Improving CLM4.5 simulations of land–atmosphere exchange during freeze–thaw processes on the Tibetan Plateau

Soil is heterogeneous and has different thermal and hydraulic properties, causing varied behavior in heat and moisture transport. Therefore, soil has an important effect on land–atmosphere interactions. In this study, an improved soil parameterization scheme that considers gravel and organic matter in the soil was introduced into CLM4.5 (Community Land Model). By using data from the Zoige and Madoi sites on the Tibetan Plateau, the ability of the model to simultaneously simulate the duration of freeze–thaw periods, soil temperature, soil moisture, and surface energy during freeze–thaw processes, was validated. The results indicated that: (1) the new parameterization performed better in simulating the duration of the frozen, thawing, unfrozen, and freezing periods; (2) with the new scheme, the soil thermal conductivity values were decreased; (3) the new parameterization improved soil temperature simulation and effectively decreased cold biases; (4) the new parameterization scheme effectively decreased the dry biases of soil liquid water content during the freezing, completely frozen, and thawing periods, but increased the wet biases during the completely thawed period; and (5) the net radiation, latent heat flux, and soil surface heat flux of the Zoige and Madoi sites were much improved by the new organic matter and thermal conductivity parameterization.     

Thermal comfort and tourism climate changes in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau in the last 50 years

In this paper, the thermal comfort and its changes in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau over the last 50 years have been evaluated by using the physiological equivalent temperature (PET), and a more complete tourism climate picture is presented by the Climate–Tourism–Information Scheme (CTIS). The results show that PET classes in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau cover six out of the nine-point thermal sensation scale — very cold, cold, cool, slightly cool, neutral and slightly warm — and cold stress is prevailing throughout the year. A small number of slightly cool/warm and neutral days occur in summer months. There occur no warm, hot and very hot days. The frequency of PET classes varies among regions, depending on their altitude/latitude conditions. Xining, Lhasa and Yushu are the top three cities in terms of thermal favorability. With global warming, annual cumulative number of thermally favorable days has been increasing, and that of cold stress has been reducing. The change is more obvious in lower elevation than that in higher elevation regions. The improving thermal comfort in the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau might be a glad tiding for local communities and tourists. Besides PET, CTIS can provide a number of additional bioclimatic information related to tourism and recreational activities. CTIS for Lhasa and Xining shows that sunshine is plentiful all the year round, and windy days occur frequently from late January to early May. This is a useful bioclimatic information for tourism authorities, travel agencies, resorts and tourists.     

The Characteristics and Controlling Factors of Water and Heat Exchanges over the Alpine Wetland in the East of the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau

Alpine wetland is one of the typical underlying surfaces on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau. It plays a crucial role in runoff regulation. Investigations on the mechanisms of water and heat exchanges are necessary to understand the land surface processes over the alpine wetland. This study explores the characteristics of hydro-meteorological factors with in situ observations and uses the Community Land Model 5 to identify the main factors controlling water and heat exchanges.Latent heat flux and therm...     

Diverse Responses of Phenology in Multi-Grassland to Environmental Factors on Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau in China

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - Studying grassland vegetation growing seasons’ spatial patterns and their environmental controls are crucial to promoting vegetation ecological...     

Spatiotemporal changes of freezing/thawing indices and their response to recent climate change on the Qinghai–Tibet Plateau from 1980 to 2013

Theoretical and Applied Climatology - The spatial and temporal changes of the ground surface freezing indices (GFIs), ground surface thawing indices (GTIs), air freezing indices (AFIs), and air...     

Study of a Horizontal Shear Line over the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau and the Impact of Diabatic Heating on Its Evolution

Based on the 4 times daily 0.75° × 0.75° ERA-Interim data, the structural evolution of a Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau horizontal (east–west-oriented) shear line (TSL) during 15–19 August 2015 and the effect of diabatic heating on its evolution were analyzed. The results show that the TSL possessed a vertical thickness of up to 1.5 km (approximately 600–450 hPa), and was baroclinic in nature. Weak ascending motions occurred near the TSL, accompanied with more significant gradients in dew point temperature than in temperature. The TSL was characterized by diurnal variations in its appearance and structure. It was relatively full in shape (broken) and was the lowest (highest) in vertical extent at 0000 (1800) UTC, and veered clockwise (anticlockwise) during 0000–0600 (1200–1800) UTC. When the north–south span of the TSL increased, it was prone to fracturing; and it disappeared when the dew point temperature gradients to its either side decreased. When the TSL moved northward (southward), its western (eastern) section broke up, while the eastern (western) section inclined to regenerate or merge. The TSL tended to move towards the positive vorticity areas with significant increases in vorticity. When the positive vorticity center moved down, the height of TSL decreased. Further analysis shows that the plateau surface heating dominated the vorticity attribute of the TSL and its movement, with different contributions from local variation, horizontal advection, and vertical advection of the diabatic heating to the TSL at different heights.     

Recent Progress in the Impact of the Tibetan Plateau on Climate in China

Studies of the impacts of the Tibetan Plateau （TP） on climate in China in the last four years are reviewed. It is reported that temperature and precipitation over the TP have increased during recent decades. From satellite data analysis, it is demonstrated that most of the precipitation over the TP is from deep convection clouds. Moreover, the huge TP mechanical forcing and extraordinary elevated thermal forcing impose remarkable impacts upon local circulation and global climate. In winter and spring, stream flow is deflected by a large obstacle and appears as an asymmetric dipole, making East Asia much colder than mid Asia in winter and forming persistent rainfall in late winter and early spring over South China. In late spring, TP heating contributes to the establishment and intensification of the South Asian high and the abrupt seasonal transition of the surrounding circulations. In summer, TP heating in conjunction with the TP air pump cause the deviating stream field to resemble a cyclonic spiral, converging towards and rising over the TP. Therefore, the prominent Asian monsoon climate over East Asia and the dry climate over mid Asia in summer are forced by both TP local forcing and Eurasian continental forcing.
Due to the longer memory of snow and soil moisture, the TP thermal status both in summer and in late winter and spring can influence the variation of Eastern Asian summer rainfall. A combined index using both snow cover over the TP and the ENSO index in winter shows a better seasonal forecast.
On the other hand, strong sensible heating over the Tibetan Plateau in spring contributes significantly to anchor the earliest Asian monsoon being over the eastern Bay of Bengal （BOB） and the western Indochina peninsula. Qualitative prediction of the BOB monsoon onset was attempted by using the sign of meridional temperature gradient in March in the upper troposphere, or at 400 hPa over the TP. It is also demonstrated by a numerical experiment and theoretical study that the heating over the TP lea     

Temporal and Spatial Variations in the Climate Controls of Vegetation Dynamics on the Tibetan Plateau during 1982–2011

The ecosystem of the Tibetan Plateau is highly susceptible to climate change. Currently, there is little discussion on the temporal changes in the link between climatic factors and vegetation dynamics in this region under the changing climate.By employing Normalized Difference Vegetation Index data, the Climatic Research Unit temperature and precipitation data,and the in-situ meteorological observations, we report the temporal and spatial variations in the relationships between the vegetation dynamics and climatic factors on the Plateau over the past three decades. The results show that from the early 1980s to the mid-1990s, vegetation dynamics in the central and southeastern part of the Plateau appears to show a closer relationship with precipitation prior to the growing season than that of temperature. From the mid-1990s, the temperature rise seems to be the key climatic factor correlating vegetation growth in this region. The effects of increasing temperature on vegetation are spatially variable across the Plateau: it has negative impacts on vegetation activity in the southwestern and northeastern part of the Plateau, and positive impacts in the central and southeastern Plateau. In the context of global warming, the changing climate condition(increasing precipitation and significant rising temperature) might be the potential contributor to the shift in the climatic controls on vegetation dynamics in the central and southeastern Plateau.     

Temporal and spatial variations of global solar radiation over the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau during the past 40 years

Global solar radiation is of great significance to the balance of ground surface radiation, the energy exchange between the Earth’s surface and atmosphere, and the development of weather and climate systems in various regions. In this study, the monthly global radiation recorded at 23 stations over the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau (QTP) was utilized to estimate global solar radiation (Q) from sunshine duration and to obtain improved fits to the variation coefficients of the monthly Angström–Prescott model (APM). The modeling results were evaluated by calculating the statistical errors, including mean bias error, mean absolute error, root mean square error, and mean relative error. We demonstrate that the monthly Q values can be predicted accurately by APM over the QTP. We also assess the variations of Q values at 116 meteorological stations by APM over the QTP during 1961–2000. The analysis shows that the annual mean sunshine duration amounted to more than 3,000 h over the whole plateau, implying promising prospects for economic applications of solar energy. During the past 40 years, the mean global solar radiation has been relatively high in the western QTP, extending northward to the Inner Mongolian Plateau. Although its decadal variations in the QTP and surrounding regions were inconsistent, the anomaly values of global solar radiation were generally positive during the 1960s and 1970s, indicating that the QTP’s global solar radiation has increased during those periods. The anomaly values were negative during the 1980s and 1990s, showing that the plateau’s global solar radiation has decreased during those periods. Global solar radiation over the QTP is negatively proportional to latitude but positively proportional to altitude and relative sunshine duration. Three factors, the sunshine duration, latitude, and altitude, exert great influence on global surface radiation, of which sunshine duration is most significant. A high-variation-coefficient zone of global solar radiation occurred in the western part of the QTP but, on average, the variation coefficient of the plateau’s global solar radiation was only 0.031, suggesting that the variation in global radiation was relatively stable over the whole QTP.     

Current Progresses in Study of Impacts of the Tibetan Plateau on Asian Summer Climate

The current progresses in the study of impacts of the Tibetan Plateau on Asian summer climate in the last decade are reviewed. By analyzing evolution of the transitional zone between westerly to the north and easterly to the south (WEB), it is shown that due to the strong heating over the Tibetan Plateau in spring, the overturning in the prevailing wind direction from easterly in winter to westerly in summer occurs firstly over the eastern Bay of Bengal (BOB), accompanied with vigorous convective precipitation to its east. The area between eastern BOB and western Indo-China Peninsula thus becomes the area with the earliest onset of Asian monsoon, which may be referred as BOB monsoon in short. It is shown that the summertime circulations triggered by the thermal forcing of the Iranian Plateau and the Tibetan Plateau are embedded in phase with the continental-scale circulation forced by the diabatic heating over the Eurasian Continent. As a result, the East Asian summer monsoon is intensified and the drought climate over the western and central Asian areas is enhanced. Together with perturbations triggered by the Tibetan Plateau, the above scenarios and the associated heating have important influences on the climate patterns over Asia. Furthermore, the characteristics of the Tibetan mode of the summertime South Asian high are compared with those of Iranian mode. Results demonstrate that corresponding to each of the bimodality of the South Asian high, the rainfall anomaly distributions over Asia exhibit different patterns.     

Effects on Asian Monsoon of Gigantic Qinghai－Xizang Plateau and Western Pacific Warm Pool

朱乾根，胡江林ＥｆｆｅｃｔｓｏｎＡｓｉａｎＭｏｎｓｏｏｎｏｆＧｉｇａｎｔｉｃＱｉｎｇｈａｉ－ＸｉｚａｎｇＰｌａｔｅａｕａｎｄＷｅｓｔｅｒｎＰａｃｉｆｉｃＷａｒｍＰｏｏｌ￥ＺｈｕＱｉａｎｇｅｎａｎｄＨｕＪｉａｎｇｌｉｎ（ＮａｎｊｉｎｇＩｎｓｔｉｔｕｔｅ...     

Analyses on integrated detection of the blizzard process in 19–20 March 2012 in Urumqi,Xinjiang China

Using the multi-source observation data from wind-profiling radar, microwave radiometer, Doppler weather radar, etc. during the blizzard event in 19–20 March 2012 in Urumqi, this paper analyzed the detailed characteristics of the atmospheric dynamics, thermodynamics, intensity and water vapor during the process of this blizzard weather. The findings suggest: (1) in the course of the blizzard weather, the near-surface atmosphere is mainly dominated by northwest airflows, the wind speed and relative humidity increase rapidly, temperature drops and air pressure ascends; (2) the blizzard weather this time is accompanied by cold front system whose entering time is about 16:00 BT 19 March; the shear line that develops from low to high is the position height of the frontal zone, and the variation of the high-level frontal zone directly reflects the altitude and layers where cold and warm air masses interact; (3) the radar equivalent reflectivity factor of the snowstorm process changes within the range 8–25 dBZ_e and its large-value zone is correlated well with the blizzard duration, the height for the formation of rain (snow) particles and the snow intensity; (4) before the occurrence of the blizzard, atmosphere is in the state of high temperature and high humidity, the maximum vapor density is around 6 g m^?3, water vapor mainly stays under the height of 5,000 m; affected by cold front system, cold airs gradually lift warm and moist airs so that the vapor condenses and deposits into water drops and snow particles, forming the snowstorm in the end.     

Mechanism of Diabatic Heating on Precipitation and the Track of a Tibetan Plateau Vortex over the Eastern Slope of the Tibetan Plateau

Existing studies contend that latent heating(LH) will replace sensible heating(SH) to become the dominant factor affecting the development of the Tibetan Plateau vortex(TPV) after it moves off the Tibetan Plateau(TP). However, in the process of the TPV moving off the TP requires that the airmass traverse the eastern slope of the Tibetan Plateau(ESTP)where the topography and diabatic heating(DH) conditions rapidly change. How LH gradually replaces SH to become the dominant factor in the developme...     

Effects of the Qinghai-Xizang (Tibetan) Plateau on the Circulation Features over the Plateau and Its Surrounding Areas

Areview of the effects of theTibetan Platean on circulation features over the plateau and its surrounding areas has been made, with a special emphasis upon the monsoon circulations in South Asin and East Asia. This includes estimates of heat sources, dynamic and thermal effects of the plateau, adn effects of the plateau on summer and winter monsoons. Major progresses made in this aspect by Chinese meteorologists have been specifically described and are compared with the achievements made by the meteorologists of other countries.     

The Influence of Tibetan Plateau on the Interannual Variability of Asian Monsoon

ＴｈｅＩｎｆｌｕｅｎｃｅｏｆＴｉｂｅｔａｎＰｌａｔｅａｕｏｎｔｈｅＩｎｔｅｒａｎｎｕａｌＶａｒｉａｂｉｌｉｔｙｏｆＡｓｉａｎＭｏｎｓｏｏｎ①ＷｕＡｉｍｉｎｇ（吴爱明）ａｎｄＮｉＹｕｎｑｉ（倪允琪）ＤｅｐａｒｔｍｅｎｔｏｆＡｔｍｏｓｐｈｅｒｉｃＳｃｉｅ...     

Changing Spring Phenology Dates in the Three-Rivers Headwater Region of the Tibetan Plateau during 1960–2013

The variation of the vegetation growing season in the Three-Rivers Headwater Region of the Tibetan Plateau has recently become a controversial topic. One issue is that the estimated local trend in the start of the vegetation growing season(SOS)based on remote sensing data is easily affected by outliers because this data series is short. In this study, we determine that the spring minimum temperature is the most influential factor for SOS. The significant negative linear relationship between the two variables in the region is evaluated using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer–Normalized Difference Vegetation Index data for 2000–13. We then reconstruct the SOS time series based on the temperature data for 1960–2013.The regional mean SOS shows an advancing trend of 1.42 d(10 yr)~(-1) during 1960–2013, with the SOS occurring on the 160th and 151st days in 1960 and 2013, respectively. The advancing trend enhances to 6.04 d(10 yr)~(-1) during the past 14 years. The spatiotemporal variations of the reconstructed SOS data are similar to those deduced from remote sensing data during the past 14 years. The latter exhibit an even larger regional mean trend of SOS [7.98 d(10 yr~(-1) )] during 2000–13. The Arctic Oscillation is found to have significantly influenced the changing SOS, especially for the eastern part of the region,during 2000–13.