INTERANNUAL AND INTERDECADAL VARIATIONS OF LARGE-SCALE MOISTURE SINKS OVER GUANGDONG

The interannual and interdecadal variations of moisture sinks over Guangdong are discussed with the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data and observed precipitation data from 1958 to 2004. The results indicate that climatically, the amount of precipitation is larger than that of evaporation in spring and summer.Precipitation and evaporation almost balance each other in autumn and the amount of evaporation is larger than that of precipitation in winter. The interannual signal dominates the variations of moisture sinks in all seasons in Guangdong with a period of three-year oscillation in autumn and winter. Remarkable interdecadal signal characterized by a period of three-decade oscillation can be identified for winter and spring from seasonally averaged moisture sink data and from annually moisture data, with variance percentage larger than 40%. This result indicates that Guangdong is at a transitional stage from positive anomalies to negative anomalies. The moisture sink anomalies in winter and following spring over Guangdong are usually in-phase. Besides, there exist periodic oscillations with periods of 10 to 15 years in summer and autumn. The positive (negative) anomalies of moisture sinks over Guangdong are due to the intensified (weakened) moisture from the tropical areas being transported to the Southern China, accompanied by an intensified (weakened) moisture convergence.