Assessing the Impacts of Initial Snow Conditions over the Tibetan Plateau on China Precipitation Prediction Using a Global Climate Model

Two ensemble experiments were conducted using a general atmospheric circulation model. These experiments were used to investigate the impacts of initial snow anomalies over the Tibetan Plateau(TP) on China precipitation prediction. In one of the experiments, the initial snow conditions over the TP were climatological values; while in the other experiment, the initial snow anomalies were snow depth estimates derived from the passive microwave remote-sensing data. In the current study, the difference between these two experiments was assessed to evaluate the impact of initial snow anomalies over the TP on simulated precipitation. The results indicated that the model simulation for precipitation over eastern China had certain improvements while applying a more realistic initial snow anomaly, especially for spring precipitation over Northeast China and North China and for summer precipitation over North China and Southeast China. The results suggest that seasonal prediction could be enhanced by using more realistic initial snow conditions over TP, and microwave remote-sensing snow data could be used to initialize climate models and improve the simulation of eastern China precipitation during spring and summer. Further analyses showed that higher snow anomalies over TP cooled the surface, resulting in lower near- surface air temperature over the TP in spring and summer. The surface cooling over TP weakened the Asian summer monsoon and brought more precipitation in South China in spring and more precipitation to Southeast China during summer.