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Distinct influences of cold vortex over Northeast China on local precipitation in early summer and midsummer

Climate Dynamics (2022)Cite this article

Abstract

The station observations and reanalysis dataset are utilized to identify the cold vertex over Northeast China (NECV) in early summer (ES) and midsummer (MS) respectively. In this study, we focus on the characteristics of NECV and their distinct influences on local precipitations in ES and MS. The underpinning mechanisms are further inspected in terms of thermodynamic and dynamic processes. Results suggest that in ES (MS) the NECV is mainly located over Northern China-Southeastern Russia (Mongolia) and significantly correlated to the precipitations over the eastern (mid-western) regions of Northeast China. In the strong cases of precipitation, NECV displays northward shift and intensification in ES and MS respectively. Meanwhile, the upper-level wind anomalies suggest a northward displacement of polar front jet and a weakened subtropical jet in ES, and an enhanced polar front jet and a southward shift of subtropical jet in MS. The wind anomalies induced by meridional temperature gradients and the Rossby wave activities transported to Northeast China favor the development of atmospheric circulation vorticity and then promote the variations of NECV. Furthermore, the vorticity and temperature advections are favorable for the enhancement of ascending motion under quasigeostrophic approximation, which is combined with the sufficient water vapor transported from oceanic regions, triggering the regional precipitation. Intriguingly, the pathways of water vapor transport and disturbance energy propagation caused by the diverse external forcings are different in ES and MS, which sheds some fresh light on the insight into the subseasonal variations of NECV and the distinctive contributions to local precipitation.

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Acknowledgements

This study is jointly sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41930969), and Joint Open Fund of Key Project for Shenyang Institute of Atmospheric Environment of China Meteorological Administration and Key Open Laboratory of Research for Northeast Cold Vortex: Study on the Influence of Northeast Cold Vortex on Summer Rainfall in Northeast China (2020SYIAEZD5). In this study, the daily station records of temperature and precipitation are taken from the China Meteorological Data Center (http://data.cma.cn/en/?r=data/detail&dataCode=A.0012.0001). NCEP Reanalysis data is provided by the NOAA/OAR/ESRL PSD, Boulder, Colorado, USA, from their website at https://psl.noaa.gov/data/gridded/data.ncep.reanalysis.html. The sea surface temperature (SST) and sea ice concentration data are derived from the Met Office Hadley Center (https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadisst/data/download.html).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CMA-NJU Laboratory for Climate Prediction Studies and School of Atmospheric Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

    Daokai Xue, Yaocun Zhang & Jingnan Yin

  2. Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Environment Monitoring and Pollution Control, Jiangsu Collaborative Innovation Center of Atmospheric Environment and Equipment Technology, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

    Pinya Wang

  3. Institute of Atmospheric Environment, China Meteorological Administration, Shenyang, China

    Daokai Xue & Fenghua Sun

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  1. Daokai Xue
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  2. Yaocun Zhang
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Correspondence to Yaocun Zhang.

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Xue, D., Zhang, Y., Wang, P. et al. Distinct influences of cold vortex over Northeast China on local precipitation in early summer and midsummer. Clim Dyn (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00382-022-06291-4

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Keywords

  • Northeast cold vertex
  • Regional precipitation
  • Disturbance energy propagation
  • Water vapor transport
  • Vorticity and temperature advections