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Relationship between an abrupt drought-flood transition over mid-low reaches of the Yangtze River in 2011 and the intraseasonal oscillation over mid-high latitudes of East Asia

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Abstract

NCEP/NCAR daily reanalysis data and Chinese daily gridded precipitation data are used to study the relationship between an aprupt drought-flood transition over the mid-low reaches of the Yangtze River in 2011 and the intraseasonal oscillation (ISO; 30–60 days) in the mid-high latitude meridional circulation of the upper troposphere over East Asia. The abrupt transition from drought to flood occurs in early June. The first two recovered fields of the complex empirical orthogonal function show that northward-propagating westerlies from low latitudes converge with southward-propagating westerlies from high latitudes over the mid-low reaches of the Yangtze River (MLRYR) in mid-late May. The timing of this convergence corresponds to the flood period in early-mid June. The ISO index is significantly and positively correlated with rainfall over the MLRYR. During the dry phase (before the transition), the upper troposphere over the MLRYR is characterized by cyclonic flow, easterly winds, and convergence. The regional circulation is dominated by a wave train with a cyclone over east of Lake Baikal, an anticyclone over northern China, and a cyclone over the MLRYR. During the wet phase, the situation is reversed. The configuration of the wave train during the dry phase favors the southward propagation of westerly wind disturbances, while the configuration of the wave train during the wet phase favors the development and maintenance of a pumping effect and sustained ascending motions over the MLRYR.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing, 100081, China

    Shuangyan Yang  (杨双艳), Bingyi Wu  (武炳义) & Renhe Zhang  (张人禾)

  2. Key Laboratory of Meteorological Disaster of Ministry of Education, NUIST, Nanjing, 210044, China

    Shunwu Zhou  (周顺武)

Authors
  1. Shuangyan Yang  (杨双艳)
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  2. Bingyi Wu  (武炳义)
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  3. Renhe Zhang  (张人禾)
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  4. Shunwu Zhou  (周顺武)
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bingyi Wu  (武炳义).

Additional information

Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41221064 and 40875052), China Meteorological Administration Special Public Welfare Research Fund (GYHY200906017 and GYHY201006020), and Basic Research Fund of the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences (2010Z003).

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Yang, S., Wu, B., Zhang, R. et al. Relationship between an abrupt drought-flood transition over mid-low reaches of the Yangtze River in 2011 and the intraseasonal oscillation over mid-high latitudes of East Asia. Acta Meteorol Sin 27, 129–143 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13351-013-0201-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13351-013-0201-0

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