Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Heating status of the Tibetan Plateau from April to June and rainfall and atmospheric circulation anomaly over East Asia in midsummer

  • Published:
Science in China Series D: Earth Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Based on the 1958–1999 monthly averaged reanalysis data of the National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP)/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the rainfall data of 160 Chinese surface stations, the relationship between rainfall and the atmospheric circulation anomaly over East Asia (EA) in July and the sensible heating (SH) over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) from April to June (AMJ) is investigated by using the rotational experimental orthogonal function (REOF) method. The results show that the TP is an isolated heating source in this period. The lagged correlation analysis between the first rotational principal component (RPC) of SH over the TP in May and rainfall of EA in July demonstrates that strong SH over the TP before July leads to a positive rainfall anomaly over the TP, the valley between the Yangtze River and Huaihe River, and the regions south and southeast of the TP, and the Sichuan Basin and Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, but less rainfall anomaly over the regions north, northeast, and west of the TP. Such rainfall anomaly patterns are shown to be well coordinated with those of the circulation and vapor flux fields, and are explained by using the thermal adaptation theory and quasi-stationary large-scale vorticity equation. Therefore, the status of SH over the TP during AMJ can be used as a predictor for the rainfall anomaly over EA, especially in the valley between the Yangtze River and Huaihe River

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Yeh, T. C., The circulation of the high troposphere over China in the winter of 1945–1946, Tellus, 1950, 2(3): 173–183.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Yeh, T. C., Luo, S. W., Zhu, B. Z., The structure of stream fields over the Tibetan Plateau and surrounding areas and the balance of quantity of heat in the troposphere, Acta Meteorological Sinica (in Chinese), 1957, 28(2): 108–121.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Flohn, H., Contributions to a meteorology of the Tibeta Highlands, in Atmospheric Science Paper, No. 130, Fort Collins: Colorado State University Press, 1968, 1–120.

    Google Scholar 

  4. Flohn, H., Recent investigation on the mechanism of the ‘summer monsoon’ of southern and eastern Asia, in Proc. Symp. Monsoons of the World, New Delhi: Hind Union Press, 1960, 75–88.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Broccoli, A. J., Manabe, S., The effects of orography on midlatitude Northern Hemisphere dry climates, Journal of Climate, 1992, 5: 1181–1201.[DOI]

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Wu, G. X., Zhang, Y. S., Tibetan Plateau forcing and the timing of South Asia monsoon and South China Sea monsoon, Monthly Weather Review, 1998, 126(4): 913–927.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Luo, H. B., Chen, R., The influence of the atmospheric heating source anomaly over the eastern Tibetan Plateau in summer upon the circulation and rainfall, Meteorological Science and Technology in China (in Chinese), 1995, 15(4): 94–102.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Liu, X., Li, W. P., Wu, G. X., Interannual variation of the diabatic heating over the Tibetan Plateau and the Northern Hemispheric circulation in summer, Acta Meteorological Sinica (in Chinese), 2002, 60(3): 267–277.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Zhao, P., Chen, L. X., Interannual variability of atmospheric heat source/sink over the Qinghai-Xizang (Tibetan) Plateau and its relation to circulation, Advances in Atmospheric Sciences, 2001, 18(1): 106–116.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Zhao, P., Chen, L. X., Climate features of atmospheric heat source/sink over the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau in 35 years and its relation to rainfall in China, Science in China, Ser. D, 2001, 44(9): 858–864.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Kalnay, E., Kanamitsu, M., Kistler, R. et al., The NCEP/NCAR 40-year reanalysis project, Bulletin of America Meteorology Society, 1996, 77(3): 437–471.[DOI]

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Horel, J. D., A rotated principal components analysis of the interannual variability of the Northern Hemisphere 500 mb height field, Monthly Weather fnReview, 1981, 109(10): 2080–2092.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Wu, H. B., Li, D. L., Zhang, J. J., Rotated EOF analysis of the winter monthly mean temperature anomaly for China, Journal of Nanjing Institute of Meteorology (in Chinese), 1995, 18(3): 349–354.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Wu, G. X., Wang, J. F., Comparison of the correlations of lower tropospheric circulation with tropical and extratropical sea surface temperature anomalies, Acta Meteorological Sinica (in Chinese), 1996, 54(4): 385–397.

    Google Scholar 

  15. Wu, G. X., Liu, Y. M., Thermal adaptation, overshooting, dispersion, and subtropical anticyclone, Part I: Thermal adaptation and overshooting, Chinese Journal of Atmospheric Sciences (in Chinese), 2000, 24(4): 433–446.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Mao, J. Y., Wu, G. X., Liu, Y. M., Study on variation of subtropical high and its mechanism during seasonal transition, Part I: Climatological features of subtropical high structure, Acta Meteorological Sinica (in Chinese), 2002, 60(4): 400–408.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Liu, Y. M., Wu, G. X., Liu, H. et al., Condensation heating of the Asian summer monsoon and the subtropical anticyclone in the Eastern Hemisphere, Clim. Dyn., 2001, 17(4): 327–338.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Wu, G. X., Liu, Y. M., Liu, P., The effects of spatially nonuniform heating on the formation and variation of subtropical high, Part I: Scale analysis, Acta Meteorological Sinica (in Chinese), 1999, 57(3): 257–263.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Liu, Y. M., Wu, G. X., Liu, P. et al., The effects of spatially non-uniform heating on the formation and variation of subtropical high, Part III: Condensation heating and south Asia high and western Pacific subtropical high, Acta Meteorological Sinica (in Chinese), 1999, 57(5): 525–538.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Yeh, T. C., Wetherald, R. T., Manabe, S., A model study of the short-term climate and hydrologic effects of sudden snowcover removal. Monthly Weather Review, 1983, 111(5): 1013–1024.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Wu, G. X., Xue, J. S., Wang, Z. Z. et al., Influence of radiation effects of snow-melting over the Tibetan Plateau upon seasonal transition, Gansu Meteorology (in Chinese), 1995, 13(1): 1–8.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China

    Duan Anmin, Liu Yimin & Wu Guoxiong

Authors
  1. Duan Anmin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Liu Yimin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Wu Guoxiong
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Duan Anmin.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Duan, A., Liu, Y. & Wu, G. Heating status of the Tibetan Plateau from April to June and rainfall and atmospheric circulation anomaly over East Asia in midsummer. Sci. China Ser. D-Earth Sci. 48, 250–257 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1360/02yd0510

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1360/02yd0510

Keywords

Search

Navigation