Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Climatology of monsoon precipitation over the Tibetan Plateau from 13-year TRMM observations

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Theoretical and Applied Climatology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Based on the 13-year data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite during 2001–2013, the influencing geographical location of the Tibetan Plateau (Plateau) monsoon is determined. It is found that the domain of the Plateau monsoon is bounded by the latitude between 27° N and 37° N and the longitude between 60° E and 103° E. According to the annual relative precipitation, the Plateau monsoon can be divided into three sections: the Plateau winter monsoon (PWM) over Iran and Afghanistan, the Plateau summer monsoon (PSM) over the central Plateau, and the transiting zone of the Plateau monsoon (TPM) over the south, west, and east edges of the Plateau. In PWM and PSM, the monsoon climatology has a shorter rainy season with the mean annual rainfall of less than 800 mm. In TPM, it has a longer rainy season with the mean annual rainfall of more than 1800 mm. PWM experiences a single-peak monthly rainfall with the peak during January to March; PSM usually undergoes a multi-peak pattern with peaks in the warm season; TPM presents a double-peak pattern, with a strong peak in late spring to early summer and a secondary peak in autumn. The Plateau monsoon also characterizes an asymmetrical seasonal advance of the rain belt. In the east of the Plateau, the rain belt migrates in a south–north orientation under the impact of the tropical and subtropical systems’ oscillation. In the west of the Plateau, the rain belt advances in an east–west direction, which is mainly controlled by the regional Plateau monsoon.

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

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

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Anders AM, Roe GH, Hallet B (2006) Spatial patterns of precipitation and topography in the Himalaya. Spec Papers-Geolo Soc Am 398:39–53

    Google Scholar 

  • Bai AJ, Liu XD, Liu CH (2011) Contrast of diurnal variation of summer precipitation between the Tibetan Plateau and Sichuan Basin. Plateau Meteorol 30:852–859

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen TC, Wang SY, Huang WR, Yen MC (2004) Variation of the East Asian summer monsoon rainfall. J Clim 17:744–762

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diatta S, Hourdin F, Gaye AT (2010) Comparison of rainfall profiles in the West African monsoon as depicted by TRMM PR and the LMDZ climate model. Mon Weather Rev 138:1767–1777

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dong AX, Li DL, Bai HZ (2000) Climatic oscillation and forecast test of monsoons in Qingzang Plateau. J Gansu Sci 12:22–28

    Google Scholar 

  • Du J, Ma YC (2004) Climatic trend of rainfall over Tibetan Plateau from 1971 to 2000. Acta Geograph Sin 59:375–382

    Google Scholar 

  • Duan AM, Wu GX, Liu YM, Mao YM, Zhao P (2012) Weather and climate effects of the Tibetan Plateau (in Chinese). Adv Atmos Sci 29:978–992

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hao ZC, Tong K, Zhang LL (2011) Applicability analysis of TRMM precipitation estimates in Tibetan Plateau. J China Hydrol 31:18–25

    Google Scholar 

  • Houze RA, Wilton DC, Smull BF (2007) Monsoon convection in the Himalayan regions as seen by the TRMM precipitation radar. Q J R Meteorol Soc 133:1389–1411

    Google Scholar 

  • Huffman GJ, Adler RF, Bolvin D (2007) The TRMM satellite precipitation analysis: quasi-global, multi-year, combined sensor precipitation estimates at fine scale. J Hydro-Meteorol 8:38–55

    Google Scholar 

  • Kimpei I, Manabu DY, Bijaya KV (2007) Precipitation in Nepal between 1987 and 1996. Int J Climatol 27:1753–1762

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liu XD (1999) Influences of Qinghai-Xizang (Tibet) Plateau uplift on the atmospheric circulation, global climate and environment changes. Plateau Meteorol 18:321–332

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu CT, Eward JZ, Daniel JC, Stephen WN, Steven S (2008) A cloud and precipitation feature database from nine years of TRMM observation. J Appl Meteorol Climatol 47:2712–2728

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Luo X, Li DL, Wang H (2013) New evolution features of autumn rainfall in West China and its responses to atmospheric circulation (in Chinese). Plateau Meteorol 32:1019–1031

    Google Scholar 

  • Nesbitt SW, Cifelli R, Rutledge SA (2006) Storm morphology and rainfall characteristics of TRMM precipitation features. Mon Weather Rev 134:2702–2721

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Qian WH, Lee DK (2000) Seasonal March of Asian summer monsoon (in Chinese). Int J Climatol 20:1371–1386

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Qie XS, Wu XK, Tie Y, Bian JC, Lu DR (2014) Comprehensive pattern of deep convection systems over the Tibetan Plateau-South Asian monsoon region based on TRMM data. J Clim 27:6612–6626

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Qi WW, Zhang BP, Pang Y, Zhao F, Zhang S (2013) TRMM-data-based spatial and seasonal patterns of precipitation in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (in Chinese). Sci Geogr Sin 33:999–1005

    Google Scholar 

  • Reiter ER, Ding YH (1980) The role of Qinghai-Xizang Plateau in feedback mechanisms affecting the planetary circulation. Sci Atmos Sinica 4:300–309

    Google Scholar 

  • Tang MC, Shen ZB, Chen YY (1979) On climatic characteristics of the Xizang Plateau monsoon (in Chinese). Acta Geograph Sin 34:33–42

    Google Scholar 

  • Tang MC, Reiter ER (1984) Plateau monsoon of the northern hemisphere: a comparison between North America and Tibet. Mon Weather Rev 112:617–637

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tang MC (1989) Some annual variation characteristics for the northern hemispheric monthly mean precipitation fields. Adv Atmos Sci 6:186–201

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tang MC (1993) Some advances on the research of plateau monsoon. Plateau Meteorol 12:95–101

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang XJ, Cheng SM (2009) Analysis of major climate characteristics in Tibet (in Chinese). Plateau Mt Meteorol Res 29:81–84

    Google Scholar 

  • Xu ZX, Gong TL, Li JY (2008) Decadal trend of climate in the Tibetan Plateau-regional temperature and precipitation. Hydrol Process 22:3056–3065

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Xu SY, Gao YX (1962) The monsoon over Xizang Plateau (in Chinese). Acta Geograph Sin 28:111–123

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang S, Smith EA (2008) Convection-stratiform precipitation variability at seasonal scale from 8 yr of TRMM observations: implication for multiple modes of diurnal variability. J Clim 21:4087–4114

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ye DZ, Gao YX (1979) Climatology of Qinghai-Xizang (Tibetan) Plateau. Science Press, Beijing, p. 279

    Google Scholar 

  • Yin ZY, Zhang XQ, Liu XD, Mike C, Chen XL (2008) An assessment of the biases of satellite rainfall estimates over the Tibetan Plateau and correction methods based on topographic analysis. J Hydrometeorol 9:301–326

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yolande AM, Matthew CH, Bernard A, Gabriel BS (2015) Characterizing Congo basin rainfall and climate using Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite data and limited rainfall gauge ground observation. J Appl Meteorol Climatol 54:541–555

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhu QG, Lin JR, Shou SW, Tang DS (2000) The synoptic and analyses. China Meteorological Press, Beijing(in Chinese), pp. 320–392

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhu SX, Xu HM, He JH (2008) Features of the tropical Asian monsoon onset in recent years revealed by high-resolution satellite observations. J Nanjing Inst Meteorol 31:790–802

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors are very grateful to the anonymous reviewers, whose comments greatly improved the manuscript. Also, the conversations  with Hsiao-Ming Hsu and Zhaoxia Pu were helpful. The authors appreciated Michael Dixon for editing the manuscript and making it more fluent in English. The National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 91337215), and the Special Fund for Meteorological Research in the Public Interest (No. GYHY201206042) gave support to this work.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Atmospheric Sciences, Chengdu University of Information Technology, No.24, Section 1, XueFu Road, Chengdu, 610225, China

    Bai Aijuan & Li Guoping

Authors
  1. Bai Aijuan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Li Guoping
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bai Aijuan.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Aijuan, B., Guoping, L. Climatology of monsoon precipitation over the Tibetan Plateau from 13-year TRMM observations. Theor Appl Climatol 126, 15–26 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-015-1555-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-015-1555-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation