Synoptic Characteristics of Heavy Rainfall Events in Pre-monsoon Season in South China

Persistent heavy rainfall events in South China can be divided into pre-and post-monsoon-onset events according to the onset of the South China Sea Summer Monsoon. In this study, daily rainfall data from 174 stations in South China and daily NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data are used to investigate pre-monsoon-onset events. The synoptic characteristics of pre-monsoon-onset heavy rainfall events are examined in detail. It is found that 21 heavy rainfall cases happened in the pre-monsoon period between 1961 and 2005. Among them, more than 60% of the events happened under a saddle pattern circulation. Using a case study, the role of the saddle field is investigated and slantwise vorticity development （SVD） theory is applied to diagnose the mechanisms for heavy rainfall development. It is found that a low-level saddle field and low-level jets result in the accumulation of warm moist air in the lower troposphere over South China and provide the necessary unstable conditions for heavy rainfall development. The existence of a saddle field plays an important role in maintaining these unstable conditions. The slantwise movement of the isentropic surface over South China can increase local vorticity and lead to strong vertical motion, which then triggers heavy rainfall.

Characteristics of Tropical Sea Surface Temperature Anomalies and Their Influences on the Onset of South China Sea Summer Monsoon

The characteristics of sea surface temperature anomalies(SSTAs)in the tropical oceans and their influences on the onset of South China Sea summer monsoon(SCSSM)have been studied.The anomaly of SST in tropical Pacific Ocean exerts persistence impact for one to three months on atmospheric circulations.If the warm pool becomes anomalously warmer during an earlier period from February to April,the SCSSM breaks out earlier,and vice versa.Singular value decomposition(SVD)and composite analysis have shown that,in La Ni a pattern,the convection over Western Pacific will occur earlier and be stronger than normal,which favors the convergence at a lower layer over Western Pacific,as well as the strengthening of upwelling branch of Walker circulation,leading to an earlier burst of westerly in the southern South China Sea.Moreover,the convection in Sumatra appears earlier than normal and favors the westerly evolution in eastern Indian Ocean,resulting in the splitting of the subtropical high belt and an early onset of SCSSM.However,the atmospheric circulation anomaly is reversed in El Nio pattern.

A primary study of the correlation between the net air-sea heat flux and the interannual variation of western North Pacific tropical cyclone track and intensity

A singular value decomposition （SVD） analysis is carried out to reveal the relationship between the interannual variation of track and intensity of the western North Pacific tropical cyclones （WNPTCs） in the tropical cyclone （TC） active season （July–November） and the global net air-sea heat flux （Q net ） in the preceding season （April–June）. For this purpose, a tropical cyclone track and intensity function （TIF） is defined by a combination of accumulated cyclone energy （ACE） index and a cyclone track density function. The SVD analysis reveals that the first mode is responsible for the positive correlation between the upward heat flux in the tropical central Pacific and the increased activity of western North Pacific （WNP） TIF, the second mode for the positive correlation between the upward heat flux in the North Indian Ocean and the northeastward track shift of WNPTCs and the third mode for the negative correlation between the upward heat flux in mid-latitude central Pacific and the northwest displacement of the WNP TC-active center. This suggests that Q net anomalies in some key regions have a substantial remote impact on the WNP TC activity.

Precipitation-Surface Temperature Relationship in the IPCC CMIP5 Models

Precipitation and surface temperature are two important quantities whose variations are closely related through various physical processes. In the present study, we evaluated the precipitation-surface temperature （P-T） relationship in 17 climate models involved in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 （CMIP5） for the IPCC Assessment Report version 5. Most models performed reasonably well at simulat- ing the large-scale features of the P-T correlation distribution. Based on the pattern correlation of the P-T correlation distribution, the models performed better in November-December-January-February-March （NDJFM） than in May-June-July-August-September （MJJAS） except for the mid-latitudes of the North- ern Hemisphere, and the performance was generally better over the land than over the ocean. Seasonal dependence was more obvious over the land than over the ocean and was more obvious over the mid- and high-latitudes than over the tropics. All of the models appear to have had difficulty capturing the P-T correlation distribution over the mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere in MJJAS. The spatial variabil- ity of the P-T correlation in the models was overestimated compared to observations. This overestimation tended to be larger over the land than over the ocean and larger over the mid- and high-latitudes than over the tropics. Based on analyses of selected model ensemble simulations, the spread of the P-T correlation among the ensemble members appears to have been small. While the performance in the P-T correlation provides a general direction for future improvement of climate models, the specific reasons for the discrep- ancies between models and observations remain to be revealed with detailed and comprehensive evaluations in various aspects.

Contribution of South China Sea Tropical Cyclones to an Increase in Southern China Summer Rainfall Around 1993

The increase in southern China summer rainfall around 1993 was accompanied by an increase in tropical cyclones that formed in the South China Sea. This study documents the connection of these two features. Our analysis shows that the contribution of tropical cyclones that formed in the South China Sea to southern China summer rainfall experienced a significant increase around 1993, in particular, along the coast and in the heavy rain category. The number of tropical cyclones that formed in the western North Pacific and entered the South China Sea decreased, and their contribution to summer rainfall was reduced in eastern part of southern China （but statistically insignificant）. The increase in tropical cyclone-induced rainfall contributed up to -30＆ of the total rainfall increase along the coastal regions. The increase of tropical cyclones in the South China Sea appears to be related to an increase in local sea surface temperature.

On the Forced Tangentially-Averaged Radial-Vertical Circulation within Vortices. Part II: The Transformationof Tropical Storm Haima (2004)

A real case study for the transformation of Tropical Storm （TS） Haima （2004） into an extratropical cyclone （EC） is carried out numerically since,after landfall,Haima （2004） （as an EC） brought severe weather to a large area （from the south to the north） in China during 13-16 September 2004.With the linear diagnostic model （derived in a previous study） for the tangentially-averaged radial-vertical circulation within vortices moving on the spherical Earth,Haima＇s （2004） life cycle is reconstructed noticeably well.Therefore,the major contributor could be identified confidently for Haima＇s （2004） extratropical transition based on the diagnostic model outputs.The quantitative comparison shows that up to a 90% contribution to the innerregion updraft and a 55% contribution to the upper-layer outflow come from latent heating during Haima＇s （2004） TS stage.Up to a 90% contribution to the inner-region updraft and nearly a 100% contribution to the upper-layer outflow come from the upper-layer eddy angular momentum advection （EAMA） during Haima＇s （2004） EC stage.Representing the asymmetric structure of the storm,the predominantly positive contribution of the upper-layer EAMA to Haima＇s （2004） transformation is closely associated with the Sshaped westerlies in the upper layer with two jets.One jet in the cyclonic-curvature area carries cyclonic angular momentum into the storm,and the other jet in the anticyclonic-curvature area carries anticyclonic angular momentum out of the storm.Consequently,the newly-increased cyclonic tangential wind is deflected by the Coriolis force to the right to form the upper-layer outflow accompanied by the central-area rising motion,leading to Haima＇s （2004） extratropical transition after its landfall.

A NUMERICAL DIAGNOSIS OF LEADING SIGNALS FACILITATING A “NORTH-RIDGE SOUTH-TROUGH” DIPOLE FOR THE EARLY-2008 SOUTH-CHINA FREEZING-RAIN EVENTS

Previous studies emphasize the important role of a "north-ridge versus south-trough" dipole (affecting the latitudes from 20° to 75° N around the Tibetan Plateau) of anomalous geopotential height ( Z ) in the early-2008 abnormal cryogenic freezing-rain-and-snow events in the southern part of China. The present study intends to extract the leading signal facilitating the dipole based on the numerical outputs of a full Z-linear model for diagnosing the global Z . Using this model built on full primitive equations in spherical-isobaric coordinates, we can further split the anomaly of Z-Zfζ-uβ (representing the Z component not explicitly associated with the Coriolis parameter f and its meridional derivative β ) into 15 components. With the model-output Zfζ-uβ (mainly accounting for the dipole under the geostrophic balance) and Z-Zfζ-uβ matrices as the left and right singular vectors respectively, a maximum covariance analysis (MCA) is performed to extract the significant 2-4-day leading signal carried by the MCA Z-Zfζ-uβ mode in the upstream area of the dipole. This leading signal is mainly attributed to 1) the abnormally strong westerlies centered around the exit region of the Atlantic jet-stream and 2) the corresponding anomalous 950-300 hPa anticyclone to the south of the abnormally strong center of westerlies. The energy of the positive wave center around this jet exit region favors the downstream north-ridge while the energy of the negative wave center associated with the anomalous anticyclone favors the downstream south-trough.

Relationship between the Periodic Fluctuations of Pressure and Precipitation during a Rainstorm

The relationship between periodic fluctuations of pressure and precipitation was investigated using the continuous wavelet transform and wavelet coherence transform methods for a rainstorm case that occurred during 19–25 June 2005 in Guangdong Province, China. The results show that a period of 2–4 h existed in both pressure and precipitation fluctuations. Furthermore, this high frequency pressure fluctuation was closely related to the fluctuation of precipitation with a similar period, and the fluctuation of pressure was about two hours ahead of the precipitation fluctuation variation. Since the high frequency pressure fluctuation implies the existence of gravity wave activity, the results suggest that gravity wave activities with a 2–4 h period in the atmosphere exerted an important influence on precipitation during this rainstorm.