CLIMATOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SPRING PRECIPITATION OVER SOUTHERN CHINA AND ITS INTRASEASONAL OSCILLATION

Based on observations and reanalysis data, the characteristics of the evolution of climatological spring precipitation over Southern China (SPSC) and the associated climatological intraseasonal oscillation (CISO) and atmospheric circulation are studied. Results show that SPSC increases in an oscillatory way. Although the evolution of SPSC is similar in different regions, there are also differences. In different regions of Southern China, the onset dates of the rain season are from the 12th to 24th pentad and the peak dates are after the 20th pentad. CISO is an important component of SPSC, which is not only statistically significant, but also accompanies a dynamically coherent structure. The peak wet/dry phase of each CISO cycle corresponds to a significant rainfall increasing/decreasing period and modulates the evolution of SPSC. The rainfall growth in the second half of March and mid-April is the result of the modulation. The wet/dry phase of CISO is accompanied by low-level convergent (upper-level divergent) and cyclonic (anti-cyclonic) circulation, which favors ascending motion to develop over Southern China.     

近50年中国干湿气候界线波动及其成因初探

文中在 10a际尺度上详细分析了中国干湿气候界线波动与气候的干湿变化 ,得出 :过去 5 0a中国干湿气候界线波动显著 ,区域差异大 ,呈现出整体移动和东西、南北相异波动的特征。 2 0世纪 6 0～ 70年代中国干湿气候存在一次突变 ,由较湿润变为干旱 ,但各地干旱程度不同。干湿气候界线波动与气候的干湿变化具有显著的年代际特征。在此基础上分析了气候界线波动的可能原因 ,中国干湿气候界线的波动与气候的干湿变化是西太平洋副热带高压强度位置导致的东南季风、孟加拉湾暖流所导致的西南季风以及高原季风、中纬度西风环流等综合作用的结果。中国各地区干湿位相变化不一致 ,区域差异大 ,是不同环流以及环流的不同强弱组合所致。东南季风、西南季风、高原季风、中纬度西风环流、西太平洋副热带高压的年代际变化是过去 5 0a中国干湿气候界线波动与气候干湿变化年代际变化的根本原因。 2 0世纪 6 0～ 70年代的干湿突变 ,是整个北半球大气环流异常的结果     

中国东部降水的气候模态及雨季划分

应用中国东部地面观测气候平均候降水量数据和谐波分析方法,研究了华南、长江中下游、淮河流域、华北四个区域降水的年变化特征,特别是夏季风降水的阶段性和区域特征,并对构成降水年变化的气候分量进行分析,将各区降水年变化分解为年循环模态、季节模态、季节内振荡和月内振荡四个气候模态。结果表明:不同模态间的相互调制对降水的阶段性和区域性具有重要影响,年循环是影响雨季的主要模态,季节和季节内振荡模态对决定主汛期起重要作用。基于气候模态划分中国东部雨季和主汛期,方法简单,结果客观合理。     

Boreal summer continental monsoon rainfall and hydroclimate anomalies associated with the Asian-Pacific Oscillation

With the twentieth century analysis data (1901–2002) for atmospheric circulation, precipitation, Palmer drought severity index, and sea surface temperature (SST), we show that the Asian-Pacific Oscillation (APO) during boreal summer is a major mode of the earth climate variation linking to global atmospheric circulation and hydroclimate anomalies, especially the Northern Hemisphere (NH) summer land monsoon. Associated with a positive APO phase are the warm troposphere over the Eurasian land and the relatively cool troposphere over the North Pacific, the North Atlantic, and the Indian Ocean. Such an amplified land–ocean thermal contrast between the Eurasian land and its adjacent oceans signifies a stronger than normal NH summer monsoon, with the strengthened southerly or southwesterly monsoon prevailing over tropical Africa, South Asia, and East Asia. A positive APO implies an enhanced summer monsoon rainfall over all major NH land monsoon regions: West Africa, South Asia, East Asia, and Mexico. Thus, APO is a sensible measure of the NH land monsoon rainfall intensity. Meanwhile, reduced precipitation appears over the arid and semiarid regions of northern Africa, the Middle East, and West Asia, manifesting the monsoon-desert coupling. On the other hand, surrounded by the cool troposphere over the North Pacific and North Atlantic, the extratropical North America has weakened low-level continental low and upper-level ridge, hence a deficient summer rainfall. Corresponding to a high APO index, the African and South Asian monsoon regions are wet and cool, the East Asian monsoon region is wet and hot, and the extratropical North America is dry and hot. Wet and dry climates correspond to wet and dry soil conditions, respectively. The APO is also associated with significant variations of SST in the entire Pacific and the extratropical North Atlantic during boreal summer, which resembles the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation in SST. Of note is that the Pacific SST anomalies are not present throughout the year, rather, mainly occur in late spring, peak at late summer, and are nearly absent during boreal winter. The season-dependent APO–SST relationship and the origin of the APO remain elusive.     

西北东部夏季极端干旱事件机理分析

利用国家气候中心提供的1951—2012年逐日降水、温度、综合气象干旱指数、逐月NCEP/NCAR再分析资料等,采用REOF分析、动力诊断、相关分析以及合成分析等方法,从大气环流异常特征、高空急流与季风异常等方面揭示西北东部夏季极端干旱事件的可能机理。研究发现西北东部夏季发生极端干旱时,副热带急流轴"倾斜",且急流与东亚夏季风强度均处于相对偏弱阶段。极端干旱的成因研究表明:急流轴"倾斜"及其强度减弱导致西北东部地区高层大范围的异常辐合;该地区为水汽源区,对流层整层水汽收支显著亏损;此外,该地区低层盛行来自内陆干旱区的异常西南风,东亚夏季风强度偏弱,高低层配置及大尺度环流形势不利于降水产生。     

Decadal/interdecadal variations of the ocean temperature and its impacts on climate

Decadal/interdecadal climate variability is an important research focus of the CLIVAR Program and has been paid more attention. Over recent years, a lot of studies in relation to interdecadal climate variations have been also completed by Chinese scientists. This paper presents an overview of some advances in the study of decadal/interdecadal variations of the ocean temperature and its climate impacts, which includes interdecadal climate variability in China, the interdecadal modes of sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the North Pacific, and in particular, the impacts of interdecadal SST variations on the Asian monsoon rainfall. As summarized in this paper, some results have been achieved by using climate diagnostic studies of historical climatic datasets. Two fundamental interdecadal SST variability modes (7– 10-years mode and 25–35-years mode) have been identified over the North Pacific associated with different anomalous patterns of atmospheric circulation. The southern Indian Ocean dipole (SIOD) shows a major feature of interdecadal variation, with a positive (negative) phase favoring a weakened (enhanced) Asian summer monsoon in the following summer. It is also found that the China monsoon rainfall exhibits interdecadal variations with more wet (dry) monsoon years in the Yangtze River (South China and North China) before 1976, but vice versa after 1976. The weakened relationship between the Indian summer rainfall and ENSO is a feature of interdecadal variations, suggesting an important role of the interdecadal variation of the SIOD in the climate over the south Asia and southeast Asia. In addition, evidence indicates that the climate shift in the 1960s may be related to the anomalies of the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and North Pacific Oscillation (NPO). Overall, the present research has improved our understanding of the decadal/interdecadal variations of SST and their impacts on the Asian monsoon rainfall. However, the research also highlights a number of problems for future research, in particular the mechanisms responsible for the monsoon long-term predictability, which is a great challenge in climate research.     

The Annual Modes of Tropical Precipitation Simulated by the LASG/IAP Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Model FGOALS_s1.1

This paper evaluates the performance of a coupled general circulation model FGOALS_s1.1 developed by LASG/IAP in simulating the annual modes of tropical precipitation.To understand the impacts of air-sea coupling on the annual modes,the result of an off-line simulation of the atmospheric component of FGOALS_s1.1,i.e.,LASG/IAP atmospheric general circulation model SAMIL,is also analyzed.FGOALS_s1.1 can reasonably reproduce major characteristics of the annual mean precipitation.Nonetheless,the coupled model shows overestimation of precipitation over the equatorial Pacific and tropical South Pacific,and underestimation of precipitation over the northern equatorial Pacific.The monsoon mode simulated by FGOALS_s1.1 shows an equatorial anti-symmetric structure,which is consistent with the observation.The bias of the coupled model in simulating monsoon mode resembles that of SAMIL,especially over the subtropics.The main deficiency of FGOALS_s1.1 is its failure in simulating the spring-fall asymmetric mode.This is attributed to the false phase of sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) annual cycleover the equatorial central-castern Pacific and Indian Ocean,which leads to the bias of the Walker circulation over the equatorial Pacific and the anti-Walker circulation over the Indian Ocean in boreal spring and fall.In addition,the domains of the western North Pacific monsoon and Indian monsoon simulated by the coupled model are smaller than the observation.The study suggests that the bias of the fully coupled oceanatmosphere model can only be partly attributed to the bias of the atmospheric component.The performance of FGOALS-s1.1 in simulating the annual cycle of equatorial SST deserves further improvement.     

Pre-onset land surface processes and ��internal�� interannual variabilities of the Indian summer monsoon

It is proposed that, land?Catmosphere interaction around the time of monsoon onset could modulate the first episode of climatological intraseasonal oscillation (CISO) and may generate significant ??internal?? interannual variation in the Indian summer monsoon rainfall. The regional climate model RegCM3 is used over Indian monsoon domain for 27?years of control simulation. In order to prove the hypothesis, another two sets of experiment are performed using two different boundary conditions (El Ni?o year and non-ENSO year). In each of these experiments, a single year of boundary conditions are used repeatedly year after year to generate ??internal?? interannual monsoon variability. Simulation of monsoon climate in the control model run is found to be in reasonably good agreement with observation. However, large rainfall bias is seen over Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal. The interannual monsoon rainfall variability are of the same order in two experiments, which suggest that the external influences may not be important on the generation of ??internal?? monsoon rainfall variability. It is shown that, a dry (wet) pre-onset land-surface condition increases (decreases) rainfall in June which in turn leads to an anomalous increase (decrease) in seasonal (JJAS) rainfall. The phase and amplitude of CISO are modulated during May?CJune and beyond that the modulation of CISO is quite negligible. Though the pre-onset rainfall is unpredictable, significant modulation of the post-onset monsoon rainfall by it can be exploited to improve predictive skill within the monsoon season.     

Global monsoon: Dominant mode of annual variation in the tropics

This paper discusses the concept of global monsoon. We demonstrate that the primary climatological features of the tropical precipitation and low-level circulation can be represented by a three-parameter metrics: the annual mean and two major modes of annual variation, namely, a solstitial mode and an equinoctial asymmetric mode. Together, the two major modes of annual cycle account for 84% of the annual variance and they represent the global monsoon. The global monsoon precipitation domain can be delineated by a simple monsoon precipitation index (MPI), which is the local annual range of precipitation (MJJAS minus NDJFM in the Northern Hemisphere and NDJFM minus MJJAS in the Southern Hemisphere) normalized by the annual mean precipitation. The monsoon domain can be defined by annual range exceeding 300 mm and the MPI exceeding 50%.The three-parameter precipitation climatology metrics and global monsoon domain proposed in the present paper provides a valuable objective tool for gauging the climate models’ performance on simulation and prediction of the mean climate and annual cycle. The metrics are used to evaluate the precipitation climatology in three global reanalysis products (ERA40, NCEP2, and JRA25) in terms of their pattern correlation coefficients and root mean square errors with reference to observations. The ensemble mean of the three analysis datasets is considerably superior to any of the individual reanalysis data in representing annual mean, annual cycle, and the global monsoon domain. A major common deficiency is found over the Southeast Asia-Philippine Sea and southeast North America-Caribbean Sea where the east–west land–ocean thermal contrast and meridional hemispheric thermal contrast coexist. It is speculated that the weakness is caused by models’ unrealistic representation of Subtropical High and under-represented tropical storm activity, as well as by neglecting atmosphere–ocean interaction in the reanalysis. It is recommended that ensemble mean of reanalysis datasets be used for improving global precipitation climatology and water cycle budget. This paper also explains why the latitudinal asymmetry in the tropical circulation decreases with altitude.     

西北太平洋夏季风对中国长江流域夏季降水的影响

利用1979～2005年NCEP/NCAR的环流场再分析资料和降水资料, 通过对季风期降水、 大气环流、 水汽输送及低频振荡等方面的分析, 分别从时间和空间上分析了西北太平洋夏季风与中国长江流域夏季降水的联系。结果表明:(1) 西北太平洋夏季风与中国长江流域夏季降水存在显著的负相关关系, 在西北太平洋夏季风强盛时, 副热带高压异常偏北, 其西侧的偏南气流异常偏弱, 使得我国长江流域形成低层异常环流及水汽输送的辐散区, 从而造成长江流域夏季降水偏少; 而在西北太平洋夏季风减弱的年份, 西太平洋副高异常偏南偏西, 在长江流域以南地区形成异常偏强的偏南风水汽输送, 使得长江流域成为南、 北距平风的汇合区, 其上空对流活动异常活跃, 非常有利于长江流域的降水。 (2) 东亚局地Hadley垂直环流在强、 弱季风年也显著不同, 在强季风年里, Hadley局地环流异常偏弱, 长江流域上空出现的下沉运动距平, 使得该地区降水减弱, 而弱季风年则正好相反。 (3) 西北太平洋夏季风存在显著的气候平均的大气季节内振荡 (CISO), 在西北太平洋夏季风减弱时期, 长江流域降水同时受到源自热带西北太平洋西传CISO和源自热带印度洋东传CISO的共同影响, 可能造成了某种锁相关系, 从而造成降水偏多; 而在强季风年里长江流域只受由西太平洋西传的CISO的影响, 不容易激发降水。     

Seasonal and Intraseasonal Variations of East Asian Summer Monsoon Precipitation Simulated by a Regional Air-Sea Coupled Model

The performance of a regional air-sea coupled model, comprising the Regional Integrated Environment Model System (RIEMS) and the Princeton Ocean Model (POM), in simulating the seasonal and intraseasonal variations of East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) rainfall was investigated. Through comparisons of the model results among the coupled model, the uncoupled RIEMS, and observations, the impact of air-sea coupling on simulating the EASM was also evaluated. Results showed that the regional air-sea coupled climate model performed better in simulating the spatial pattern of the precipitation climatology and produced more realistic variations of the EASM rainfall in terms of its amplitude and principal EOF modes. The coupled model also showed greater skill than the uncoupled RIEMS in reproducing the principal features of climatological intraseasonal oscillation (CISO) of EASM rainfall, including its dominant period, intensity, and northward propagation. Further analysis indicated that the improvements in the simulation of the EASM rainfall climatology and its seasonal variation in the coupled model were due to better simulation of the western North Pacific Subtropical High, while the improvements of CISO simulation were owing to the realistic phase relationship between the intraseasonal convection and the underlying SST resulting from the air-sea coupling.     

山东夏季降水的气候特征及其成因

用GMS TBB和ECMWF的格点风资料,采用带通滤波、EOF分解和合成分析方法,对湖北省洪涝年出现“二度梅”年(1980、1998年)和无“二度梅”年(1991、1999年)的南海和青藏高原TBB的低频振荡特征进行了分析研究。结果表明:有(无)“二度梅”年,南海低频TBB在6～7月的振荡位相是相反的;在7月下旬～8月上旬,南海低频TBB为高(低)值位相,青藏高原低频TBB为低(高)值位相。南亚地区低频TBB场EOF1的空间分布形式呈“南负北正”(南正北负)。     

南海夏季风垂直结构的变化特征及其对中国东部降水的影响

采用NCEP/NCAR再分析月平均资料和NOAA全球逐日降水资料,首先利用EOF方法分析了南海夏季风的垂直结构时空变化特征,然后初步探讨了南海夏季风垂直结构对中国夏季降水的影响和机制。(1) 南海夏季风的垂直结构有明显的年际和年代际变化特征。EOF第一模态型主要表现为南海夏季风垂直结构的年际变化特征,为对流层低层西南风和对流层高层东北风同时增强(同时减弱)(简称“低层-高层同时增强”和“低层-高层同时减弱”)两种典型结构变化;EOF第二模态主要表现为南海夏季风垂直结构的年代际变化,为对流低层(高层)西南风(东北风)由下向上的增强到减弱变化和相反的对流层低层(高层)西南风(东北风)减弱到增强的变化(简称“低层强弱-高层强弱”和“低层弱强-高层弱强”)的两个不同年代(时段)的垂直结构变化。(2) 南海夏季风垂直结构变化通过改变对流层低层、高层的环流异常变化来影响中国东部夏季降水的异常变化。南海夏季风呈“低层-高层同时增强”垂直结构时,南海低纬热带季风环流异常加强,长江流域低层辐散、高层辐合及异常下沉运动,其南侧的华南地区和北侧的东北地区是低层辐合、高层辐散和异常上升运动,导致华南降水异常偏多、长江流域降水偏少、北方降水偏多;在“低层-高层同时减弱”年,则相反。南海夏季风呈“低层弱强-高层弱强”垂直结构时,我国东部地区自华南到东北,分别是低层辐合(辐散)、高层辐散(辐合)的有利于上升(下沉)运动的环流条件,华南、江淮地区降水增多,江南、东北地区降水减少;对“低层强弱-高层强弱”时段,则相反。      

年代际气候预测系统IAP DecPreS的海洋同化试验在西北太平洋的海温偏差及其对亚洲夏季风的影响

本文分析了中国科学院大气物理研究所年代际气候预测系统IAP DecPreS的海洋同化试验（简称EnOI-IAU试验）在西北太平洋地区的海表面温度（SST）年循环的模拟技巧,并通过对比IAP DecPreS系统自由耦合历史气候模拟试验结果,在包含海气耦合过程的框架下讨论了耦合模式中西北太平洋夏季SST模拟差异,及其对亚洲季风区夏季季风降水模拟的影响。结果表明,EnOI-IAU试验较好地模拟出了西北太平洋各个季节的SST空间分布,并显著减小了原存在于历史气候模拟试验中持续全年的SST冷偏差。混合层热收支诊断分析表明,包含同化过程在内的海洋过程的模拟差异对西北太平洋海温的模拟提升有重要贡献。夏季,EnOI-IAU试验模拟的印度季风伴随的低层西风较观测偏东、偏强,且高估了赤道西太平洋区域的降水量值、低估了印度洋区域的降水量值。水汽收支分析显示,气旋式环流异常造成的水汽辐合异常是造成亚洲季风区降水模拟差异的主要原因。研究表明,较之历史模拟试验,EnOI-IAU试验中夏季西北太平洋地区SST增暖造成局地对流增强,进而使得局地产生异常上升运动,水汽辐合增强,造成西北太平洋地区降水模拟偏多,激发出低层西风异常及赤道外气旋式环流异常。该低层西风异常导致了北印度洋地区低层辐散异常,减小了原存在于历史试验中印度洋地区的正降水偏差。西北太平洋气旋式环流异常一方面增强了印度夏季风伴随的低层西风,使得更多的水汽从阿拉伯海输送到西太平洋暖池区域,增强了该区域的降水量;另一方面,该气旋式环流异常减小了历史模拟试验中中国南部区域偏强的低层风速,进而提升了模式对东亚低层西南风的模拟能力。     

秦岭及周边地区夏季降水的主模态分析

基于秦岭及周边地区394站气象观测资料、欧洲中期数值预报中心(ECMWF)再分析ERA-Interim数据,利用小波和回归等分析方法,讨论了秦岭及周边地区夏季降水年际变化的主模态以及与其相联系的大气环流异常。结果表明:1)在年际变化的时间尺度上,秦岭及周边地区夏季降水主要表现为秦岭南北降水的气候差异性变化(EOF1)、黄土高原第二地形抬升带与其两侧降水的反位相振荡(EOF2)、秦岭西南部降水正异常和其东北部降水负异常变化(EOF3)和关中平原的地形降水贡献(EOF4)4个模态,其解释方差总贡献为73%,并且具有显著的2~4 a周期,其中EOF3和EOF4还具有4~8 a左右的年际变化周期。2)回归分析表明,EOF1正位相环流特征表现为200 hPa急流偏弱,中纬度槽填塞,西太平洋副热带高压强度偏弱,有来源于东海的水汽输送,使得秦岭北部降水偏多;EOF2和EOF3分别具有显著的蒙古低压和东北冷涡环流特征;EOF4的500 hPa环流异常不显著。3)根据新定义的秦岭季风指数回归分析表明,回归场的季风指数和降水模态的时间系数显著相关,秦岭北部降水偏多(少),南部降水偏少(多),反映了强(弱)季风年的年际转换。反之则具有多态性,不同年份强(弱)秦岭回归季风指数的环流形势存在较大的差异,可能触发多种降水模态和位相振荡。     

气候系统模式FGOALS-s1.1对热带降水年循环模态的模拟

文中评估了中国科学院大气物理研究所大气科学和地球流体力学数值模拟国家重点实验室(LASG/IAP)新一代耦合气候模式Fgoals_s1.1对热带降水年循环模态的模拟能力。通过与观测表层海温(SST)强迫的大气模式SAMIL试验结果比较,分析了海气耦合过程对年循环模态模拟效果的影响。结果表明Fgoals_s1.1能合理再现热带地区降水年循环模态的基本特征。Fgoals_s1.1模拟出了年平均降水场中的主要降水中心,但模拟的赤道和南太平洋降水偏多,而北太平洋降水则偏少。Fgoals_s1.1的季风模态降水呈现与观测一致的关于赤道反对称的特征,其模拟偏差大部分来自大气分量,尤其是在赤道外。Fgoals_s1.1的主要缺陷在于它对春秋非对称模态模拟能力低于单独大气模式,这主要是由于耦合模式模拟的SST距平的年循环位相与观测相反。SST纬向梯度的位相偏差使得太平洋沃克环流和印度洋的反沃克环流在春季强于秋季,最终导致模拟的春秋非对称模态的偏差。Fgoals_s1.1模拟的季风区范围接近观测,存在的问题在于模拟的西北太平洋季风区、东亚季风区都偏小。本文结果表明,大气模式偏差仅是Fgoals_s1.1在降水年循环模态模拟上的偏差的部分来源,改进模式模拟的SST,特别是赤道地区SST季节循环,是今后Fgoals_s1.1发展过程中急需解决的问题。     

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE SEASONAL TRANSITION OF EAST ASIAN MONSOON CIRCULATION AND ASIAN-PACIFIC THERMAL FIELD AND POSSIBLE MECHANISMS

The NCEP/NCAR reanalysis, CMAP rainfall and Hadley Centre sea surface temperature (SST) datasets are used to investigate the relationship between the seasonal transition of East Asian monsoon and Asian-Pacific thermal contrast, together with the possible causes. Based on the 250 hPa air temperature over two selected key areas, the Asian-Pacific thermal difference (APTD) index is calculated. Results show that the APTD index is highly consistent with the Asian-Pacific Oscillation (APO) index defined by Zhao et al., in terms of different key areas in different seasons. Moreover, the time point of the seasonal transition of the Asian-Pacific thermal contrast can be well determined by the APTD index, indicative of seasonal variation in East Asian atmospheric circulation from winter to summer. The transition characteristic of the circulation can be summarized as follows. The continental cold high at lower tropospheric level moves eastward to the East China Sea and decreases rapidly in intensity, while the low-level northerlies turn to southerlies. At middle tropospheric level, the East Asia major trough is reduced and moves eastward. Furthermore, the subtropical high strengthens and appears near Philippines. The South Asia high shifts from the east of Philippines to the west of Indochina Peninsula, and the prevailing southerlies change into northerlies in upper troposphere. Meanwhile, both the westerly and easterly jets both jump to the north. The seasonal transition of atmospheric circulation is closely related to the thermal contrast, and the possible mechanism can be concluded as follows. Under the background of the APTD seasonal transition, the southerly wind appears firstly at lower troposphere, which triggers the ascending motion via changing vertical shear of meridional winds. The resultant latent heating accelerates the transition of heating pattern from winter to summer. The summer heating pattern can further promote the adjustment of circulation, which favors the formation and strengthening of the low-level southerly and upper-level northerly winds. As a result, the meridional circulation of the East Asian subtropical monsoon is established through a positive feedback between the circulation and thermal fields. Moreover, the time point of this seasonal transition has a significant positive correlation with the SST anomalies over the tropical central-eastern Pacific Ocean, providing a basis for the short-term climate prediction.     

How do La Niña events disturb the summer monsoon system in Brazil?

The rainy season in most of Brazil is associated with the summer monsoon regime in South America. The quality of this season is important because it rains little during the rest of the year over most of the country. In this study, the influence of La Niña events on the summer monsoon circulation, rainfall and temperature is analyzed with seasonal and monthly resolution, using data from a dense network of stations, giving a comprehensive view of the impact of these events. The expected precipitation percentiles during the monsoon season of La Niña events are calculated, as well as anomalies of surface temperature and thermodynamic parameters. This information is analyzed jointly with anomaly composites of several circulation parameters. The analysis shows that some anomalies, which are consistent and important during part of the season, are smoothed out in a seasonal analysis. There are abrupt changes of anomalies within the summer monsoon season, suggesting the prevalence of regional processes over remote influences during part of the season. In spring there are positive precipitation anomalies in north and central-east Brazil and negative ones in south Brazil. These precipitation anomalies are favored by the perturbation in the Walker and Hadley circulation over the eastern Pacific and South America, and by perturbations in the rotational circulation over southern South America. Northerly moisture inflow from the Atlantic into northern South America is emphasized and diverted towards the mouth of the Amazon by the low-level cyclonic anomaly north of the equator. In December and January, probably triggered by anomalous surface cooling during the spring, there is an anomalous low-level divergence and an anticyclonic anomaly over southeast Brazil. This anomalous circulation directs moisture flux towards south Brazil, causing moisture convergence in part of this region and part of central-west Brazil. The thermodynamic structure in central-east Brazil does not favor precipitation over this region, and the wet anomalies in north Brazil are displaced northward. The dry anomalies in south Brazil almost disappear and even turn positive. In February, after the strongly below normal precipitation of January, the surface temperature anomalies turn positive over southeast Brazil. The low-level anticyclonic anomaly is much weaker than in January. There are positive rainfall anomalies in north Brazil and in the South Atlantic Convergence Zone, and negative ones return to south Brazil.     

Subseasonal forecast skills and biases of global summer monsoons in the NCEP Climate Forecast System version 2

Subseasonal forecast skills and biases of global summer monsoons are diagnosed using daily data from the hindcasts of 45-day integrations by the NCEP Climate Forecast System version 2. Predictions for subseasonal variability of zonal wind and precipitation are generally more skillful over the Asian and Australian monsoon regions than other monsoon regions. Climatologically, forecasts for the variations of dynamical monsoon indices have high skills at leads of about 2 weeks. However, apparent interannual differences exist, with high skills up to 5 weeks in exceptional cases. Comparisons for the relationships of monsoon indices with atmospheric circulation and precipitation patterns between skillful and unskillful forecasts indicate that skills for subseasonal variability of a monsoon index depend partially on the degree to which the observed variability of the index attributes to the variation of large-scale circulation. Thus, predictions are often more skillful when the index is closely linked to atmospheric circulation over a broad region than over a regional and narrow range. It is also revealed that, the subseasonal variations of biases of winds, precipitation, and surface temperature over various monsoon regions are captured by a first mode with seasonally independent biases and a second mode with apparent phase transition of biases during summer. The first mode indicates the dominance of overall weaker-than-observed summer monsoons over major monsoon regions. However, at certain stages of monsoon evolution, these underestimations are regionally offset or intensified by the time evolving biases portrayed by the second mode. This feature may be partially related to factors such as the shifts of subtropical highs and intertropical convergence zones, the reversal of biases of surface temperature over some monsoon regions, and the transition of regional circulation system. The significant geographical differences in bias growth with increasing lead time reflect the distinctions of initial memory capability of the climate system over different monsoon regions.     

东亚与北美东部降水和环流季节演变差异及其可能机理分析

利用NCEP/ NCAR 再分析资料和CMAP、GPCP卫星反演降水资料,对比分析了东亚与北美东部地区降水和大尺度大气环流季节演变特征的差异。结果显示,东亚和北美东部地区冬季环流形势较为相似,而夏季差异则较大,这正是东亚为季风区,北美为非季风区的表现。此外,基于季风的两大特征量“风”和“雨”,分析了两地降水和低空风场季节变化的显著差异：东亚副热带地区降水季节变率大,呈“夏湿冬干”的季风降水特征,低层盛行风向随季节逆转,冬季盛行偏北风,夏季盛行偏南风,具有显著的副热带季风区特征。北美东部副热带地区全年雨量分配均匀,低层常年盛行偏西风,呈现非季风区特征。进一步的分析发现,作为季风基本推动力的海、陆热力差异在东亚和北美东部地区有着显著的区别：东亚地区的经向和纬向温度梯度随季节反转的特征显著;而北美东部地区虽有纬向温度梯度的季节反转但幅度很小,且经向海、陆热力差异随季节反转不明显。此外,与青藏高原和落基山脉相伴的纬向环流也存在显著差异。鉴于此,提出经向和纬向海、陆热力梯度反转特征的不同以及青藏高原和落基山脉地形的不同作用很可能是造成东亚副热带季风气候而北美东部非季风气候的主要原因,上述结论还有待于数值试验的进一步证实。