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Precipitation seesaw phenomenon and its formation mechanism in the eastern and western parts of Northwest China during the flood season

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Abstract

Extending across three major plateaus, namely the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, the Inner Mongolia-Xinjiang Plateau and the Loess Plateau, Northwest China has the complex terrain and spatio-temporal climate variations, and is affected by the interactions among different circulation systems, such as the summer monsoon, the westerlies and the plateau monsoon. The understanding of the climate variability, as well as its characteristics and evolution mechanisms in this area has been limited so far. In this paper, the precipitation characteristics and mechanisms in the eastern and western parts of Northwest China during the flood season are compared and analyzed based on the data from 192 national meteorological observational sites in Northwest China in 1961–2016. The results show that, divided by the northern boundary of the East Asian summer monsoon, there are huge differences in the precipitation variation characteristics between the eastern and western parts. The inter-annual variations, inter-decadal variations and total trends in the two parts all show a significant seesaw phenomenon. Moreover, it is found that the seesaw phenomenon of precipitation variation is closely related to the opposite variation between the East Asian summer monsoon index (MI) and the westerly circulation index (WI). In addition, the inverse variations on different time scales are only related to the contributions of precipitation at specific grades. Besides, in the two matching patterns of precipitation in the seesaw phenomenon, the middle and high latitudes are occupied by the “high-low-high” wave trains in the precipitation increases in the east of Northwest China (ENWC) and decreases in the west of Northwest China (WNWC) pattern, meaning precipitation increases in ENWC and decreases in WNWC. Whereas the opposite “low-high-low” wave trains at 500 hPa height are observed in the middle and high latitudes in the WH-EA pattern at 500 hPa height, meaning precipitation increases in WNWC and decreases in ENWC. Thus, the atmosphere circulation situation with two wave train types can support both the precipitation seesaw phenomenon and the opposite variation between MI and WI. Moreover, the seesaw phenomenon is shown to be related to the separate or joint effects of the South Asian High, ENSO and the plateau heating on the common but opposite effect on the summer monsoon and the westerlies, in which the South Asian High probably plays a more critical role. This study could deepen the scientific understanding of precipitation mechanisms and improve the weather forecast technology in Northwest China during the flood season.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41630426 & 4170506) and the Youth Fund Projects of Science and Technology from Gansu Province (Grant No. 17JR5RA342).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Arid Meteorology, China Meteorological Administration, Key Laboratory of Arid Climatic Change and Reducing Disaster of Gansu Province, Key Open Laboratory of Arid Climatic Change and Disaster Reduction of CMA, Lanzhou, 730020, China

    Qiang Zhang

  2. Gansu Provincial Meteorological Bureau, Lanzhou, 730020, China

    Qiang Zhang

  3. Lanzhou Regional Climate Center, Lanzhou, 730020, China

    Jingjing Lin & Lanying Han

  4. Lanzhou Central Meteorological Observatory, Lanzhou, 730020, China

    Weicheng Liu

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  1. Qiang Zhang
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  2. Jingjing Lin
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Correspondence to Jingjing Lin.

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Zhang, Q., Lin, J., Liu, W. et al. Precipitation seesaw phenomenon and its formation mechanism in the eastern and western parts of Northwest China during the flood season. Sci. China Earth Sci. 62, 2083–2098 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-018-9357-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-018-9357-y

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