Contrasts of Atmospheric Circulation and Associated Tropical Convection between Huaihe River Valley and Yangtze River Valley Mei-yu Flooding

The significant differences of atmospheric circulation between flooding in the Huaihe and Yangtze River valleys during early mei-yu （i.e., the East Asian rainy season in June） and the related tropical convection were investigated. During the both flooding cases, although the geopotential height anomalies always exhibit equivalent barotropic structures in middle to high latitudes at middle and upper troposphere, the phase of the Rossby wave train is different over Eurasian continent. During flooding in the Huaihe River valley, only one single blocking anticyclone is located over Baikal Lake. In contrast, during flooding in the Yangtze River valley, there are two blocking anticyclones. One is over the Ural Mountains and the other is over Northeast Asia. In the lower troposphere a positive geopotential height anomaly is located at the western ridge of subtropical anticyclone over Western Pacific （SAWP） in both flooding cases, but the location of the height anomaly is much farther north and west during the Huaihe River mei-yu flooding. Fhrthermore, abnormal rainfall in the Huaihe River valley and the regions north of it in China is closely linked with the latent heating anomaly over the Arabian Sea and Indian peninsula. However, the rainfall in the Yangtze River valley and the regions to its south in China is strongly related to the convection over the western tropical Pacific. Numerical experiments demonstrated that the enhanced latent heating over the Arabian Sea and Indian peninsula causes water vapor convergence in the region south of Tibetan Plateau and in the Huaihe River valley extending to Japan Sea with enhanced precipitation; and vapor divergence over the Yangtze River valley and the regions to its south with deficient precipitation. While the weakened convection in the tropical West Pacific results in moisture converging over the Yangtze River and the region to its south, along with abundant rainfall.

Numerical Simulation of the Relationship between the Anomaly of Subtropical High over East Asia and the Convective Activities in the Western Tropical Pacific

In this paper, a close relationship between the intraseasonal variation of subtropical high over East Asia and the convective activities around the South China Sea and the Philippines is analysed from OLR data.This relationship is studied by using the theory of wave propagating in a slowly varying medium and by using a quasi-geoslrophic, linear, spherical model and the IAP-GCM, respectively. The results show that when the SST is warming around the western tropical Pacific or the Philippines, the convective activities are intensified around the Philippines. As a consequence, the subtropical high will be intensified over East Asia. The computed results also show that when the anomaly of convective activities are caused around the Philippines, a teleconnection pattern of circulation anomalies will be caused over South Asia, East Asia and North America.

Analysis on mechanisms of anomalous variations of tropopause pressure over the Tibetan Plateau during summer in Northern Hemisphere

Using the monthly mean data from NCEP-NCAR reanalysis, through building tropopause pressure index, we investigated the mechanisms of anomalous variations of tropopause pressure over the Tibetan Plateau during summer in Northem Hemisphere. For comparative analysis we selected representative years of 1992 and 1998 to study, and they were respectively the highest and the lowest year oftropopause pressure anomaly over the Tibetan Plateau. The results are summarized as follows： （1） Over the Tibetan Plateau, the variations of tropopause pressure are well correlated respectively with anomalous temperature and geopotential height in both troposphere and stratosphere. Besides, the anomalous tropopause pressure has also close relation with anomalous surface temperature in the Tibetan Plateau. In 1992, the surface temperature was anomalously low, correspondingly, the tropopause pressure over the Tibetan Plateau was anomalously high; but in 1998, the opposite was the case. （2） Over the Tibetan Plateau, the correlation of tropopause pressure and OLR （Outgoing Longwave Radiation） is found to be positive. Furthermore, by further diagnosing the circulation fields between 850 hPa and 200 hPa levels and the whole troposphere vapour field, we found out that the anomalously high tropopause pressure in 1992 corresponded to the anticyclonic divergence of low level wind fields and the cyclonic convergence of high level wind fields, and coupled with divergence of the whole troposphere vapour fields along with the South Asian High weakened at the same time. While in 1998, the case was opposite to that in 1992. These facts indicated that the anomalous convection resulted in the significant difference oftropopause pressure in 1992 and 1998 over the Tibetan Plateau. （3） The vertically integrated heat budget anomalies were responsible for explaining tropopause pressure anomalies in 1992 and 1998 over the Tibetan Plateau.