Relationship Between Persistent Heavy Rain Events in the Huaihe River Valley and the Distribution Pattern of Convective Activities in the Tropical Western Pacific Warm Pool

Using daily outgoing long-wave radiation （OLR） data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration （NOAA） and the National Center for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research （NCEP/NCAR） reanalysis data of geopotential height fields for 1979-2006, the relationship between persistent heavy rain events （PHREs） in the Huaihe River valley （HRV） and the distribution pattern of convective activity in the tropical western Pacific warm pool （WPWP） is investigated. Based on nine cases of PHREs in the HRV, common characteristics of the West Pacific subtropical high （WPSH） show that the northern edge of the WPSH continues to lie in the HRV and is associated with the persistent ＂north weak south strong＂ distribution pattern of convective activities in the WPWP. Composite analysis of OLR leading the circulation indicates that the response of the WPSH to OLR anomaly patterns lags by about 1-2 days. In order to explain the reason for the effects of the distribution pattern of convective activities in the WPWP on the persistent northern edge of the WPSH in the HRV, four typical persistent heavy and light rain events in the Yangtze River valley （YRV） are contrasted with the PHREs in the HRV. The comparison indicates that when the distribution pattern of the convective activities anomaly behaves in a weak （strong） manner across the whole WPWP, persistent heavy （light） rain tends to occur in the YRV. When the distribution pattern of the convective activities anomaly behaves according to the ＂north weak south strong＂ pattern in the WPWP, persistent heavy rain tends to occur in the HRV. The effects of the ＂north weak south strong＂ distribution pattern of convective activities on PHREs in the HRV are not obvious over the seasonal mean timescale, perhaps due to the non-extreme status of convective activities in the WPWP.

Intraseasonal Oscillation of the South China Sea Summer Monsoon and Its Influence on Regionally Persistent Heavy Rain over Southern China

The intraseasonal oscillation（ISO） in the South China Sea summer monsoon（SCSSM） and its influence on regionally persistent heavy rain（RPHR） over southern China are examined by using satelhte outgoing long wave radiation,NCEP/NCAR reanalysis,and gridded rainfall station data in China from 1981 to 2010.The most important feature of the ISO in SCSSM,contributing to the modulation of RPHR,is found to be the fluctuation in the western Pacific subtropical high（WPSH）,along with a close link to the Madden-Julian oscillation（MJO）.Southern China is divided into three regions by using rotated empirical orthogonal functions（REOFs）for intraseasonal rainfall,where the incidence rate of RPHR is closely linked to the intraseasonal variation in rainfall.It is found that SCSSM ISOs are the key systems controlling the intraseasonal variability in rainfall and can be described by the leading pair of empirical orthogonal functions（EOFs） for the 850-hPa zonal wind over the SCS and southern China.Composite analyses based on the principal components（PCs） of the EOFs indicate that the ISO process in SCSSM exhibits as the east-west oscillation of the WPSH,which is coupled with the northward-propagating MJO,creating alternating dry and wet phases over southern China with a period of 40 days.The wet phases provide stable and lasting circulation conditions that promote RPHR.However,differences in the ISO structures can be found when RPHR occurs in regions where the WPSH assumes different meridional positions.Further examination of the meridional-phase structure suggests an important role of northward-propagating ISO and regional air-sea interaction in the ISO process in SCSSM.