scholarly journals Spatial Distributions and Seasonal Variations of Tropospheric Water Vapor Content over the Tibetan Plateau

2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (15) ◽  
pp. 5637-5654 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuwei Zhang ◽  
Donghai Wang ◽  
Panmao Zhai ◽  
Guojun Gu ◽  
Jinhai He
Keyword(s):  
Water Vapor ◽  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Seasonal Variations ◽  
Precipitable Water ◽  
High Water ◽  
Water Vapor Content ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Spatial Distributions ◽  
Vapor Flux ◽  
Horizontal Gradients

Abstract Spatial distributions and seasonal variations of tropospheric water vapor over the Tibetan Plateau and the surrounding areas are explored by means of water vapor products from the high-resolution Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) on board the Aqua satellite and the NASA Water Vapor Project (NVAP). Because NVAP has a serious temporal inhomogeneity issue found in previous studies, the AIRS retrieval product is primarily applied here, though similar seasonal variations can be derived in both datasets. Intense horizontal gradients appear along the edges of the plateau in the lower-tropospheric (500–700 hPa) water vapor and columnar precipitable water, in particular over the regions along the southeastern boundary. Rich horizontal structures are also seen within the plateau, but with a weaker gradient. In the mid- to upper troposphere (300–500 hPa), horizontal gradients are relatively weak. It is shown that there is always a deep layer of high water vapor content over the plateau with a peak around 500 hPa, which can extend from the surface to roughly 300 hPa and even to 100 hPa at some locations. This layer of high water vapor content has consistent influence on precipitating processes in the downstream regions such as the valleys of the Yellow and Yangtze Rivers. Estimated vertically integrated water vapor flux and moisture divergence in the two layers (500–700 and 300–500 hPa) further confirm the effect of the Tibetan Plateau on the downstream regions. In particular, the mid- to upper-layer water vapor (300–500 hPa) tends to play an essential role during both the warm and cold seasons, confirmed by the spatial distribution of seasonal-mean precipitation.

Spatiotemporal changes in atmospheric water vapor content and analysis of meteorological factors over the Tibetan Plateau and its surroundings

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhilan Wang ◽  
Meiping Sun ◽  
Xiaojun Yao ◽  
Lei Zhang ◽  
Hao Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Water Vapor ◽  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Meteorological Factors ◽  
Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission ◽  
High Water ◽  
Water Vapor Content ◽  
Radiosonde Data ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Atmospheric Infrared Sounder ◽  
Increasing Trend

Abstract Based on radiosonde stations and V3.0 data, Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS)-only, Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite (TRMM) and MERRA2, and ERA-5 data, we evaluated the ability of each dataset to reproduce water vapor content and explored its relationship with precipitation and temperature over the Tibetan Plateau and its surroundings. The results showed that the southern part of the surrounding area had high water vapor content and a low water vapor content zone appeared in the inner part of the Tibetan Plateau. The largest water vapor content appeared in summer and the smallest in winter. Most of the products could capture the spatial distribution of water vapor content, ERA-5 had the smallest bias and the highest correlation coefficient with the radiosonde data. The water vapor content has shown a gradually increasing trend over the last 50 years, with the most obvious increase in summer. Several sets of products had the same fluctuation trend and value is greater than the radiosonde data. There was a significant positive correlation between air temperature and water vapor content in the Tibetan Plateau, especially in the south. As the latitude increased, the correlation between precipitation and water vapor content gradually decreased and a negative correlation appeared.

An Empirical Model for Estimating Precipitable Water Vapor on the Tibetan Plateau

2019 ◽  
Vol 131 (1006) ◽  
pp. 125001 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuan Qian ◽  
Yongqiang Yao ◽  
Lei Zou ◽  
Hongshuai Wang ◽  
Jia Yin
Keyword(s):  
Water Vapor ◽  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Empirical Model ◽  
Precipitable Water ◽  
Precipitable Water Vapor ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau

scholarly journals A vertical transport window of water vapor in the troposphere over the Tibetan Plateau with implication for global change

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiangde Xu ◽  
Chan Sun ◽  
Deliang Chen ◽  
Tianliang Zhao ◽  
Jianjun Xu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Vapor ◽  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Global Change ◽  
Dynamic Effect ◽  
High Water ◽  
Vertical Transport ◽  
Vapor Transport ◽  
Water Vapor Transport ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau

Abstract. By using the multi-source data of meteorology over recent decades, this study discovered a summertime “hollow wet pool” in the troposphere with a center of high water vapor over Asian water tower (AWT) on the Tibetan Plateau (TP), where is featured by a vertical transport “window” in the troposphere. The water vapor transport in the upper troposphere extends from the vertical transport window over the TP with the significant connections among the Arctic, Antarctic and TP regions, highlighting an effect of TP’s vertical transport window of tropospheric vapor in the “hollow wet pool” on global change. The vertical transport window was built by the AWT’s thermal forcing in associated with the dynamic effect of the TP’s “hollow heat island”. Our study improve the understanding on the vapor transport over the TP with an important implication to global change.

scholarly journals Increasing warm-season precipitation in Asian drylands and response to reducing spring snow cover over the Tibetan Plateau

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-69
Author(s):  
Jie Zhang ◽  
Qianrong Ma ◽  
Haishan Chen ◽  
Siwen Zhao ◽  
Zhiheng Chen
Keyword(s):  
Water Vapor ◽  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Snow Cover ◽  
Northeast Asia ◽  
Warm Season ◽  
Summer Precipitation ◽  
South Asian High ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Water Vapor Flux ◽  
Vapor Flux

AbstractPrecipitation is crucial for life and the ecological environment in Asian drylands. This study investigated precipitation trends in Asian drylands in previous four decades and simulated its possible linkage with snow cover reduction over the Tibetan Plateau. The results show that precipitation has been increasing and contributing to wetter conditions in Asian drylands. The increasing trends can be attributed to the deepened quasi-stationary wave trough around the Lake Balkhash and the meridional water-vapor flux originated from the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. The mid-latitude waves and eddy disturbances correspond to the northward upper-level Tibetan Plateau (TP) mode of the South Asian High (TP-SAH) and the Afro-Asia jet with cyclonic rotation. Both SAH and Afro-Asia jet anomalies strengthen the ascending motion and northward water-vapor convergence in Asian drylands, and those are favorable for summer precipitation. The anomalous circulations are linked to the following: (1) the reduced snow cover (SC) over the west TP in the late spring results in decreasing soil moisture and increasing diabatic heating in summer and favors northward extension of TP-SAH and the Afro-Asia jet; (2) the reduced TP/SC increases surface temperature over TP and northeast Asia, which decreases the temperature gradient between the TP and the Indian Ocean, between northeast Asia and East Asia. Decreased temperature gradients are beneficial to the southwest-northeast cyclonic rotation of Afro-Asia jet and consequently strengthen the southerly wind and northward water-vapor flux over TP and surrounding regions. This study emphasizes important effects of the reducing TP/SC on intensifying summer precipitation in Asian drylands.

scholarly journals Analysis on Precipitable Water Vapor over the Tibetan Plateau Using FengYun-3A Medium Resolution Spectral Imager Products

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaoqi Gong ◽  
Daniel F. T. Hagan ◽  
Cunjie Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Seasonal Variation ◽  
Water Vapor ◽  
Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Mean Absolute Error ◽  
Precipitable Water ◽  
Absolute Error ◽  
The Tibetan Plateau ◽  
Medium Resolution ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Spectral Imager

The Tibetan Plateau is the largest and highest plateau in the world, and its complex terrain affects the distribution of precipitable water vapor (PWV) in the atmosphere, which plays an important role in the weather and climate of East Asia. In this paper, the characteristics of PWV over the Tibetan Plateau are studied using the FengYun-3A Medium Resolution Spectral Imager (MERSI) water vapor products, which are retrieved from the MERSI raw images of Chinese second-generation polar orbit meteorological satellite. Firstly, the accuracy of the MERSI 5-minute water vapor product is validated using three referenced water vapor data from TERRA/MODIS, ground-based GPS, and AERONET sun photometer over the Tibetan Plateau. Then, the spatial distribution and seasonal variation of PWV over the plateau are analyzed, and the effects of topographic factors on PWV are discussed. The results indicate that the MERSI 5-minute water vapor product has a good accuracy over the Tibetan Plateau, which the mean absolute error of MERSI water vapor product is in the range of 28.91%-37.54%, the mean absolute error range between 1.87 and 2.76 millimeter (mm), and the mean bias is between -1.14 and 0.64 mm comparing three referenced data. The PWV content appears as a typical spatial pattern over the Tibetan Plateau where there is a decrease from east to west of the Tibetan Plateau with increasing elevation, with the highest values over the south of Tibet. A second pattern also appears over the eastern part of the Tibetan Plateau, where the PWV content in the Qaidam Basin and the south of Tarim Basin are also considerably high. The seasonal variation of PWV content over the Tibetan Plateau presents to be highest in summer, followed by autumn and spring, and lowest in winter. The PWV content changes periodically during the year, which fits with a quadratic polynomial over monthly scales. The topographical factors of the Tibetan Plateau were found to affect the water vapor, where the altitude and latitude are negatively correlated with water vapor, while the slope and longitude show a positive correlation with water vapor; however, the aspect does not appear to have any significant influence on water vapor.

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