the Little Ice Age （AD 1400-AD 1900）, but the warming of the Medieval Warm Period （AD 900-AD 1300） was not distinct in China, especially west China. The spatial pattern of precipitation showed significant regional differences in China, especially east China. The modern warm period has lasted 20 years from 1987 to 2006. Bi-decadal oscillation in precipitation variability was apparent over China during the 20th century. Solar activity and volcanic eruptions both were major forcings governing the climate variability during the last millennium.