Skip to main content
Log in

Impact of land–sea breezes at different scales on the diurnal rainfall in Taiwan

  • Published:
Climate Dynamics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The formation mechanism of diurnal rainfall in Taiwan is commonly recognized as a result of local forcings involving solar thermal heating and island-scale land–sea breeze (LSB) interacting with orography. This study found that the diurnal variation of the large-scale circulation over the East Asia-Western North Pacific (EAWNP) modulates considerably the diurnal rainfall in Taiwan. It is shown that the interaction between the two LSB systems—the island-scale LSB and the large-scale LSB over EAWNP—facilitates the formation of the early morning rainfall in western Taiwan, afternoon rainfall in central Taiwan, and nighttime rainfall in eastern Taiwan. Moreover, the post-1998 strengthening of a shallow, low-level southerly wind belt along the coast of Southeast China appears to intensify the diurnal rainfall activity in Taiwan. These findings reveal the role of the large-scale LSB and its long-term variation in the modulation of local diurnal rainfall.

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

Access this article

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

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alpers W, Chen JP, Lin II, Lien CC (2007) Atmospheric fronts along the east coast of Taiwan studied by ERS synthetic aperture radar images. J Atmos Sci 64:922–937

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alpers W, Chen JP, Pi CJ, Lin II (2010) On the origin of atmospheric frontal lines off the east coast of Taiwan observed on space borne synthetic aperture radar images. Mon Weather Rev 138:475–496

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aves S, Johnson RH (2008) The diurnal cycle of convection over the northern South China Sea. J Meteorol Soc Jpn 86:919–934

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen GTJ (1983) Observational aspects of the Mei-Yu phenomenon in subtropical China. J Meteorol Soc Jpn 61:306–312

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen YL (1993) Some synoptic-scale aspects 682 of the surface fronts over southern China during TAMEX. Mon Weather Rev 121:50–64

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen CS, Chen YL (2003) The rainfall characteristics of Taiwan. Mon Weather Rev 131:1323–1341

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen TC, Yen MC, Hsieh JC, Arritt RW (1999) Diurnal and seasonal variations of the rainfall measured by the automatic rainfall and meteorological telemetry system in Taiwan. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 80:2299–2312

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen CS, Chen YL, Liu CL, Lin PL, Chen WC (2007) Statistics of heavy rainfall occurrences in Taiwan. Weather Forecast 22:981–1002

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen GTJ, Wang CC, Chang SW (2008) A diagnostic case study of Mei-Yu frontogenesis and development of wavelike frontal disturbances in the subtropical environment. Mon Weather Rev 136:41–61

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen G, Sha W, Sawada M, Iwasaki T (2013) Influence of summer monsoon diurnal cycle on moisture transport and precipitation over eastern China. J Geophys Res Atmos 118:3163–3177

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dai A, Deser C (1999) Diurnal and semidiurnal variations in global surface wind and divergence fields. J Geophys Res 104:31109–31125

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dai A, Lin X, Hsu KL (2007) The frequency, intensity, and diurnal cycle of precipitation in surface and satellite observations over low- and mid-latitudes. Clim Dyn 29:727–744

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Geng B, Yamada H (2007) Diurnal variations of the Meiyu/Baiu rain belt. Sci Online Lett Atmos 3:61–64

    Google Scholar 

  • Hong Y, Hsu KL, Sorooshian S, Gao X (2005) Improved representation of diurnal variability of rainfall retrieved from the Tropical Rainfall Measurement Mission Microwave Imager adjusted Precipitation estimation from Remotely Sensed Information Using Artificial Neural Networks (PERSIANN) system. J Geophys Res 110:D06102. doi:10.1029/2004JD005301

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang WR, Chan JCL (2011) Maintenance mechanisms for the early-morning maximum summer rainfall over Southeast China. Q J R Meteorol Soc 137:959–968

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huang WR, Chan JCL (2012) Seasonal variation of diurnal and semidiurnal variation of rainfall over Southeast China. Clim Dyn 39:1913–1927

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huang WR, Chan JCL, Wang SY (2010) A planetary-scale land–sea breeze circulation in East Asia and the western North Pacific. Q J R Meteorol Soc 136:1543–1553

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huang WR, Chan JCL, Au-Yeung AYM (2013) Regional climate simulations of summer diurnal rainfall variations over East Asia and Southeast China. Clim Dyn 40:1625–1642

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson RH, Bresch JF (1991) Diagnosed characteristics of precipitation systems over Taiwan during the May–June 1987 TAMEX. Mon Weather Rev 119:2540–2557

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kerns BWJ, Chen YL, Chang MY (2010) The diurnal cycle of winds, rain, and clouds over Taiwan during the Mei-Yu, summer, and autumn rainfall regimes. Mon Weather Rev 138:497–516

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kishtawal CM, Krishnamurti TN (2001) Diurnal variation of summer rainfall over Taiwan and its detection Using TRMM observations. J Appl Meteor 40:331–344

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li J, Chen YL, Lee WC (1997) Analysis of a heavy rainfall event during TAMEX. Mon Weather Rev 125:1060–1081

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li J, Yu R, Zhou T (2008) Seasonal variation of the diurnal cycle of rainfall in southern Contiguous China. J Clim 21:6036–6043

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mao JY, Wu GX (2012) Diurnal variations of summer precipitation over the Asian monsoon region as revealed by TRMM satellite data. Sci China Earth Sci 55:554–566

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ramage CS (1952) Diurnal variation of summer rainfall over east China, Korea and Japan. J Atmos Sci 9:83–86

    Google Scholar 

  • Rienecker MM et al (2011) MERRA: NASA’s modern-era retrospective analysis for research and applications. J Clim 24:3624–3648

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ruppert JHJ, Johnson RH, Rowe AK (2013) Diurnal circulations and rainfall in Taiwan during SoWMEX/TiMREX (2008). Mon Weather Rev. doi:10.1175/MWR-D-12-00301.1

  • Simpson JS, Kummerow C, Tao WK, Adler RF (1996) On the tropical rainfall measuring mission (TRMM). Meteorol Atmos Phys 60:19–36

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sun J, Zhang F (2012) Impacts of mountain-plains solenoid on diurnal variations of rainfalls along the Mei-Yu front over the East China Plains. Mon Weather Rev 140:379–397

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang SY, Chen TC (2008) Measuring East Asian summer monsoon rainfall contributions by different weather systems over Taiwan. J Appl Meteorol Clim 47:2068–2080

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang CC, Huang WM (2009) High-resolution simulation of a nocturnal narrow convective line off the southeastern coast of Taiwan in the Mei-Yu season. Geophys Res Lett 36:L06815. doi:10.1029/2008GL037147

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang SY, Chia HH, Gillies RR, Jiang X (2013a) Quasi-biweekly mode and its modulation on the diurnal rainfall in Taiwan forecasted by the CFS. Wea Forecast. doi:10.1175/WAF-D-12-00120.1

  • Wang SY, L’Heureux M, Yoon JH (2013b) Are Greenhouse gases changing ENSO precursors in the Western North Pacific? J Clim 26:6309–6322

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yeh HC, Chen YL (1998) Characteristics of rainfall distributions over Taiwan during the Taiwan Area Mesoscale Experiment (TAMEX). J Appl Meteorol 37:1457–1469

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yu CK, Lin CY (2008) Statistical location and timing of the convective lines off the mountainous coast of southeastern Taiwan from long-term radar observations. Mon Weather Rev 136:5077–5094

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yu R, Li J, Chen H (2009) Diurnal variation of surface wind over central eastern China. Clim Dyn 33:1089–1097. doi:10.1007/s00382-008-0478-3

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhou T, Yu R, Chen H, Dai A, Pan Y (2008) Summer precipitation frequency, intensity, and diurnal cycle over China: a comparison of satellite data with rain gauge observations. J Clim 21:3997–4010

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors thank anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions which greatly improved the manuscript. This research was supported by the National Science Council of Taiwan under NSC 101-2119-M-003-006-MY2 and NSC 102-2621-M-492-001. SYW was supported by Grant MOTC-CWB-101-M-15, Grant NNX13AC37G, and the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station, Utah State University as Journal Paper # 8464.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wan-Ru Huang.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Huang, WR., Wang, SY. Impact of land–sea breezes at different scales on the diurnal rainfall in Taiwan. Clim Dyn 43, 1951–1963 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-013-2018-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-013-2018-z

Keywords

Navigation