Analysis of the Causes of a Low Cloud and Low Visibility Weather at Cangyuan Washan Airport

At 11:00 am on August 5, 2017, Cangyuan Washan Airport experienced low cloud and low visibility weather, accompanied by aircraft turbulence, which affected the normal operation of flights, which was closely related to the meteorological conditions at that time. Using the hourly reanalysis data of the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) Reanalysis 5 (ERA5), including Geopotential height, temperature, precipitation, wind field, specific humidity, vorticity and other elements, with a spatial resolution of 0.25° × 0.25°, this paper focuses on the horizontal distribution and vertical configuration of various physical quantities before and after the occurrence of low cloud and low visibility weather at the airport. The results indicate that the main influencing system of this low cloud and low visibility weather is the westward tropical depression. Before the occurrence of low cloud and low visibility weather, low-level water vapor converges and is accompanied by precipitation. The temperature decreases with precipitation, the near-surface wind direction changes, and the wind speed decreases.

Analysis of Near-Surface Layer Meteorological Elements for a Summer Fog in Ninglang Airport

Based on hourly observation data from 2016 to 2019 and hourly automatic meteorological observation data from 2018 to 2019, we analyzed the annual, monthly and daily variation characteristics of fog days in Ninglang Airport, and diagnosed a case of summer fog. The results show that the average annual fog days in Ninglang Airport are 128 days and the annual characteristic of fog days is bimodal. Analyzed on fog cases in 2019, it was a summer fog process lasting more than 20 hours and visibility less than 500 m. The data from the automatic observational stations around Ninglang airport can describe the near-surface layer features of fog and illustrate the progress of fog. The meteorological elements of automatic observational stations changed suddenly 2 hours before fog, so the data of the automatic observational stations can be used to forscast fog.

Interannual Variation of the Onset of Yunnan’s Rainy Season and Its Relationships with the Arctic Oscillation of the Preceding Winter

Based on an analysis of the circulation in May associated with the interannual variation of the onset of Yunnan’s rainy season, this study examined the rela-tionship between Arctic Oscillation (AO) and the onset timing of the rainy sea-son by using the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis and observational precipitation data for 1961-2010. The results indicated that, on an interannual time scale, intense Asian summer monsoon and an active EU-pattern wave train circulation in its positive phase, associated with a cold cyclonic cell covering the western part of the East Asian subtropical westerly jet (EASWJ), jointly contributed to the onset of the rainy season in May. Otherwise, the onset might be suppressed. The cold cyclonic cell over East Asia likely led to the southward shift and enhancement of EASWJ as well as its secondary circulation around the jet entrance, which could provide a favorable dynamic and thermal condition for rainfalls in Yunnan as was revealed in previous studies on 10 - 30-day time scale. Further examination showed that the preceding wintertime AO played a significant role in the timing of the onset of the rainy season before the mid-1980s’ by mostly modulating the wave-train-like circulation over East Asia in May. During that time period, when the AO index of the previous winter was positive (negative), Yunnan’s rainy season tended to begin earlier (later) than normal. Correspond-ingly, the precipitation in May was also closely linked to wintertime AO.

Advances in the Research of Yunnan’s Arid Climate and Extreme Drought

With the global climate change, the extreme drought was increasing. From 2009 autumn to 2010 spring, a hundred-year drought happened in Yunnan province, which caused great local economic losses and widespread attention. So many researches about Yunnan drought were studied. The climatic characteristics of the drought over Yunnan are studied by analyzing the spatial and temporal distribution of some meteorological factors such as precipitation, temperature and sunlight, etc. Some researchers studied the formation mechanism of the drought events in Yunnan. In this paper, by investigating lots of related documents, we had a summarization and commentary about the recent study achievements of Yunnan drought and tried to offer reference to the study on the Yunnan drought in the future.

Influence of Springtime Atlantic SST on ENSO:Role of the Madden-Julian Oscillation

Increased evidence has shown the important role of Atlantic sea surface temperature(SST) in modulating the El Nio-Southern Oscillation(ENSO). Persistent anomalies of summer Madden-Julian Oscillation(MJO) act to link the Atlantic SST anomalies(SSTAs) to ENSO. The Atlantic SSTAs are strongly correlated with the persistent anomalies of summer MJO, and possibly affect MJO in two major ways. One is that an anomalous cyclonic(anticyclonic) circulation appears over the tropical Atlantic Ocean associated with positive(negative) SSTA in spring, and it intensifies(weakens) the Walker circulation. Equatorial updraft anomaly then appears over the Indian Ocean and the eastern Pacific Ocean, intensifying MJO activity over these regions. The other involves a high pressure(low pressure) anomaly associated with the North Atlantic SSTA tripole pattern that is transmitted to the mid-and low-latitudes by a circumglobal teleconnection pattern, leading to strong(weak) convective activity of MJO over the Indian Ocean. The above results offer new viewpoints about the process from springtime Atlantic SSTA signals to summertime atmospheric oscillation, and then to the MJO of tropical atmosphere affecting wintertime Pacific ENSO events, which connects different oceans.