scholarly journals Impacts of Abnormal Heating of Tibetan Plateau on Rossby Wave Activity and Hazards Related to Snow and Ice in South China

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Yuyue Fan ◽  
Guoping Li ◽  
Huiguo Lu

In January 2008, extreme freezing rain struck South China. At the same time, the Tibetan Plateau (TP) was experiencing pronounced surface heating. The characteristics of this extreme weather and its linkage to the TP surface heating anomaly were analyzed in this paper. The results show that (1) anomalous heating of the TP helps to form and sustain the Siberian blocking high, which is important for persistent southward flow of dry and cold Siberian air; (2) TP heating helps the moisture flux move more north and strengthens the southerly wind above 850 hPa; (3) there are two Rossby wave trains at 500 hPa and the layers above it (at about 20∘N–40∘N). Correlation analysis reveals that TP heating anomalies are closely associated with these Rossby wave trains; (4) the Rossby wave propagates downstream from the TP to South China in the mid and high layers of the atmosphere when the TP changes swiftly from a heat sink to a heat source. This implies that anomalous heating of the TP may stimulate the Rossby wave train to propagate downward in midlatitudes.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingyi Li ◽  
Fei Li ◽  
Shengping He ◽  
Huijun Wang ◽  
Yvan J Orsolini

<p>The Tibetan Plateau (TP), referred to as the “Asian water tower”, contains one of the largest land ice masses on Earth. The local glacier shrinkage and frozen-water storage are strongly affected by variations in surface air temperature over the TP (TPSAT), especially in springtime. This study reveals a distinct out-of-phase connection between the February North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and March TPSAT, which is non-stationary and regulated by the warm phase of the Atlantic Multidecadal Variability (AMV+). The results show that during the AMV+, the negative phase of the NAO persists from February to March, and is accompanied by a quasi-stationary Rossby wave train trapped along a northward-shifted subtropical westerly jet stream across Eurasia, inducing an anomalous adiabatic descent that warms the TP. However, during the cold phase of the AMV, the negative NAO does not persist into March. The Rossby wave train propagates along the well-separated polar and subtropical westerly jets, and the NAO−TPSAT connection is broken. Further investigation suggests that the enhanced synoptic eddy and low-frequency flow (SELF) interaction over the North Atlantic in February and March during the AMV+, caused by the enhanced and southward-shifted storm track, help maintain the NAO anomaly pattern via positive eddy feedback. This study provides a new detailed perspective on the decadal variability of the North Atlantic−TP connections in late winter−early spring.</p>


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-40
Author(s):  
Jingyi Li ◽  
Fei Li ◽  
Shengping He ◽  
Huijun Wang ◽  
Yvan J Orsolini

AbstractThe Tibetan Plateau (TP), referred to as the “Asian water tower”, contains one of the largest land ice masses on Earth. The local glacier shrinkage and frozen-water storage are strongly affected by variations in surface air temperature over the TP (TPSAT), especially in springtime. This study reveals that the relationship between the February North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and March TPSAT is unstable with time and regulated by the phase of the Atlantic Multidecadal Variability (AMV). The significant out-of-phase connection occurs only during the warm phase of AMV (AMV+). The results show that during the AMV+, the negative phase of the NAO persists from February to March, and is accompanied by a quasi-stationary Rossby wave train trapped along a northward-shifted subtropical westerly jet stream across Eurasia, inducing an anomalous adiabatic descent that warms the TP. However, during the cold phase of the AMV, the negative NAO can not persist into March. The Rossby wave train propagates along the well-separated polar and subtropical westerly jets, and the NAO−TPSAT connection is broken. Further investigation suggests that the enhanced synoptic eddy and low frequency flow (SELF) interaction over the North Atlantic in February and March during the AMV+, caused by the enhanced and southward-shifted storm track, help maintain the NAO anomaly pattern via positive eddy feedback. This study provides a new detailed perspective on the decadal variability of the North Atlantic−TP connection in late winter−early spring.


1975 ◽  
Vol 65 (5) ◽  
pp. 1051-1057 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. P. Chen ◽  
P. Molnar

Abstract Well-dispersed Rayleigh waves within the period range of 4 to 11 sec are observed at New Delhi (NDI) and Shillong (SHL), India, for seven earthquakes near and in the Tibetan Plateau from 1963 to 1971. The dispersion curves and the simply dispersed wave forms suggest a prominent overlying wave guide, probably sediments, in the Tibetan area. The thickness of such sediments is most likely between 2.5 and 7.0 km. The simple wave trains, without much distortion due to multipathing, are consistent with a relatively inert, recent tectonism in Tibet.


2005 ◽  
Vol 62 (12) ◽  
pp. 4423-4440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Koutarou Takaya ◽  
Hisashi Nakamura

Abstract Mechanisms of intraseasonal amplification of the Siberian high are investigated on the basis of composite anomaly evolution for its strongest events at each of the grid points over Siberia. At each location, the amplification of the surface high is associated with formation of a blocking ridge in the upper troposphere. Over central and western Siberia, what may be called “wave-train (Atlantic-origin)” type is common, where a blocking ridge forms as a component of a quasi-stationary Rossby wave train propagating across the Eurasian continent. A cold air outbreak follows once anomalous surface cold air reaches the northeastern slope of the Tibetan Plateau. It is found through the potential vorticity (PV) inversion technique that interaction between the upper-level stationary Rossby wave train and preexisting surface cold anomalies is essential for the strong amplification of the surface high. Upper-level PV anomalies associated with the wave train reinforce the cold anticyclonic anomalies at the surface by inducing anomalous cold advection that counteracts the tendency of the thermal anomalies themselves to migrate eastward as surface thermal Rossby waves. The surface cold anomalies thus intensified, in turn, act to induce anomalous vorticity advection aloft that reinforces the blocking ridge and cyclonic anomalies downstream of it that constitute the propagating wave train. The baroclinic development of the anomalies through this vertical coupling is manifested as a significant upward flux of wave activity emanating from the surface cold anomalies, which may be interpreted as dissipative destabilization of the incoming external Rossby waves.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 4289
Author(s):  
Yang Li ◽  
Yubao Liu ◽  
Yun Chen ◽  
Baojun Chen ◽  
Xin Zhang ◽  
...  

The spatiotemporal statistical characteristics of warm-season deep convective systems, particularly deep convective systems initiation (DCSI), over China and its vicinity are investigated using Himawari-8 geostationary satellite measurements collected during April-September from 2016 to 2020. Based on a satellite brightness temperature multiple-threshold convection identification and tracking method, a total of 47593 deep convective systems with lifetimes of at least 3 h were identified in the region. There are three outstanding local maxima in the region, located in the southwestern, central and eastern Tibetan Plateau and Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, followed by a region of high convective activities in South China. Most convective systems are developed over the Tibetan Plateau, predominantly eastward-moving, while those developed in Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and South China mostly move westward and southwestward. The DSCI occurrences become extremely active after the onset of the summer monsoon and tend to reach a maximum in July and August, with a diurnal peak at 11–13 LST in response to the enhanced solar heating and monsoon flows. Several DCSI hotspots are identified in the regions of inland mountains, tropical islands and coastal mountains during daytime, but in basins, plains and coastal areas during nighttime. DCSI over land and oceans exhibits significantly different sub-seasonal and diurnal variations. Oceanic DCSI has an ambiguous diurnal variation, although its sub-seasonal variation is similar to that over land. It is demonstrated that the high spatiotemporal resolution satellite dataset provides rich information for understanding the convective systems over China and vicinity, particularly the complex terrain and oceans where radar observations are sparse or none, which will help to improve the convective systems and initiation nowcasting.


2019 ◽  
Vol 32 (20) ◽  
pp. 7037-7053
Author(s):  
Hongwen Zhang ◽  
Yanhong Gao ◽  
Jianwei Xu ◽  
Yu Xu ◽  
Yingsha Jiang

Abstract To meet the requirement of high-resolution datasets for many applications, a dynamical downscaling approach using a regional climate model (the WRF Model) driven by a global climate model (CCSM4) has been adopted. This study focuses on projections of future moisture flux changes over the Tibetan Plateau (TP). First, the downscaling results for the historical period (1980–2005) are evaluated for precipitation P, evaporation E, and precipitation minus evaporation P − E against Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) data. The mechanism of P − E changes is analyzed by decomposition into dynamic, thermodynamic, and transient eddy components. Whether the historical period changes and mechanisms continue into the future (2010–2100) is investigated using the WRF and CCSM model projections under the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios. Compared with coarse-resolution forcing, downscaling was found to better reproduce the historical spatial patterns and seasonal mean of annual average P, E, and P − E over the TP. WRF projects a diverse spatial variation of P − E changes, with an increase in the northern TP and a decrease in the southern TP, compared with the uniform increase in CCSM. The dynamic component dominates P − E changes for the historical period in both the CCSM and WRF projections. In the future, however, the thermodynamic component in CCSM dominates P − E changes under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 from the near-term (2010–39) to the long-term (2070–99) future. Unlike the CCSM projections, the WRF projections reproduce the mechanism seen in the historical period—that is, the dynamic component dominates P − E changes. Furthermore, future P − E changes in the dynamical downscaling are less sensitive to warming than its coarse-resolution forcing.


Author(s):  
Yiming Liu ◽  
Yuhua Wang ◽  
Sanzhong Li ◽  
M. Santosh ◽  
Runhua Guo ◽  
...  

The Tibetan Plateau is composed of several microblocks, the tectonic affinity and paleogeographic correlations of which remain enigmatic. We investigated the Amdo and Jiayuqiao microblocks in central Tibet Plateau with a view to understand their tectonic setting and paleogeographic position within the Neoproterozoic supercontinent Rodinia. We present zircon U-Pb and Lu-Hf isotope, and whole-rock geochemical data on Neoproterozoic granitic gneisses from these microblocks. Zircon grains from the Jiayuqiao granitic gneiss yielded an age of 857 ± 9 Ma with variable εHf(t) values (−8.9 to 4.0). The Amdo granitic gneisses yielded ages of 893 ± 5 Ma, 807 ± 5 Ma, and 767 ± 11 Ma, with εHf(t) values in the range of −4.9 to 3.5. Geochemically, the granitoids belong to high-K calc-alkaline series, with the protolith derived from partial melting of ancient crustal components. The ascending parental magma of the Amdo granitoids experienced significant mantle contamination as compared to the less contaminated magmas that generated the Jiayuqiao intrusions. In contrast to the Lhasa, Himalaya, South China, and Tarim blocks, we suggest that the Amdo and Jiayuqiao microblocks probably formed a unified block during the Neoproterozoic and were located adjacent to the southwestern part of South China craton. The Neoproterozoic magmatism was probably associated with the subduction of the peripheral ocean under the South China craton and the delamination of lithospheric mantle beneath the Jiangnan orogen.


2006 ◽  
Vol 63 (5) ◽  
pp. 1377-1389 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Li ◽  
Bing Fu

Abstract The structure and evolution characteristics of Rossby wave trains induced by tropical cyclone (TC) energy dispersion are revealed based on the Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT) and Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) Microwave Imager (TMI) data. Among 34 cyclogenesis cases analyzed in the western North Pacific during 2000–01 typhoon seasons, six cases are associated with the Rossby wave energy dispersion of a preexisting TC. The wave trains are oriented in a northwest–southeast direction, with alternating cyclonic and anticyclonic vorticity circulation. A typical wavelength of the wave train is about 2500 km. The TC genesis is observed in the cyclonic circulation region of the wave train, possibly through a scale contraction process. The satellite data analyses reveal that not all TCs have a Rossby wave train in their wakes. The occurrence of the Rossby wave train depends to a certain extent on the TC intensity and the background flow. Whether or not a Rossby wave train can finally lead to cyclogenesis depends on large-scale dynamic and thermodynamic conditions related to both the change of the seasonal mean state and the phase of the tropical intraseasonal oscillation. Stronger low-level convergence and cyclonic vorticity, weaker vertical shear, and greater midtropospheric moisture are among the favorable large-scale conditions. The rebuilding process of a conditional unstable stratification is important in regulating the frequency of TC genesis.


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