Precipitation patterns in flood season over China associated with the El Niño/Southern Osciliation

The precipitation patterns in flood season over China associated with the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) are investigated, especially in the eastern China, using the rather long period rainfall data in this century. The results show that there were remarkable differences between the precipitation patterns in flood seasons of ENSO warm phase (El Niño year) and cold phase (La Niña year), as well as between the patterns in El Niño years and their following years. The most parts of China received below normal rainfall in flood season of the onset years of El Niño events, but the coastal area of Southeast China received above normal amounts. Comparatively, the most parts of China received above normal rainfall in flood season of the following years of El Niño events, but the eastern part of the reaches among the Huanghe (Yellow) River, the Huaihe River and the Haihe River, and the Northeast China received less. During ENSO cold phase, the reaches of the Changjiang (Yangtze) River and the North China received more amounts than normal rainfall in flood season of the onset years of La Niña events, and the other regions of China received less. In the following years of La Niña events, the coastal area of the Southeast China, the most part of the Northeast China and the regions between the Huanghe River and the Huaihe River received more precipitation during flood seasons, but the other parts received below normal precipitation.     

A DYNAMIC MODE FOR RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FLOOD/DROUGHT IN YANGTZE RIVER VALLEY AND LOW FREQUENCY WAVE ORIGINATED FROM TROPICAL SEA AREA

According to statistic analysis on sea surface temperature(SST)anomaly features in theNorth Pacific in winters and springs prior to the summer flood/drought in the middle and lowerreaches of the Yangtze River(hereafter referred to as MLRY),a strong signal SST key area thataffects local flood/drought is put forward,that is the equatorial eastern Pacific.The response ofgeneral circulation in the Northern Hemisphere to SST anomaly in the key area is furtherinvestigated. The low frequency wave train structure of correlation between the eastern PacificSST and the height at 500 hPa in the Northern Hemisphere is also studied,which reflects thedynamic features of teleresponse of local flood/drought at extratropics to tropical SST anomaly.Through introducing SST anomaly in the strong signal area in numerical experiments,the flood inYangtze River Valley is successfully simulated and the similar wave train pattern in the flow field isobtained too.Altogether,the physical picture and dynamic mode of the flood in the Yangtze RiverValley are described in this work.     

Ensemble prediction of regional droughts using climate inputs and the SVM–copula approach

In this study, the climate teleconnections with meteorological droughts are analysed and used to develop ensemble drought prediction models using a support vector machine (SVM)–copula approach over Western Rajasthan (India). The meteorological droughts are identified using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI). In the analysis of large‐scale climate forcing represented by climate indices such as El Niño Southern Oscillation, Indian Ocean Dipole Mode and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation on regional droughts, it is found that regional droughts exhibits interannual as well as interdecadal variability. On the basis of potential teleconnections between regional droughts and climate indices, SPI‐based drought forecasting models are developed with up to 3 months' lead time. As traditional statistical forecast models are unable to capture nonlinearity and nonstationarity associated with drought forecasts, a machine learning technique, namely, support vector regression (SVR), is adopted to forecast the drought index, and the copula method is used to model the joint distribution of observed and predicted drought index. The copula‐based conditional distribution of an observed drought index conditioned on predicted drought index is utilized to simulate ensembles of drought forecasts. Two variants of drought forecast models are developed, namely a single model for all the periods in a year and separate models for each of the four seasons in a year. The performance of developed models is validated for predicting drought time series for 10 years' data. Improvement in ensemble prediction of drought indices is observed for combined seasonal model over the single model without seasonal partitions. The results show that the proposed SVM–copula approach improves the drought prediction capability and provides estimation of uncertainty associated with drought predictions. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Impact of the Pacific–Japan Teleconnection Pattern on July Sea Fog over the Northwestern Pacific: Interannual Variations and Global Warming Effect

The northwestern Pacific(NWP) is a fog-prone area, especially the ocean east of the Kuril Islands. The present study analyzes how the Pacific–Japan(PJ) teleconnection pattern influences July sea fog in the fog-prone area using independent datasets. The covariation between the PJ index and sea fog frequency(SFF) index in July indicates a close correlation, with a coefficient of 0.62 exceeding the 99% confidence level. Composite analysis based on the PJ index, a case study, and model analysis based on GFDL-ESM2 M, show that in high PJ index years the convection over the east of the Philippines strengthens and then triggers a Rossby wave, which propagates northward to maintain an anticyclonic anomaly in the midlatitudes,indicating a northeastward shift of the NWP subtropical high. The anticyclonic anomaly facilitates the formation of relatively stable atmospheric stratification or even an inversion layer in the lower level of the troposphere, and strengthens the horizontal southerly moisture transportation from the tropical–subtropical oceans to the fog-prone area. On the other hand, a greater meridional SST gradient over the cold flank of the Kuroshio Extension, due to ocean downwelling, is produced by the anticyclonic wind stress anomaly. Both of these two aspects are favorable for the warm and humid air to cool, condense, and form fog droplets, when air masses cross the SST front. The opposite circumstances occur in low PJ index years, which are not conducive to the formation of sea fog. Finally, a multi-model ensemble mean projection reveals a prominent downward trend of the PJ index after the 2030 s, implying a possible decline of the SFF in this period.     

北大西洋-东亚和北亚型遥相关的机制及其对新疆夏季旱涝的影响

北大西洋-东亚和北亚（简称NAENA）型遥相关是夏季欧亚大陆对流层上层经向风异常的第二主导模态,对欧亚大陆多尺度气候变率有显著影响。本文在分析NAENA型维持的动力学机制的基础上,研究了该遥相关型对新疆夏季旱涝异常的影响及其可能机制。大气波列的涡度收支分析表明,气候态的旋转纬向风引起的扰动涡度平流可以被扰动旋转经向风引起的平均涡度平流所补偿。能量转换过程分析表明,该大气波列有效地从平均流中提取有效位能,通过斜压能量转换过程得以维持。大西洋海温异常三极子模态则是NAENA型维持的重要外强迫因子。回归分析表明NAENA型遥相关能通过促进南疆夏季降水,显著影响新疆的旱涝异常。NAENA型位于中亚的气旋性低压一方面增强了南疆地区的垂直上升运动,同时气旋性环流将更多的水汽输送到该地区,有利于水汽在对流层中低层的异常辐合,进而对南疆的降水有促进作用。     

北太平洋冬季西部发展型天气尺度涡旋对平均流的影响

在中纬度北太平洋大气强斜压区,存在频繁的天气尺度涡旋活动,通过水分、动量和能量输送维持大气环流。为了进一步研究天气尺度涡旋发生发展与大尺度环流之间的联系,利用1981—2013年再分析资料,筛选出西部发展型天气尺度涡旋114个偏强日和87个偏弱日,给出了西部发展型天气尺度涡旋异常导致的动力和热力强迫的变化,同时从能量转换的角度分析了西部发展型天气尺度涡旋与平均流之间的相互作用,并探讨了其与西太平洋遥相关型的关系。结果表明:西部发展型天气尺度涡旋通过动力强迫和热力强迫影响平均流,其中动力强迫主要造成北太平洋中纬度上空的西风气流加速并向北移动;热力强迫的作用则是减弱中纬度大气斜压性。同时,强西部发展型天气尺度涡旋有利于西北太平洋上空对流层低层斜压有效位能向扰动动能的转化增大和扰动动能向平均流的转化增大,有利于中纬度地区对流层高层平均流向扰动动能的转化增大。此外,西部发展型天气尺度涡旋通过与平均流的作用,对维持西太平洋遥相关型的负位相有一定影响。     

2016与1998年春季北大西洋海表温度异常的差异及成因

利用再分析资料以及混合层海温诊断方程, 研究1997—1998与2015—2016年超级厄尔尼诺次年北大西洋海表温度异常(sea surface temperature anomalies, SSTA)的差异及成因。结果显示, 北大西洋SSTA在1998年春季呈明显正负正三极型式分布, 而在2016年呈弱的负正负型态。诊断热带北大西洋SSTA的影响因素表明, 1998年春季暖SSTA除了之前研究强调的海洋表面向大气的潜热输送异常减少, 以及吸收太阳辐射的增加外, 海洋动力过程即Ekman纬向漂流也起着重要的作用。热力过程与厄尔尼诺峰值后出现的北大西洋涛动(North Atlantic Oscillation, NAO)负位相有关, 其可引起亚速尔高压减弱, 产生西南风异常, 通过风-蒸发-海表温度(sea surface temperature, SST)反馈机制使热带北大西洋蒸发减弱, 海表增暖, 沃克环流下沉支的东移对这一增暖也有贡献。与1997—1998厄尔尼诺事件不同, 2015—2016厄尔尼诺事件没有强迫出负位相NAO, 而是出现弱NAO正位相, 热带北大西洋为弱的东风异常, 使海表发生一定的冷却, 形成2016春季北大西洋SSTA与1998年的明显差异。     

Year aridity index patterns in northwest China and the relationship to summer North Atlantic sea surface temperature

Aim to linking the variability of drought in northwest China to the oceanic influence of North Atlantic SSTs at the background of global warming and at the regional climate change shifting stages, year aridity index variations in northwest China and summer North Atlantic sea surface temperature （SST） variations are examined for the 44 a period of 1961-2004 using singular value decomposition （SVD） analysis. Results show that the SST anomalies （SSTA）in the North Atlantic in summer reflected three basic models. The first SVD mode of SST pattern shows a dipole - like variation with the positive center located at southwest and negative center at northeast of extratropical North Atlantic. And it strongly relates to the positive trend in AI variation in northwest China. The second coupled modes display the coherent positive anomalies in extratropical North Atlantic SST and the marked opposite trend of AI variability between north and south of Xinjiang. In addition, the lag correlation analysis of the first mode of SSTA and geopotential heights at 500 hPa variations also shows that the indication of the former influencing the latter configuration, which result in higher air temperature and less precipitation when the SSTA in the North Atlantic Ocean in summer motivated Eurasian circulation of EA pattern, further to influence the wet - dry variations in northwest China by the ocean-to - atmosphere forcing.     

热带地区积云对流的长期变化特征

使用１９７９年１月至１９８４年１２月向外长波辐射（ＯＬＲ）资料，对热带地区积云对流的长期变化特征进行了研究。结果表明：热带地区积云对流活动存在显著的季节变化，冬季积云对流区主要是东西向，位于南印度洋和西太平洋的近赤道地区；夏季则北移至北印度洋和菲律宾附近的西太平洋地区。低纬地区积云对流活动存在明显的季节性位移，北印度洋地区的积云对流活动主要集中在５—１０月，７—８月位置最北；北半球热带西太平洋地区的积云对流活动则主要集中在６—１１月，８—９月位置最北。标准差分析表明，冬季北半球热带西太平洋、赤道中太平洋及热带印度洋东部地区积云对流的年际变化最明显。经验正交函数（ＥＯＦ）分析的主要空间型反映了赤道中太平洋、热带西太平洋、阿拉伯海和副热带西太平洋地区的积云对流活动存在一定的关系。结合遥相关计算还表明秋云对流存在４种遥相关型，即２种东西向偶极型涛动型、西太平洋型和北印度洋型。     

Characteristics and variations of the East Asian monsoon system and its impacts on climate disasters in China

Recent advances in studies of the structural characteristics and temporal-spatial variations of the East Asian monsoon （EAM） system and the impact of this system on severe climate disasters in China are reviewed. Previous studies have improved our understanding of the basic characteristics of horizontal and vertical structures and the annual cycle of the EAM system and the water vapor transports in the EAM region. Many studies have shown that the EAM system is a relatively independent subsystem of the Asian- Australian monsoon system, and that there exists an obvious quasi-biennial oscillation with a meridional tripole pattern distribution in the interannual variations of the EAM system. Further analyses of the basic physical processes, both internal and external, that influence the variability of the EAM system indicate that the EAM system may be viewed as an atmosphere-ocean-land coupled system, referred to the EAM climate system in this paper. Further, the paper discusses how the interaction and relationships among various components of this system can be described through the East Asia Pacific （EAP） teleconnection pattern and the teleconnection pattern of meridional upper-tropospheric wind anomalies along the westerly jet over East Asia. Such reasoning suggests that the occurrence of severe floods in the Yangtze and Hualhe River valleys and prolonged droughts in North China are linked, respectively~ to the background interannual and interdecadal variability of the EAM climate system. Besides, outstanding scientific issues related to the EAM system and its impact on climate disasters in China are also discussed.