Diagnostic Study of an Extreme Explosive Cyclone over the Kuroshio/Kuroshio Extension Region

Explosive cyclones(ECs)occur frequently over the Kuroshio/Kuroshio Extension region.The most rapidly intensified EC over the Kuroshio/Kuroshio Extension region during the 42 years(1979-2020)of cold seasons(October-April)was studied to reveal the variations of the key factors at different explosive-developing stages.This EC had weak low-level baroclinicity,mid-level cyclonic-vorticity advection,and strong low-level water vapor convergence at the initial explosive-developing stage.The low-level baroclinicity and mid-level cyclonic-vorticity advection increased substantially during the maximum-deepening-rate stage.The diagnostic analyses using the Zwack-Okossi equation showed that diabatic heating was the main contributor to the initial rapid intensification of this EC.The cyclonic-vorticity advection and warm-air advection enhanced rapidly in the middle and upper troposphere and contributed to the maximum rapid intensification,whereas the diabatic heating weakened slightly in the mid-low troposphere.The relative contribution of the diabatic heating decreased from the initial explosive-developing stage to the maximum-deepening-rate stage due to the enhancement of other factors(the cyclonic-vorticity advection and warm-air advection).Furthermore,the physical factors contributing to this EC varied with the explosive-developing stage.The non-key factors at the initial explosive-developing stage need attention to forecast the rapid intensification.

Mechanism of Diabatic Heating on Precipitation and the Track of a Tibetan Plateau Vortex over the Eastern Slope of the Tibetan Plateau

Existing studies contend that latent heating(LH)will replace sensible heating(SH)to become the dominant factor affecting the development of the Tibetan Plateau vortex(TPV)after it moves off the Tibetan Plateau(TP).However,in the process of the TPV moving off the TP requires that the airmass traverse the eastern slope of the Tibetan Plateau(ESTP)where the topography and diabatic heating(DH)conditions rapidly change.How LH gradually replaces SH to become the dominant factor in the development of the TPV over the ESTP is still not very clear.In this paper,an analysis of a typical case of a TPV with a long life history over the ESTP is performed by using multi-sourced meteorological data and model simulations.The results show that SH from the TP surface can change the TPV-associated precipitation distribution by temperature advection after the TPV moves off the TP.The LH can then directly promote the development of the TPV and has a certain guiding effect on the track of the TPV.The SH can control the active area of LH by changing the falling area of the TPV-associated precipitation,so it still plays a key role in the development and tracking of the TPV even though it has moved out of the main body of the TP.

An Analysis of the Low Moving Speed of Landfalling Typhoon In-Fa in 2021

The movement speed of Typhoon In-Fa(2021)was notably slow,at 10 km h-1or less,for over 20 hours following its landfall in Zhejiang,China,in contrast to other typhoons that have made landfall.This study examines the factors contributing to the slow movement of Typhoon In-Fa,including the steering flow,diabatic heating,vertical wind shear(VWS),and surface synoptic situation,by comparing it with Typhoons Yagi(2018)and Rumbia(2018)which followed similar tracks.The findings reveal that the movement speed of Typhoons Yagi and Rumbia is most closely associated with their respective 500 h Pa environmental winds,with a steering flow of 10^(-12)m s^(-1).In contrast,Typhoon InFa’s movement speed is most strongly correlated with the 850 h Pa environmental wind field,with a steering flow speed of only 2 m s^(-1).Furthermore,as Typhoon In-Fa moves northwest after landfall,its intensity is slightly greater than that of Typhoons Yagi and Rumbia,and the pressure gradient in front of Typhoon In-Fa is notably smaller,leading to its slow movement.Additionally,the precipitation distribution of Typhoon In-Fa differs from that of the other two typhoons,resulting in a weak asymmetry of wavenumber-1 diabatic heating,which indirectly affects its movement speed.Further analysis indicates that VWS can alter the typhoon’s structure,weaken its intensity,and ultimately impact its movement.

Comparative Analysis of Energy Characteristics of Two Southwest Vortices in Sichuan Under Similar Circulation Backgrounds

Based on ERA5 reanalysis data,the present study analyzed the thermal energy development mechanism and kinetic energy conversion characteristics of two extreme rainstorm processes in relation to the shallow southwest vortex in the warm-sector during a“rain-generated vortex”process and the deep southwest vortex in a“vortex-generated rain”process.The findings were as follows:(1)During the extreme rainstorm on August 11,2020(hereinafter referred to as the“8·11”process),intense surface heating and a high-energy unstable environment were observed.The mesoscale convergence system triggered convection to produce heavy rainfall,and the release of latent condensation heat generated by the rainfall promoted the formation of a southwest vortex.The significant increase(decrease)in atmospheric diabatic heating and kinetic energy preceded the increase(decrease)in vorticity.By contrast,the extreme rainstorm on August 16,2020(hereinafter referred to as the“8·16”process)involved the generation of southwest vortex in a low-energy and highhumidity environment.The dynamic uplift of the southwest vortex triggered rainfall,and the release of condensation latent heat from rainfall further strengthened the development of the southwest vortex.The significant increase(decrease)in atmospheric diabatic heating and kinetic energy exhibited a delayed progression compared to the increase(decrease)in vorticity.(2)The heating effect around the southwest vortex region was non-uniform,and the heating intensity varied in different stages.In the“8·11”process,the heating effect was the strongest in the initial stage,but weakened during the vortex's development.On the contrary,the heating effect was initially weak in the“8·16”process,and intensified during the development stage.(3)The available potential energy of the“8·11”process significantly increased in kinetic energy converted from rotational and divergent winds through baroclinic action,and the divergent wind energy continued to convert into rotational wind energy.By contrast,the“8·16”process involved the conversion of rotational wind energy into divergent wind energy,which in turn converted kinetic energy back into available potential energy,thereby impeding the further development and maintenance of the southwest vortex.

Seasonal Prediction of Indian Summer Monsoon Using WRF: A Dynamical Downscaling Perspective

Seasonal forecasting of the Indian summer monsoon by dynamically downscaling the CFSv2 output using a high resolution WRF model over the hindcast period of 1982-2008 has been performed in this study. The April start ensemble mean of the CFSv2 has been used to provide the initial and lateral boundary conditions for driving the WRF. The WRF model is integrated from 1st May through 1st October for each monsoon season. The analysis suggests that the WRF exhibits potential skill in improving the rainfall skill as well as the seasonal pattern and minimizes the meteorological errors as compared to the parent CFSv2 model. The rainfall pattern is simulated quite closer to the observation (IMD) in the WRF model over CFSv2 especially over the significant rainfall regions of India such as the Western Ghats and the central India. Probability distributions of the rainfall show that the rainfall is improved with the WRF. However, the WRF simulates copious amounts of rainfall over the eastern coast of India. Surface and upper air meteorological parameters show that the WRF model improves the simulation of the lower level and upper-level winds, MSLP, CAPE and PBL height. The specific humidity profiles show substantial improvement along the vertical column of the atmosphere which can be directly related to the net precipitable water. The CFSv2 underestimates the specific humidity along the vertical which is corrected by the WRF model. Over the Bay of Bengal, the WRF model overestimates the CAPE and specific humidity which may be attributed to the copious amount of rainfall along the eastern coast of India. Residual heating profiles also show that the WRF improves the thermodynamics of the atmosphere over 700 hPa and 400 hPa levels which helps in improving the rainfall simulation. Improvement in the land surface fluxes is also witnessed in the WRF model.

Effect of Different Microphysical Parameterizations on the Simulations of a South China Heavy Rainfall

A heavy rainfall event in south China was simulated by the Weather Research and Forecasting(WRF) model with three microphysics schemes, including the Morrison scheme, Thompson scheme, and Milbrandt and Yau scheme(MY), which aim to evaluate the capability to reproduce the precipitation and radar echo reflectivity features, and to evaluate evaluate their differences in microphysics and the associated thermodynamical and dynamical feedback. Results show that all simulations reproduce the main features crucial for rainfall formation. Compared with the observation, the MY scheme performed better than the other two schemes in terms of intensity and spatial distribution of rainfall. Due to abundant water vapor, the accretion of cloud droplets by raindrops was the dominant process in the growth of raindrops while the contribution of melting was a secondary effect. Riming processes, in which frozen hydrometeors collect cloud droplets mainly, contributed more to the growth of frozen hydrometeors than the Bergeron process. Extremely abundant snow and ice were produced in the Thompson and MY schemes respectively by a deposition process. The MY scheme has the highest condensation and evaporation, but the lowest deposition. As a result, in the MY scheme, the enhanced vertical gradient of condensation heating and evaporation cooling at low levels produces strong positive and weak negative potential vorticity in Guangdong, and may favor the formation of the enhanced rainfall center over there.

Impact of the North Atlantic Sea Surface Temperature Tripole on the East Asian Summer Monsoon

A strong （weak） East Asian summer monsoon （EASM） is usually concurrent with the tripole pattern of North Atlantic SST anomalies on the interannual timescale during summer, which has positive （negative） SST anomalies in the northwestern North Atlantic and negative （positive） SST anomalies in the subpolar and tropical ocean. The mechanisms responsible for this linkage are diagnosed in the present study. It is shown that a barotropie wave-train pattern occurring over the Atlantic-Eurasia region likely acts as a link between the EASM and the SST tripole during summer. This wave-train pattern is concurrent with geopotential height anomalies over the Ural Mountains, which has a substantial effect on the EASM. Diagnosis based on observations and linear dynamical model results reveals that the mechanism for maintaining the wave-train pattern involves both the anomalous diabatic heating and synoptic eddy-vorticity forcing. Since the North Atlantic SST tripole is closely coupled with the North Atlantic Oscillation （NAO）, the relationships between these two factors and the EASM are also examined. It is found that the connection of the EASM with the summer SST tripole is sensitive to the meridional location of the tripole, which is characterized by large seasonal variations due to the north-south movement of the activity centers of the NAO. The SST tripole that has a strong relationship with the EASM appears to be closely coupled with the NAO in the previous spring rather than in the simultaneous summer.

Climatic Features Related to Eastern China Summer Rainfalls in the NCAR CCM3

The climatic features associated with the eastern China summer rainfalls (ECSR) are examined in the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) Community Climate Model Version 3 (CCM3) of the United States of America, and run with time-evolving sea surface temperature (SST) from September 1978 to August 1993. The CCM3 is shown to capture the salient seasonal features of ECSR. As many other climate models, however, there are some unrealistic projections of ECSR in the CCM3. The most unacceptable one is the erroneously intensified precipitation center on the east periphery of the Tibetan Plateau and its northeastward extension. The artificial strong rainfall center is fairly assessed by comparing with the products of the station rainfall data, Xie and Arkin (1996) rainfall data and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) reanalysis (Gibson et al., 1997). The physical processes involved in the formation of the rainfall center are discussed. The preliminary conclusion reveals that it is the overestimated sensible heating over and around the Tibetan Plateau in the CCM3 that causes the heavy rainfall. The unreal strong surface sensible heating over the southeast and northeast of Tibetan Plateau favors the forming of a powerful subtropical anticyclone over the eastern China. The fake enclosed subtropical anticyclone center makes the moist southwest wind fasten on the east periphery of the Tibetan Plateau and extend to its northeast. In the southeast coast of China, locating on the southeast side of the subtropical anticyclone, the southwest monsoon is decreased and even replaced by northeast wind in some cases. In the CCM3, therefore, the precipitation is exaggerated on the east periphery of the Tibetan Plateau and its northeast extension and is underestimated in the southeast coast of China. Key words Eastern China summer rainfall - Model validation - Subtropical anticyclone - Diabatic heating This study was sponsored by Chinese Academy of Sciences under grant “ Hundred Talents” for “ Validation of Coupled Climate models” and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No.49823002), and IAP innovation fund (No. 8-1204).

Diagnostic Analyses and Application of the Moist Ageostrophic Vector Q

Considering the main thermal forcing factor, which is critical for the development of synoptic systems, the concept of the moist ageostrophic vector Q is introduced. A formula of the moist ageostrophic Q and the ageostrophic diabatic equation, in which the divergence of the moist ageostrophic Q is taken as a single forcing term, is derived. Meanwhile, the moist ageostrophic Q is applied to diagnose a torrential rain process in North China. The results suggest that the moist ageostrophic Q can clearly reveal the system development during the torrential rain process; the corresponding relationship between the divergence of the moist ageostrophic Q and the rainfall area is better than that of the vertical velocity (w) and the divergence of the dry Q; the 6-h rainfall region can be correctly drawn according to the negative area of the divergence of the moist ageostrophic Q, and its precipitation is positively correlated to the magnitude of the divergence of the moist ageostrophic Q. The research provides valuable information for improving short-term weather forecast.

Interannual Variability of Late-spring Circulation and Diabatic Heating over the Tibetan Plateau Associated with Indian Ocean Forcing

The thermal forcing of the Tibetan Plateau （TP） during boreal spring, which involves surface sensible heating, latent heating released by convection and radiation flux heat, is critical for the seasonal and subseasonal variation of the East Asian summer monsoon. Distinct from the situation in March and April when the TP thermal forcing is modulated by the sea surface temperature anomaly （SSTA） in the North Atlantic, the present study shows that it is altered mainly by the SSTA in the Indian Ocean Basin Mode （IOBM） in May, according to in-situ observations over the TP and MERRA reanalysis data. In the positive phase of the IOBM, a local Hadley circulation is enhanced, with its ascending branch over the southwestern Indian Ocean and a descending one over the southeastern TP, leading to suppressed precipitation and weaker latent heat over the eastern TP. Meanwhile, stronger westerly flow and surface sensible heating emerges over much of the TP, along with slight variations in local net radiation flux due to cancellation between its components. The opposite trends occur in the negative phase of the IOBM. Moreover, the main associated physical processes can be validated by a series of sensitivity experiments based on an atmospheric general circulation model, FAMIL. Therefore, rather than influenced by the remote SSTAs of the northern Atlantic in the early spring, the thermal forcing of the TP is altered by the Indian Ocean SSTA in the late spring on an interannual timescale.

Establishment of the South Asian High over the Indo-China Peninsula During Late Spring to Summer

The establishment of the upper-level South Asian high （SAH） over the Indo-China Peninsula （ICP） during late boreal spring and its possible causes are investigated using long-term NCEP-NCAR and ERA-40 reanalysis and satellite-observed OLR data. Results show that, from early March to mid-April, deep convection stays south of -6°N over the northern Sumatran islands. As the maximum solar radiation moves over the latitudes of the ICP （10-20°N） in late April, the air over the ICP becomes unstable. It ascends over the ICP and descends over the adjacent waters to the east and west. This triggers deep convection over the ICP that induces large latent heating and strong updrafts and upper-level divergence, leading to the formation of an upper-level anticyclonic circulation and the SAH over the ICE During early to mid-May, deep convection over the ICP intensifies and extends northwards to the adjacent waters. Strong latent heating from deep convection enhances and maintains the strong updrafts and upper-level divergence, and the SAH is fully established by mid-May. Thus, the seasonal maximum solar heating and the land-sea contrast around the ICP provide the basic conditions for deep convection to occur preferentially over the ICP, which leads to the formation of the SAH over the ICP from late April to mid-May. Simulations using RegCM4 also indicate that the diabatic heating over the ICP is conducive to the generation and development of upper-level anticyclonic circulation, which leads to an earlier establishment of the SAH.

Simulations of the East Asian Subtropical Westerly Jet by LASG/IAP AGCMs

Performances of two LASG/IAP （State Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics/Institute of Atmospheric Physics） Atmospheric General Circulation Models （AGCMs）, namely GAMIL and SAMIL, in simulating the major characteristics of the East Asian subtropical westerly jet （EASWJ） in the upper troposphere are examined in this paper. The mean vertical and horizontal structures and the correspondence of the EASWJ location to the meridional temperature gradient in the upper troposphere are well simulated by two models. However, both models underestimate the EASWJ intensity in winter and summer, and are unable to simulate the bimodal distribution of the major EASWJ centers in mid-summer, relative to the observation, especially for the SAMIL model. The biases in the simulated EASWJ intensity are found to be associated with the biases of the meridional temperature gradients in the troposphere, and furthermore with the surface sensible heat flux and condensation latent heating. The models capture the major characteristics of the seasonal evolution of the diabatic heating rate averaged between 30°-45°N, and its association with the westerly jet. However, the simulated maximum diabatic heating rate in summer is located westward in comparison with the observed position, with a relatively strong diabatic heating intensity, especially in GAMIL. The biases in simulating the diabatic heating fields lead to the biases in simulating the temperature distribution in the upper troposphere, which may further affect the EASWJ simulations. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the simulation of the meridional temperature gradient as well as the diabatic heating field in the troposphere for the improvement of the EASWJ simulation by GAMIL and SAMIL models.

冷锋雨带中湿物理过程与非绝热锋生的相互作用(英文)

Three-dimensional simulation of cold-front rain-band (NCFR) associated with a straight cold front has been studied by use of a non-hydrostatic, full compressible storm-scale model (ARPS) including multi-phase microphysical parameterization. The dynamical and physical features of the frontal cloud de-velopment have been well simulated and analyzed. It is in evidence that the frontal cloud is triggered by the updraft of the secondary frontal circulation. However, the long persistence of diabatic frontogenesis only can be attributed to positive feedback between the frontal baroclinicity and the prefrontal latent heat release. The simulations indeed demonstrate that the potential temperature gradient enhancement in front zone is strongly related with the re-distribution of cloud moisture, by the action of tilted updraft. In conse-quence, the splice of cooling and heating pool that is respectively created from the evaporation of cloud wat-er and condensing J freezing of water vapor J rain droplet, wich is in favor of the strong contrast of cool and warm air mass across the frontal zone to diabatic frontogenesis.

Seasonal Evolution of Subtropical Anticyclones in the Climate System Model FGOALS-s2

The simulation characteristics of the seasonal evolution of subtropical anticyclones in the Northern Hemisphere are documented for the Flexible Global Ocean-Atmosphere-Land System model, Spectral Version 2 （FGOALS-s2）, developed at the State Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, the Institute of Atmospheric Physics. An understanding of the seasonal evolution of the subtropical anticyclones is also addressed. Compared with the global analysis established by the European Centre for Medium-Range Forecasts, the ERA-40 global reanalysis data, the general features of subtropical anticyclones and their evolution are simulated well in both winter and summer, while in spring a pronounced bias in the generation of the South Asia Anticyclone（SAA） exists. Its main deviation in geopotential height from the reanalysis is consistent with the bias of temperature in the troposphere. It is found that condensation heating （CO） plays a dominant role in the seasonal development of the SAA and the subtropical anticyclone over the western Pacific （SAWP） in the middle troposphere. The CO biases in the model account for the biases in the establishment of the SAA in spring and the weaker strength of the SAA and the SAWP from spring to summer. CO is persistently overestimated in the central-east tropical Pacific from winter to summer, while it is underestimated over the area from the South China Sea to the western Pacific from spring to summer. Such biases generate an illusive anticyclonic gyre in the upper troposphere above the middle Pacific and delay the generation of the SAA over South Asia in April. In mid- summer, the simulated SAA is located farther north than in the ERA-40 data owing to excessively strong surface sensible heating （SE） to the north of the Tibetan Plateau. Whereas, the two surface subtropical anticyclones in the eastern oceans during spring to summer are controlled mainly by the surface SE over the two continents in the Northern Hemisphere, which are simulated reasonably well, albeit with their centers shifted westwards owing to the weaker longwave radiation cooling in the simulation associated with much weaker local stratiform cloud. Further improvements in the related parameterization of physical processes are therefore identified.

The theory of interaction between wave and basic flow

This paper investigates the interaction between transient wave and non-stationary and non-conservative basic flow. An interaction equation is derived from the zonally symmetric and non-hydrostatic primitive equations in Cartesian coordinates by using the Momentum-Casimir method. In the derivation, it is assumed that the transient disturbances satisfy the linear perturbation equations and the basic states are non-conservative and slowly vary in time and space. The diabatic heating composed of basic-state heating and perturbation heating is also introduced. Since the theory of wave-flow interaction is constructed in non-hydrostatic and ageostrophic dynamical framework, it is applicable to diagnosing the interaction between the meso-scale convective system in front and the background flow. It follows from the local interaction equation that the local tendency of pseudomomentum wave-activity density depends on the combination of the perturbation flux divergence second-order in disturbance amplitude, the local change of basic-state pseudomomentum density, the basic-state flux divergence and the forcing effect of diabatic heating. Furthermore, the tendency of pseudomomentum wave-activity density is opposite to that of basic-state pseudomomentum density. The globally integrated basic-state pseudomomentum equation and wave-activity equation reveal that the global development of basic-state pseudomomentum is only dominated by the basic-state diabatic heating while it is the forcing effect of total diabatic heating from which the global evolution of pseudomomentum wave activity results. Therefore, the interaction between the transient wave and the non-stationary and non-conservative basic flow is realized in virtue of the basic-state diabatic heating.

LBM模式中中纬度大气对热源和涡度强迫的响应(英文)

Based on diagnostic analysis of reanalysis data for 58-year,the distribution characteristics of decadal variability in diabatic heating,transient eddy heating and transient eddy vorticity forcing related to the sea surface temperature(SST)anomalies over the North Pacific,as well as their relationship with anomalous atmospheric circulation have been investigated in this paper.A linear baroclinic model(LBM)was used to investigate atmospheric responses to idealized and realistic heat and vorticity forcing anomalies,and then to compare relative roles of different kinds of forcing in terms of geopotential height responses.The results illustrate that the responses of atmospheric height fields to the mid-latitude heating can be either baroclinic or barotropic.The response structure is sensitive to the relative horizontal location of heating with respect to the background jet flow,as well as to the vertical profile of heating.The response to the idealized deep heating over the eastern North Pacific,mimicking the observed heating anomaly,is baroclinic.The atmospheric response to the mid-latitude vorticity forcing is always barotropic,resulting in a geopotential low that is in phase with the forcing.The atmospheric responses to the realistic heat and vorticity forcing show the similar results,suggesting that diabatic heating,transient eddy heating and transient eddy vorticity forcing can all cause atmospheric anomalies and that the vorticity forcing plays a relatively more important role in maintaining the equivalent-barotropic structure of geopotential height anomalies.

Analysis of Deep Convective Towers in a Southwest-Vortex Rainstorm Event

The structure and organization of the extreme-rain-producing deep convection towers and their roles in the formation of a southwest vortex(SWV)event are studied using the intensified surface rainfall observations,weather radar data and numerical simulations from a high-resolution convection-allowing model.The deep convection towers occurred prior to the emergence of SWV and throughout its onset and development stages.They largely resemble the vortical hot tower(VHT)commonly seen in typhoons or hurricanes and are thus considered as a special type of VHT(sVHT).Each sVHT presented a vorticity dipole structure,with the upward motion not superpose the positive vorticity.A positive feedback process in the SWV helped the organization of sVHTs,which in turn strengthened the initial disturbance and development of SWV.The meso-γ-scale large-value areas of positive relative vorticity in the mid-toupper troposphere were largely induced by the diabatic heating and tilting.The strong mid-level convergence was attributed to the mid-level vortex enhancement.The low-level vortex intensification was mainly due to low-level convergence and the stretching of upward flow.The meso-α-scale large-value areas of positive relative vorticity in the low-level could expand up to about 400 hPa,and gradually weakened with time and height due to the decaying low-level convergence and vertical stretching in the matured SWV.As the SWV matured,two secondary circulations were formed,with a weaker mean radial inflow than the outflow and elevated to 300-400 hPa.

Global Response to Tropical Diabatic Heating Variability in Boreal Winter

Global teleconnections associated with tropical convective activities were investigated, based on monthly data of 29 Northern Hemisphere winters： December, January, February, and March （DJFM）. First, EOF analyses were performed on the outgoing longwave radiation （OLR） data to characterize the convective ac tivity variability in the tropical Indian Ocean and the western Pacific. The first EOF mode of the convective activity was highly correlated with the ENSO. The second EOF mode had an east–west dipole structure, and the third EOF mode had three convective activity centers. Two distinct teleconnection patterns were identified that were associated, respectively, with the second and third EOF modes. A global primitive equation model was used to investigate the physical mechanism that causes the global circulation anoma lies. The model responses to anomalous tropical thermal forcings that mimic the EOF patterns matched the general features of the observed circulation anomalies well, and they were mainly controlled by linear processes. The importance of convective activities in the tropical Indian Ocean and western Pacific to the extended and longrange forecasting capability in the extratropics is discussed.

Can Current AGCMs Reproduce Historical Changes in the Atmospheric Diabatic Heating over the Tibetan Plateau?

Recent studies have demonstrated a persistent decreasing trend in the spring sensible heat(SH) source over the Tibetan Plateau(TP) during the past three decades. By comparing simulations from nine state-of-the-art atmospheric general circulation models(AGCMs) driven by historical forcing fields with both observational data and five reanalysis datasets, the authors found that the AGCMs are unable to reproduce the change in the SH flux over the TP. This deficiency arises because the observed decreasing trend in SH flux depends primarily on the change in surface wind speed according to the bulk formula, whereas in the models it is also influenced largely by changes in the land-air temperature difference related to the systematic cold bias. In addition, an obvious discrepancy exists in other aspects of the diabatic heating simulated by the models, suggesting that a significant improvement is required in the physical schemes associated with land surface processes and diabatic heating over the complicated topography.

Is the Isentropic Surface Always Impermeable to the Potential Vorticity Substance?

The impermeability of isentropic surfaces by the potential vorticity substance （PVS） has often been used to help understand the generation of potential vorticity in the presence of diabatic heating and friction. In this study, we examined singularities of isentropic surfaces that may develop in the presence of diabatic heating and the fictitious movements of the isentropic surfaces that are involved in deriving the PVS impermeability theorem. Our results show that such singularities could occur in the upper troposphere as a result of intense convective-scale motion, at the cloud top due to radiative cooling, or within the well-mixed boundary layer. These locally ill-defined conditions allow PVS to penetrate across an isentropic surface. We conclude that the PVS impermeability theorem is generally valid for the stably stratified atmosphere in the absence of diabatic heating.