Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Diurnal variations of precipitation over the South China Sea

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Meteorology and Atmospheric Physics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this study, the diurnal variations of precipitation and related mechanisms over the South China Sea (SCS) are studied using the TRMM and other auxiliary atmospheric data. We have found that: (1) the amplitude and peak time of the diurnal precipitation over SCS exhibit remarkable regional features and seasonal variations. Diurnal variations are robust all the year around over the southern SCS especially over the Kalimantan Island and its offshore area. Over the middle to northern SCS, however, diurnal variations are noticeable only in the summer and autumn; (2) over the northern SCS precipitation peaks in early morning, while over the southern SCS it has two diurnal peaks: one in the early morning and another in the late afternoon; (3) the diurnal variations of precipitation over the SCS are related to the activity of the SCS summer monsoon and the ENSO events. The late afternoon precipitation increases remarkably after the onset of the SCS summer monsoon over the northern SCS. The early-morning rainfall peak is much more significant during La Nina years than during El Nino years; (4) the land–sea breeze is responsible for the diurnal cycle over the Kalimantan Island and its offshore area while the “static radiation–convection” mechanisms may result in the early-morning rainfall peak over the SCS.

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
Fig. 9
Fig. 10
Fig. 11

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Albright MD, Mock DR, Recker EE, Reed RJ (1981) A diagnostic study of the diurnal rainfall variation in the GATE B-scale area. J Atmos Sci 38:1429–1445

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alpert P, Kusuda M, Abe N (1984) Anticlockwise rotation, eccentricity and tilt angle of the wind hodograph. Part II: an observational study. J Atmos Sci 41:3568–3583

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Andrew JN, Thomas LB, Xu L (2002) Sampling of the diurnal cycle of precipitation using TRMM. J Atmos Oceanic Technol 19:1333–1344

    Google Scholar 

  • Augustine JA (1984) The diurnal variation of large-scale inferred rainfall over the tropical Pacific Ocean during August 1979. Mon Weather Rev 112:1745–1751

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Basu BK (2007) Diurnal variation in precipitation over India during the summer monsoon season: observed and model predicted. Mon Weather Rev 135:2155–2167

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chang C-P (2004) The East Asian monsoon. World Scientific, Singapore, pp 560

  • Chang C-P, Chen G-T (1995) Tropical circulations associated with southwest monsoon onset and westerly surges over the South China Sea. Mon Weather Rev 123:3254–3267

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chang ATC, Chiu LS, Yang G (1995) Diurnal cycle of oceanic precipitation from SSM/I data. Mon Weather Rev 123:3371–3380

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chen S-S, Houze RA (1997) Diurnal variation and life-cycle of deep convective systems over the tropical Pacific warm pool. Q J R Meteorol Soc 123:357–388

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chin TM, Milliff RF, Large WG (1998) Basin-scale high-wavenumber sea surface wind fields from multiresolution analysis of scatterometer data. J Atmos Ocean Technol 15:741–763

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dai A (2001) Global precipitation and thunderstorm frequencies. Part II: diurnal variations. J Clim 14:1112–1128

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dai A, Fung I-Y, Genio ADD (1997) Surface observed global land precipitation variations during 1900–1988. J Clim 10:2943–2962

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ding Y-H (1994) Monsoons over China. Kluwer Academic Publisher, Dordrecht, pp 419

  • Ding Y, Chan JCL (2005) The East Asian summer monsoon: an overview. Meteorol Atmos Phys 89:117–142

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garreaud RD, Wallace JM (1997) The diurnal march of convective cloudiness over the Americas. Mon Weather Rev 125:3157–3171

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gille ST, Llewellyn Smith SG, Statom NM (2005) Global observations of land breeze diurnal variability. Geophys Res Lett 32:L05605. doi:10.1029/2004GL022139

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gray WM, Jacobson RW (1977) Diurnal variation of deep cumulus convection. Mon Weather Rev 105:1171–1188

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton K (1981) A note on the observed diurnal and semidiurnal rainfall variations. J Geophys Res 86:12122–12126

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haurwitz B (1947) Comments on the seabreeze circulation. J Meteorol 4:1–8

    Google Scholar 

  • Hendon HH, Woodberry K (1993) The diurnal cycle of tropical convection. J Geophys Res 98:16523–16637

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hirose M, Oki R, Shimizu S, Kachi M, Higashiuwatoko T (2008) Finescale diurnal rainfall statistics refined from eight years of TRMM PR data. J Appl Meteorol Climatol 47:544–561

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoyos CD, Webster PJ (2007) The role of intraseasonal variability in the nature of Asian monsoon precipitation. J Clim 20:4402–4424

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hu Q (2003) A multidecadal variation in summer season diurnal rainfall in the central United States. J Clim 16:174–178

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huffman GJ (1997) Estimates of root-mean-square random error for finite samples of estimated precipitation. J Appl Meteorol 36:1191–1201

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Huffman GJ, Adler RF, Rudolph B, Schneider U, Keehn P (1995) Global precipitation estimates based on a technique for combining satellite-based estimates, rain gauge analysis, and NWP model precipitation information. J Clim 8:1284–1295

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ichikawa H, Yasunari T (2006) Time–space characteristics of diurnal rainfall over Borneo and surrounding oceans as observed by TRMM-PR. J Clim 19:1238–1260

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jin Z-H, Tao S-Y (2002) The onset of the summer monsoon over the South China Sea and its active and break periods. Climatic and Environmental Research 7:267–278 (in Chinese with English abstract)

    Google Scholar 

  • Krishnamurti TN, Kishtawal CM (2000) A pronounced continental-scale diurnal mode of the Asian summer monsoon. Mon Weather Rev 128:462–473

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Landin MG, Bosart LF (1989) The diurnal variation of precipitation in California and Nevada. Mon Weather Rev 117:1801–1816

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lau K-M et al (2000) A report of the field operations and early results of the South China Sea monsoon experiment. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 81:1261–1270

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lau K-M, Kim K-Y, Lee M-I (2007) Characteristics of diurnal and seasonal cycles in global monsoon system. J Meteorol Soc Jpn 85A:403–416

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li J, Zeng Q (2002) A unified monsoon index. Geophys Res Lett 29:1274. doi:10.1029/2001GL013874

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Liang J-Y, Wu S-S (2002) A study of southwest monsoon onset date over the South China Sea and its impact factors. Chin J Atmos Sci 26:829–844 (in Chinese with English abstract)

    Google Scholar 

  • Lin X, Randall DA, Fowler LD (2000) Diurnal variability of the hydrologic cycle and radiative fluxes: comparisons between observations and a GCM. J Clim 13:4159–4179

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lu E, Chan JCL (1999) A unified monsoon index for South China. J Clim 12:2375–2385

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mao J, Chan JCL (2005) Intraseasonal variability of the South China Sea summer monsoon. J Clim 18:2388–2402

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mapes BE, Warner TT, Xu M (2003) Diurnal patterns of rainfall in northwestern South America. Part III: diurnal gravity waves and nocturnal convection offshore. Mon Weather Rev 131:830–844

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McBride JL, Gray WM (1980) Mass divergence in tropical weather systems. Part I: diurnal variation. Q J R Meteorol Soc 106:501–516

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGarry MM, Reed RJ (1978) Diurnal variations in convective activity and precipitation during phases II and III of GATE. Mon Weather Rev 106:101–113

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Milliff RF, Morzel J, Chelton DB, Freilich MH (2004) Wind stress curl and wind stress divergence biases from rain effects on QSCAT surface wind retrievals. J Atmos Ocean Technol 21:1216–1231

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Negri AJ, Thomas LB, Xu L-M (2002) Sampling of the diurnal cycle of precipitation using TRMM. J Atmos Oceanic Technol 19:1333–1344

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nesbitt SW, Zipser EJ (2003) The diurnal cycle of rainfall and convective intensity according to three years of TRMM measurements. J Clim 16:1456–1475

    Google Scholar 

  • Oki T, Musiake K (1994) Seasonal change of the diurnal cycle of precipitation over Japan and Malaysia. J Appl Meteorol 33:1445–1463

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Philander SGH (1983) El Niño–Southern Oscillation phenomena. Nature 302:295–301

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pielke RA (2002) Mesoscale meteorological modeling, 2nd edn. Academic Press, New York, p 676

    Google Scholar 

  • Qiao Y-T, Jian M-Q, Luo H-B (2002) Different characteristics of precipitation over four sub-regions of South China Sea during summer monsoon and the abrupt change. J Trop Meteorol 18:38–44 (in Chinese with English abstract)

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramage CS (1971) Monsoon meteorology. Academic Press, New York, p 295

    Google Scholar 

  • Randall DA, Hashvardhan, Dazlich DA (1991) Diurnal variability of the hydrologic cycle in a general circulation model. J Atmos Sci 48: 40-62

  • Ropelewski CF, Halpert MS (1989) Precipitation pattern associated with the high index phase of the Southern Oscillation. J Clim 2:268–284

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt FH (1947) An elementary theory of the land- and sea-breeze circulation. J Meteorol 4:9–15

    Google Scholar 

  • Shin KS, North GR, Ahn YS, Arkin PA (1990) Time scales and variability of area-averaged tropical oceanic rainfall. Mon Weather Rev 118:1507–1516

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sui C-H, Lau K-M, Takayabu YN, Short DA (1997) Diurnal variations in tropical oceanic cumulus convection during TOGA COARE. J Atmos Sci 54:639–655

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sui C-H, Lau K-M, Li X (1998) Convective–radiative interaction in simulated diurnal variations of tropical cumulus ensemble. J Atmos Sci 55:2345–2357

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tao S, Chen L (1987) A review of recent research on the East Asian summer monsoon in China. In: Chang CP, Krishnamurti TN (eds) Monsoon meteorology. Oxford University Press, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Tao W-K, Lang S, Simpson J, Sui C-H, Ferrier B, Chou M-D (1996) Mechanisms of cloud–radiation interaction in the tropics and midlatitudes. J Atmos Sci 53:2624–2651

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wallace JM (1975) Diurnal variations in precipitation and thunderstorm frequency over the conterminous United States. Mon Weather Rev 103:406–419

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang B, Lin H, Zhang Y, Lu M-M (2004) Definition of South China Sea monsoon onset and commencement of the East Asia summer monsoon. J Clim 17:699–710

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu R, Hu Z-Z, Kirtman BP (2003) Evolution of ENSO-related rainfall anomalies in East Asia and the processes. J Clim 16:3741–3757

    Google Scholar 

  • Yan J, Liu J, Jiang G, Wan H, Liu Y, Yao H (2007) Advances in the study of air–sea flux exchange over the South China Sea. Adv Earth Sci 22:685–697 (in Chinese with English abstract)

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang G-Y, Slingo J (2001) The diurnal cycle in the tropics. Mon Weather Rev 129:784–801

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yang S, Smith EA (2006) Mechanisms for diurnal variability of global tropical rainfall observed from TRMM. J Clim 19:5190–5226

    Article  Google Scholar 

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

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yu R, Zhou T, Xiong A, Zhu Y, Li J (2007) Diurnal variations of summer precipitation over contiguous China. Geophys Res Lett 34:L01704. doi:10.1029/2006GL028129

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Joint Fund Project (U0733002) of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), the NSFC project (40875020) and the National Basic Research Program of China (2009CB421404). The authors would like to acknowledge GSFC/DAAC, NASA for providing valuable TRMM data. The QUIKSCAT and ADEOS-II/NCEP Blended Winds for this study are from the Research Data Archive (RDA) which is maintained by the Computational and Information Systems Laboratory (CISL) at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). Helpful comments by Dr. Houjun Wang on the revised version are gratefully acknowledged.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, 135 West Xingang Road, Guangzhou, 510275, China

    Weibiao Li, Cong Luo & Ting Lei

  2. LED, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510301, China

    Dongxiao Wang

Authors
  1. Weibiao Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Cong Luo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Dongxiao Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Ting Lei
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Weibiao Li.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Li, W., Luo, C., Wang, D. et al. Diurnal variations of precipitation over the South China Sea. Meteorol Atmos Phys 109, 33–46 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00703-010-0094-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00703-010-0094-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation