Detection and Adjustment of Undocumented Discontinuities in Chinese Temperature Series Using a Composite Approach

Annually averaged daily maximum and minimum surface temperatures from southeastern China were evaluated for artificial discontinuities using three different tests for undocumented changepoints. Changepoints in the time series were identified by comparing each target series to a reference calculated from values observed at a number of nearby stations. Under the assumption that no trend was present in the sequence of target-reference temperature differences, a changepoint was assigned to the target series when at least two of the three tests rejected the null hypothesis of no changepoint at approximately the same position in the difference series. Each target series then was adjusted using a procedure that accounts for discontinuities in average temperature values from nearby stations that otherwise could bias estimates of the magnitude of the target series step change. A spatial comparison of linear temperature trends in the adjusted annual temperature series suggests that major relative discontinuities were removed in the homogenization process. A greater number of relative change points were detected in annual average minimum than in average maximum temperature series. Some evidence is presented which suggests that minimum surface temperature fields may be more sensitive to changes in measurement practice than maximum temperature fields. In addition, given previous evidence of urban heat island （i.e., local） trends in this region, the assumption of no slope in a target-reference difference series is likely to be violated more frequently in minimum than in maximum temperature series. Consequently, there may be greater potential to confound trend and step changes in minimum temperature series.

Numerical Simulation on Climate Effects of Freezing-Thawing Processes Using CCM3

A parameterization of soil freezing-thawing physics for use in the land-surface model of the National Center for Atmospheric Research(NCAR) Community Climate Model(CCM3) is developed and evaluated.The new parameterization scheme has improved the representation of physical processes in the existing land surface model.Numerical simulations using CCM3 with improved land-surface processes and with the original land-surface processes are compared against the NCEP reanalysis.It is found that the CCM3 version using the improved land surface model shows significant improvements in simulating precipitation in China during the summer season,the general circulation over East Asia,and wind fields over the Tibet Plateau.For the summer season,the improved model was able to better simulate the Indian summer monsoon components,including the mean northerly wind in the upper troposphere and mean southerly wind in the lower troposphere.

Simulation and Analysis of China Climate Using Two-Way Interactive Atmosphere-Vegetation Model (RIEMS-AVIM)

In this paper, an Atmosphere-Vegetation Interaction Model （AVIM） is coupled to the Regional Integrated Environment Model System （RIEMS）, and a 10-year integration for China is performed using the RIEMS-AVIM. The analysis of the results of the 10-year integration shows that the characters of the spatial distributions of temperature and precipitation over China are well simulated. The patterns of simulated surface sensible and latent heat fluxes match well with the spatial climatological atlas： the values of winter surface sensible and latent heat fluxes are both lower than climatological values over the whole country. Summer surface sensible heat flux is higher than climatological values in western China and lower in eastern China, while summer surface latent heat flux is higher than climatological values in the eastern and lower in the western. Seasonal variations of simulated temperature and precipitation of RIMES-AVIM agree with those of the observed. Simulated temperature is lower than the observed in the Tibetan Plateau and Northwest China for the whole year, slightly lower in the remaining regions in winter, but consistent with the observed in summer. The simulated temperature of RIEMS-AVIM is higher in winter and lower in summer than that of RIEMS, which shows that the simulated temperature of RIEMS-AVIM is closer to the observed value. Simulated precipitation is excessive in the first half of the year, but consistent with the observed in the second half of the year. The simulated summer precipitation of RIEMS-AVIM has significant improvement compared to that of RIEMS, which is less and closer to the observed value. The interannual variations of temperature and precipitation are also fairly well simulated, with temperature simulation being superior to precipitation simulation. The interannual variation of simulated temperature is significantly correlated with the observed in Northeast China, the Transition Region, South China, and the Tibetan Plateau, but the correlation between precipitation simulation and observation is only significant in Northwest China.

Characteristics of abrupt changes of snow cover and seasonal freeze-thaw layer in the Tibetan Plateau and their impacts on summer precipitation in China

In this paper, a variation series of snow cover and seasonal freeze-thaw layer from 1965 to 2004 on the Tibetan Plateau has been established by using the observation data from meteorological stations. The sliding T-test, M-K test and B-G algorithm are used to verify abrupt changes of snow cover and seasonal freeze-thaw layer in the Tibetan plateau. The results show that the snow cover has not undergone an abrupt change, but the seasonal freeze-thaw layer obviously witnessed a rapid degradation in 1987, with the frozen soil depth being reduced by about 15 cm. It is also found that when there ~s less snow in the plateau region, precipitation in South China and Southwest China increases. But when the frozen soil is deep, precipitation in most of China apparently decreases. Both snow cover and seasonal freeze-thaw layer on the plateau can be used to predict the summer precipitation in China. However, if the impacts of snow cover and seasonal freeze-thaw layer are used at the same time, the predictability of summer precipitation can be significantly improved. The significant correlation zone of snow is located in middle reaches of the Yangtze River covering the Hexi Corridor and northeastern Inner Mongolia, and the seasonal freeze-thaw layer exists in Mt. Nanling, northern Shannxi and northwestern part of North China. The significant correlation zone of simultaneous impacts of snow cover and seasonal freeze-thaw layer is larger than that of either snow cover or seasonal freeze-thaw layer. There are three significant correlation zones extending from north to south： the north zone spreads from Mr. Daxinganling to the Hexi Corridor, crossing northern Mt. Taihang and northern Shannxi; the central zone covers middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River; and the south zone extends from Mt. Wuyi to Yunnan and Guizhou Plateau through Mt. Nanling.

Impacts of snow cover and frozen soil in the Tibetan Plateau on summer precipitation in China

This paper presents an analysis of the mechanisms and impacts of snow cover and frozen soil in the Tibetan Plateau on the sum- mer precipitation in China, using RegCM3 version 3.1 model simulations. Comparisons of simulations vs. observations show that RegCM3 well captures these impacts. Results indicate that in a more-snow year with deep frozen soil there will be more precipita- tion in the Yangtze River Basin and central Northwest China, western Inner Mongolia, and Xinjiang, but less precipitation in Northeast China, North China, South China, and most of Southwest China. In a less-snow year with deep frozen soil, however, there will be more precipitation in Northeast China, North China, and southern South China, but less precipitation in the Yangtze River Basin and in northern South China. Such differences may be attributed to different combination patterns of melting snow and thawing frozen soil on the Plateau, which may change soil moisture as well as cause differences in energy absorption in the phase change processes of snow cover and frozen soil. These factors may produce more surface sensible heat in more-snow years when the fi＇ozen soil is deep than when the frozen soil is shallow. The higher surface sensible heat may lead to a stronger updraft over the Plateau, eventually contributing to a stronger South Asia High and West Pacific Subtropical High. Due to different values of the wind fields at 850 hPa, a convergence zone will form over the Yangtze River Basin, which may produce more summer pre- cipitation in the basin area but less precipitation in North China and South China. However, because soil moisture depends on ice content, in less-snow years with deep frozen soil, the soil moisture will be higher. The combination of higher frozen soil moisture with latent heat absorption in the phase change process may generate less surface sensible heat and consequently a weaker updraft motion over the Plateau. As a result, both the South Asia High and the West Pacific Subtropical High will be weaker, hence caus- ing more summer precipitation in northern China but less in southem China.

Changes in Temperature Extremes Based on a 6-Hourly Dataset in China from 1961–2005

Changes in Chinese temperature extremes are presented based on a six-hourly surface air temperature dataset for the period 1961-2005. These temperature series are manually observed at 0200, 0800, 1400, and 2000 Beijing Time （LST）, and percentile based extreme indices of these time series are chosen for analysis. Although there is a difference in time among the different time zones across China, as more than 80% of the stations are located in two adjacent time zones, these indices for all the stations are called warm （cold） nights （0200 LST）, warm （cold） mornings （0800 LST）, warm （cold） days （1400 LST）, and warm （cold） evenings （2000 LST）, respectively for convenience. The frequency of the annual warm extremes has generally increased, while the frequency of the annual cold extremes has decreased, and significant changes are mainly observed in northern China, the Tibetan Plateau, and the southernmost part of China. Based on the national average, annual warm （cold） nights increase （decrease） at a rate of 5.66 （-5.92） d （10 yr）^-1, annual warm （cold） days increase （decrease） at a rate of 3.97 （-2.98） d （10 yr）^-1, and the trends for the annual warm （cold） mornings and evenings are 4.35 （-4.96） and 5.95 （-4.35） d （10 yr）^-1, respectively. For China as a whole, the increasing rates for the occurrence of seasonal warm extremes are larger in the nighttime （0200, 2000 LST） than these in the daytime （0800, 1400 LST）, the maximal increase occurs at 2000 LST except in the summer and the minimal increase occurs at 1400 LST except in autumn; the maximal decrease in the occurrence of seasonal cold extremes occurs at 0200 LST and the minimal decrease occurs at 1400 LST.