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.     

The impact of deformation on vortex development in a baroclinic moist atmosphere

A mathematical relation between deformation and vertical vorticity tendency is built by introducing the frontogenesis function and the complete vertical vorticity equation, which is derived by virtue of moist potential vorticity. From the mathematical relation, it is shown that properly configured atmospheric conditions can make deformation exert a positive contribution to vortex development at rates comparable to other favorable factors. The effect of deformation on vortex development is not only related to the deformation itself, but also depends on the current thermodynamic and dynamic structures of the atmosphere, such as the convective stability, moist baroclinicity and vertical wind shear(or horizontal vorticity). A diagnostic study of a heavy-rainfall case that occurred during 20–22 July 2012 shows that deformation has the most remarkable effect on the increase in vertical vorticity during the rapid development stage of the low vortex during its whole life cycle. This feature is mainly due to the existence of an approximate neutral layer(about 700 h Pa) in the atmosphere where the convective stability tends to be zero. The neutral layer makes the effect of deformation on the vertical vorticity increase significantly during the vortex development stage, and thus drives the vertical vorticity to increase.     

全球地面降水月值历史数据集研制

全球降水历史数据是开展气候、水循环等研究的基础。收集整理全球12个数据源降水历史月值资料,通过站号、站名甄别不同数据源中相同台站,对344个通过相关系数、一致率、均值t检验、方差F检验的台站多源资料进行拼接,尽可能多地融合各套数据产品优势,最终形成全球降水历史月值数据集(CMA Global PrecipitationV1.0, CGP)。数据集重点解决当前国际数据产品在东亚地区站点稀少、同时应用多套数据应用门槛较高等问题。数据集收录3.1万个台站共计1.87×107组月降水记录, 4152个台站序列长度达百年。与美国大气海洋局(NOAA)的全球降水数据集(GHCN-M V2.0)对比,CGP新增1万个站点、0.5×107组有效观测记录和1030条百年序列,其中141条百年序列通过多源整合技术获取。CGP的站点和数据量优势主要体现在东亚、东欧、西伯利亚等站点稀疏地区。基于CGP分析的全球降水时空特征与国际同类产品的结果较一致。新增的数据虽然没有改变全球降水分布的总体特征,但对区域性的百年降水变化检测有一定影响。基于CGP的全球降水百年序列结果显示,20世纪前半叶全球降水量偏小,近20年是1900年以来全球降水量最大的时期,各纬度带、各个国家或地区的降水长期变化趋势呈现显著的差异。      

Retrieval of atmospheric temperature and moisture vertical profiles from satellite Advanced Infrared Sounder radiances with a new regularization parameter selecting method

Considering the characteristics of nonlinear problems, a new method based on the L-curve method and including the concept of entropy was designed to select the regularization parameter in the one-dimensional variational analysis-based sounding retrieval method. In the first iteration, this method uses an empirical regularization parameter derived by minimizing the entropy of variables. During subsequent iterations, it uses the L-curve method to select the regularization parameter in the vicinity of the regularization parameter selected in the last iteration. The new method was employed to select the regularization parameter in retrieving atmospheric temperature and moisture profiles from Atmospheric Infrared Sounder radiance measurements selected from the first day of each month in 2008. The results show that compared with the original L-curve method, the new method yields 5.5% and 2.5% improvements on temperature and relative humidity profiles, respectively. Compared with the discrepancy principle method, the improvements on temperature and relative humidity profiles are 1.6% and 2.0%, respectively.     

Factors controlling the interannual variations of MJO intensity

The interannual variations of intensity of the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) during boreal winter are investigated by using the observed outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) and the reanalysis data of ECMWF and NCEP. The standard deviation of 20-80-day filtered OLR anomaly is used to measure the MJO intensity. The dominant spatial structure of the interannual variability is revealed by an EOF analysis of the MJO intensity field. It is found that the leading mode is associated with eastern Pacific type ENSO, whereas the second mode is related to central Pacific type ENSO. A simple atmospheric model is used to investigate the relative roles of background moisture and wind changes in affecting the overall strength of MJO. The numerical experiments indicate that the background moisture effect is dominant while the background wind change has a minor effect.     

气候模式中云的垂直重叠及其辐射传输问题研究进展

概述了全球气候模式中云的垂直重叠的处理方法及其辐射物理过程的最新研究进展。从云垂直重叠模型的构造、模型在气候模式中的实现方式,得到与观测一致的云重叠结构所采用的数据和方法、重叠云的辐射传输等方面,给出了针对这一国际研究难点问题的最新研究进展。关于气候模式中云的垂直重叠问题的研究至今已取得了许多成果,表现在:重叠模型上有了更为科学的描述形式(如指数衰减重叠);重叠云的辐射传输也有了更快速的处理方法(如蒙特卡洛独立柱近似)并被广泛应用;连续的三维云遥感观测(如CloudSat/CALIPSO)和云分辨尺度的三维云模式的发展为在气候模式中精确描述云的垂直结构提供了丰富的观测资料和模式数据。但是,气候模式中现有的云重叠结构处理及其辐射传输方法还远不够完善,仍然存在很多没有解决的问题需要在未来进行探索。     

Recent significant tornadoes in China

正1.Introduction Compared with the United States,whose annual number of tornadoes can exceed 1000,the average number of tornadoes per year in China over the past half a century is estimated to be fewer than 100(Fan and Yu,2015),even though both countries are located in a similar latitudinal zone of the Northern Hemisphere.The annual average recorded number of F1(Fujita scale)or EF1(enhanced Fujita scale)intensity or higher tornadoes in China between 1961 and 2010 is about