scholarly journals Orographically Anchored El Niño Effect on Summer Rainfall in Central China

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (24) ◽  
pp. 10037-10045 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kaiming Hu ◽  
Shang-Ping Xie ◽  
Gang Huang

Year-to-year variations in summer precipitation have great socioeconomic impacts on China. Historical rainfall variability over China is investigated using a newly released high-resolution dataset. The results reveal summer-mean rainfall anomalies associated with ENSO that are anchored by mountains in central China east of the Tibetan Plateau. These orographically anchored hot spots of ENSO influence are poorly represented in coarse-resolution datasets so far in use. In post–El Niño summers, an anomalous anticyclone forms over the tropical northwest Pacific, and the anomalous southwesterlies on the northwest flank cause rainfall to increase in mountainous central China through orographic lift. At upper levels, the winds induce additional adiabatic updraft by increasing the eastward advection of warm air from Tibet. In post–El Niño summers, large-scale moisture convergence induces rainfall anomalies elsewhere over flat eastern China, which move northward from June to August and amount to little in the seasonal mean.

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (16) ◽  
pp. 10787-10800 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Feng ◽  
Jianping Li ◽  
Hong Liao ◽  
Jianlei Zhu

Abstract. The high aerosol concentration (AC) over eastern China has attracted attention from both science and society. Based on the simulations of a chemical transport model using a fixed emissions level, the possible impact of the previous autumn North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) combined with the simultaneous El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on the boreal winter AC over eastern China is investigated. We find that the NAO only manifests its negative impacts on the AC during its negative phase over central China, and a significant positive influence on the distribution of AC is observed over south China only during the warm events of ENSO. The impact of the previous NAO on the AC occurs via an anomalous sea surface temperature tripole pattern by which a teleconnection wave train is induced that results in anomalous convergence over central China. In contrast, the occurrence of ENSO events may induce an anomalous shift in the western Pacific subtropical high and result in anomalous southwesterlies over south China. The anomalous circulations associated with a negative NAO and El Niño are not favorable for the transport of AC and correspond to worsening air conditions over central and south China. The results highlight the fact that the combined effects of tropical and extratropical systems play a considerable role in affecting the boreal winter AC over eastern China.


2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 1304-1321 ◽  
Author(s):  
Surendra P. Rauniyar ◽  
Kevin J. E. Walsh

Abstract This study examines the influence of ENSO on the diurnal cycle of rainfall during boreal winter for the period 1998–2010 over the Maritime Continent (MC) and Australia using Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) and reanalysis data. The diurnal cycles are composited for the ENSO cold (La Niña) and warm (El Niño) phases. The k-means clustering technique is then applied to group the TRMM data into six clusters, each with a distinct diurnal cycle. Despite the alternating patterns of widespread large-scale subsidence and ascent associated with the Walker circulation, which dominates the climate over the MC during the opposing phases of ENSO, many of the islands of the MC show localized differences in rainfall anomalies that depend on the local geography and orography. While ocean regions mostly experience positive rainfall anomalies during La Niña, some local regions over the islands have more rainfall during El Niño. These local features are also associated with anomalies in the amplitude and characteristics of the diurnal cycle in these regions. These differences are also well depicted in large-scale dynamical fields derived from the interim ECMWF Re-Analysis (ERA-Interim).


2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 1803-1816 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.-J. Yin ◽  
D.-X. Yuan ◽  
H.-C. Li ◽  
H. Cheng ◽  
T.-Y. Li ◽  
...  

Abstract. This paper focuses on the climate variability in central China since AD 1300, involving: (1) a well-dated, 1.5-year resolution stalagmite δ18O record from Lianhua Cave, central China (2) links of the δ18O record with regional dry–wet conditions, monsoon intensity, and temperature over eastern China (3) correlations among drought events in the Lianhua record, solar irradiation, and ENSO (El Niño–Southern Oscillation) variation. We present a highly precise, 230Th / U-dated, 1.5-year resolution δ18O record of an aragonite stalagmite (LHD1) collected from Lianhua Cave in the Wuling Mountain area of central China. The comparison of the δ18O record with the local instrumental record and historical documents indicates that (1) the stalagmite δ18O record reveals variations in the summer monsoon intensity and dry–wet conditions in the Wuling Mountain area. (2) A stronger East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) enhances the tropical monsoon trough controlled by ITCZ (Intertropical Convergence Zone), which produces higher spring quarter rainfall and isotopically light monsoonal moisture in the central China. (3) The summer quarter/spring quarter rainfall ratio in central China can be a potential indicator of the EASM strength: a lower ratio corresponds to stronger EASM and higher spring rainfall. The ratio changed from <1 to >1 after 1950, reflecting that the summer quarter rainfall of the study area became dominant under stronger influence of the Northwestern Pacific High. Eastern China temperatures varied with the solar activity, showing higher temperatures under stronger solar irradiation, which produced stronger summer monsoons. During Maunder, Dalton and 1900 sunspot minima, more severe drought events occurred, indicating a weakening of the summer monsoon when solar activity decreased on decadal timescales. On an interannual timescale, dry conditions in the study area prevailed under El Niño conditions, which is also supported by the spectrum analysis. Hence, our record illustrates the linkage of Asian summer monsoon precipitation to solar irradiation and ENSO: wetter conditions in the study area under stronger summer monsoon during warm periods, and vice versa. During cold periods, the Walker Circulation will shift toward the central Pacific under El Niño conditions, resulting in a further weakening of Asian summer monsoons.


2013 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 1772-1790 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian-Hua Qian ◽  
Andrew W. Robertson ◽  
Vincent Moron

Abstract The interannual variability of precipitation over the island of Borneo in association with El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) has been studied by using the Global Precipitation Climatology Centre (GPCC) gridded rain gauge precipitation, the NOAA Climate Prediction Center (CPC) Morphing Technique (CMORPH) satellite estimated precipitation, the Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT) satellite estimated sea winds, and the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP)–National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) reanalysis data. Analysis of the GPCC precipitation shows a dipolar structure of wet southwest versus dry central and northeast in precipitation anomalies associated with El Niño over Borneo Island during the austral summer [December–February (DJF)]. By using the 0.25° and 3-hourly CMORPH precipitation, it is found that rainfall over Borneo is strongly affected by the diurnal cycle of land–sea breezes. The spatial distribution of rainfall over Borneo depends on the direction of monsoonal winds. Weather typing analysis indicates that the dipolar structure of rainfall anomalies associated with ENSO is caused by the variability in the frequency of occurrence of different weather types. Rainfall is enhanced in the coastal region where sea breezes head against off-shore synoptic-scale low-level winds (i.e., in the lee side or wake area of the island), which is referred to here as the “wake effect.” In DJF of El Niño years, the northwesterly austral summer monsoon in southern Borneo is weaker than normal over the Maritime Continent and easterly winds are more frequent than normal over Borneo, acting to enhance rainfall over the southwest coast of the island. This coastal rainfall generation mechanism in different weather types explains the dipole pattern of a wet southwest versus dry northeast in the rainfall anomalies over Borneo Island in the El Niño years.


2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (19) ◽  
pp. 7845-7861 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hui Shi ◽  
Bin Wang ◽  
Edward R. Cook ◽  
Jian Liu ◽  
Fei Liu

Sparse long-term Asian monsoon (AM) records have limited our ability to understand and accurately model low-frequency AM variability. Here we present a gridded 544-yr (from 1470 to 2013) reconstructed Asian summer precipitation (RAP) dataset by weighted merging of two complementary proxies including 453 tree-ring-width chronologies and 71 historical documentary records. The RAP dataset provides substantially improved data quality when compared with single-proxy-type reconstructions. Skillful reconstructions are obtained in East and North China, northern India and Pakistan, the Indochina Peninsula, midlatitude Asia, the Maritime Continent, and southern Japan. The RAP faithfully illustrates large-scale regional rainfall variability but has more uncertainties in representing small-scale local rainfall anomalies. The RAP reproduces a realistic climatology and captures well the year-to-year rainfall variability averaged over monsoon Asia, arid central Asia, and all of Asia during the twentieth century. It also shows a general agreement with other proxies (speleothems and ice cores) during the period of 1470–1920. The RAP captures the remarkably abrupt change during the 1600s recorded in the upwelling proxy over the Arabian Sea. Four major modes of variability of the Asian summer precipitation are identified with the long record of the RAP, including a biennial El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) mode, a low-frequency ENSO mode, a central Pacific El Niño–like decadal mode, and an interdecadal mode. In sum, the RAP provides a valuable dataset for study of the large-scale Asian summer precipitation variability, especially the decadal–centennial variability that is caused by external forcing and internal feedback processes within the Earth climate system.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-55
Author(s):  
Linyuan Sun ◽  
Xiu-Qun Yang ◽  
Lingfeng Tao ◽  
Jiabei Fang ◽  
Xuguang Sun

AbstractThe El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events which generally mature in winter profoundly affect the following summer rainfall in eastern China (ECSR), but such an impact can change significantly with decadal background. This study examines how the impact changes since the 1950s by running correlation and regression analyses. It is found that the ENSO’s impact on ECSR has undergone two decadal shifts in the late 1970s and 1990s, respectively. Sequentially, three distinct ENSO-induced ECSR anomaly patterns are categorized, which exhibit both robust and changeable sides. The robust side manifests generally more precipitation in the Yangtze River basin affected by the anomalous tropical western North Pacific anticyclone (WNPAC) in the post-El Niño summer. The changeable side is reflected in the more variable ENSO-induced rainfall anomalies north of the Yangtze River, due to the ENSO-induced different East Asian midlatitude circulation anomalies. Meanwhile, the El Niño-induced drought in South China is enhanced since the late 1970s with the intensification of the anomalous WNPAC. The ENSO’s changing impact on the ECSR stems from the changes of ENSO-induced tropical and midlatitude circulation anomalies over East Asia, which are associated with different zonal (from tropical Pacific to Indian Ocean) and meridional (from tropical Pacific to Midlatitude North Pacific) teleconnections of ENSO-induced SST anomalies. The former affects the intensity and location of the anomalous WNPAC by affecting Indian Ocean capacitor effect and convection anomalies over the tropical Indo-western Pacific. The latter modulates the ocean-to-atmosphere feedback in the midlatitude North Pacific, contributes to different local geopotential anomaly sources, and then directly or indirectly through Rossby wavetrain affects the East Asian midlatitude circulation.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jong-Suk Kim ◽  
Sun-Kwon Yoon ◽  
Sang Myeong Oh ◽  
Young-Il Moon

We analyzed typhoon activities such as tropical cyclone (TC) genesis position, movement routes and central pressure of typhoons, and changes in local patterns of rainfall stemming from TCs passing through the Korean domain. The results showed a remarkable difference in changes in typhoons that affect the Korean Peninsula (KP) during cold tongue (CT) and warm pool (WP) El Niño years. In particular, TCs that move through the ocean off Korea and the Kuroshio during WP El Niño years are relatively stronger than TCs formed during CT El Niño years. Furthermore, analysis of large-scale atmosphere-ocean dynamics showed better conditions for TC development and strengthening during WP El Niño years. TC-induced summer rainfall over major Korean river basins decreased from normal years during CT El Niño years (−3.94%) and increased over normal years during WP El Niño years (+33.92%). The results of this diagnostic study rely on short-term observations and relatively little data, but they suggest that CT/WP El Niño cycles influence TC activities and rainfall across the KP. The findings are important for reducing TC damage and ensuring a proper response to climate change in coupled human-environmental systems.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Feng ◽  
Jianping Li ◽  
Hong Liao ◽  
Jianlei Zhu

Abstract. The high aerosol concentrations (AC) over eastern China have attracted attention from both science and society. Based on the simulations of a chemical transport model using a fixed emissions level, the possible role of the previous autumn North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) combined with the simultaneous El Niño–South Oscillation (ENSO) on the boreal winter AC over eastern China is investigated. We find that the NAO only manifests its negative impacts on the AC during its negative phase over central China, and a significant positive influence on the distribution of AC is observed over south China only during the warm events of ENSO. The impact of the previous NAO on the AC occurs via an anomalous sea surface temperature tripole pattern by which a teleconnection wave train is induced that results in anomalous convergence over central China. In contrast, the occurrence of ENSO events may induce an anomalous shift in the western Pacific subtropical high and result in anomalous southwesterlies over south China. The anomalous circulations associated with a negative NAO and El Niño are not favorable for the transport of AC and correspond to worsening air conditions. The results highlight that the combined effects of tropical and extratropical systems play considerable role in affecting the boreal winter AC over eastern China.


2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takeaki Sampe ◽  
Shang-Ping Xie

Abstract Meiyu-baiu is the major rainy season from central China to Japan brought by a zonally elongated rainband from June to mid-July. Large-scale characteristics and environmental forcing of this important phenomenon are investigated based on a reanalysis dataset. The meiyu-baiu rainband is accompanied by a trough of sea level pressure, horizontal shears, and sharp moisture gradients near the surface, a westerly jet tilted northward with height, and large northeastward moisture transport from the south. The analysis here reveals the westerly jet as an important culprit for meiyu-baiu. Along the rainband, mean ascending motion corresponds well with a band of warm horizontal temperature advection in the midtroposphere throughout summer. This adiabatic induction of upward motion originates from the advection of warm air by the westerlies from the eastern flank of the Tibetan Plateau. The ascending motion both induces convection and is enhanced by the resultant condensational heating. The westerly jet anchors the meiyu-baiu rainband also by steering transient eddies, creating periods conducive to convection through convective instability and adiabatic updrafts. Indeed, in meiyu-baiu, the probability distribution of convective instability shows large spreads and is strongly skewed, with a sharp cutoff on the unstable side resulting from the effective removal of instability by convection. Thus, active weather disturbances in the westerly waveguide explain a paradox that convection is active in the meiyu-baiu rainband while mean convective instability is significantly higher to the south over the subtropical North Pacific warm pool. In addition to the westerly jet, low-level southerly winds over eastern China between the heat low over Asia and the subtropical high pressure belt over the Pacific are another important environmental forcing for meiyu-baiu by supplying moisture. A conceptual model for meiyu-baiu is presented, and its implications for seasonal and interannual variations are discussed.


2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (20) ◽  
pp. 7313-7327 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhiwei Zhu ◽  
Tim Li

Abstract The present study reveals a close relationship between the leading mode of continental U.S. (CONUS) summer rainfall and the East Asian subtropical monsoon rainfall (viz., mei-yu in China, baiu in Japan, and changma in the Korean peninsula). The East Asian subtropical monsoon rainfall and the CONUS dipole rainfall patterns are connected by an upper-level Asia–North America (ANA) teleconnection. The Rossby wave energy propagates along the path of the westerly jet stream (WJS) from East Asia to North America, affecting the CONUS summer rainfall. Mechanisms through which East Asian summer monsoon heating influence North American rainfall are illustrated by idealized anomaly atmospheric general circulation model experiments. In boreal winter, because of the southward shift of the WJS, the Pacific–North American (PNA) pattern can be excited by the tropical central/eastern Pacific heating associated with El Niño, affecting the rainfall over CONUS. In boreal summer, because the WJS is weaker and locates farther to the north, an equatorial heating anomaly cannot directly perturb the WJS. A perturbation heating over subtropical East Asia, however, can trigger an ANA pattern along the path of the WJS, affecting the rainfall over North America. The season-dependent teleconnection scenario illustrates that the predictability source of CONUS rainfall variability is different between winter and summer. While the PNA pattern generated by El Niño is critical for CONUS rainfall in northern winter, the CONUS dipole rainfall variation in boreal summer is mainly governed by the remote forcing over subtropical East Asia via the ANA teleconnection.


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