Search

Flash drought is a rapidly intensifying drought with abnormally high temperature, which has greatly threatened crop yields and water supply, and aroused wide public concern in a warming climate. However, the preferable hydrometeorological conditions for flash drought and its association with conventional drought at longer time scales remain unclear. Here, we investigate two types of flash drought over China: one is high-temperature driven (Type I), while the other is water-deficit driven (Type II). Results show that the frequencies of the two types of flash drought averaged over China during the growing season are comparable. Type I flash drought tends to occur over southern China, where moisture supply is sufficient, while Type II is more likely to occur over semi-arid regions such as northern China. Both types of flash drought increase significantly (p < 0.01) during 1979–2010, with a doubled rise in Type I as compared with Type II. Composite analysis shows that high temperature quickly increases evapotranspiration (ET) and reduces soil moisture from two pentads before the onset of Type I flash drought. In contrast, there are larger soil moisture deficits two pentads before the onset of Type II flash drought, leading to a decrease in ET and increase in temperature. For flash drought associated with seasonal drought, there is a greater likelihood of occurrence during the onset and recovery phases of seasonal drought, suggesting perfect conditions for flash drought during transition periods. This study provides a basis for the early warning of flash drought by connecting multiscale drought phenomena.

Statistically different precursory air–sea signals between a super and a regular El Nino group are investigated, using observed SST and rainfall data, and oceanic and atmospheric reanalysis data. The El Nino events during 1958–2008 are first separated into two groups: a super El Nino group (S-group) and a regular El Nino group (R-group). Composite analysis shows that a significantly larger SST anomaly (SSTA) tendency appears in S-group than in R-group during the onset phase [April–May(0)], when the positive SSTA is very small. A mixed-layer heat budget analysis indicates that the tendency difference arises primarily from the difference in zonal advective feedback and the associated zonal current anomaly (u′). This is attributed to the difference in the thermocline depth anomaly (D′) over the off-equatorial western Pacific prior to the onset phase, as revealed by three ocean assimilation products. Such a difference in D′ is caused by the difference in the wind stress curl anomaly in situ, which is mainly regulated by the anomalous SST and precipitation over the Maritime Continent and equatorial Pacific.

The interannual variability of occurrence of multiple tropical cyclone (MTC) events during June–October in the western North Pacific (WNP) was examined for the period 1979–2006. The number of the MTC events ranged from 2 to 9 per year, exhibiting a remarkable year-to-year variation. Seven active and seven inactive MTC years were identified. Compared to the inactive years, tropical cyclone genesis locations extended farther to the east and in the meridional direction during the active MTC years. A composite analysis shows that inactive MTC years were often associated with the El Nino decaying phase, as warm SST anomalies in the equatorial eastern-central Pacific in the preceding winter transitioned into cold sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the concurrent summer. Associated with the SST evolution were suppressed low-level cyclonic vorticity and weakened convection in the WNP monsoon region. In addition to the mean flow difference, significant differences between active and inactive MTC years were also found in the strength of the atmospheric intraseasonal oscillation (ISO). Compared with inactive MTC years, ISO activity was much stronger along the equator and in the WNP region during active MTC years. Both westward- and northward-propagating ISO spectrums strengthened during active MTC years compared to inactive years. The combined mean state and ISO activity changes may set up a favorable environment for the generation of MTC events.

On the interannual timescale, the meridional displacement of the East Asian upper-tropospheric jet stream (EAJS) is significantly associated with the rainfall anomalies in East Asia in summer. In this study, using the data from the National Centers for Environmental Prediction-Department of Energy (NCEP/DOE) reanalysis-2 from 1979 to 2002, the authors investigate the interannual variations of the EAJS’s meridional displacement in summer and their associations with the variations of the South Asian high (SAH) and the western North Pacific subtropical high (WNPSH), which are dominant circulation features in the upper and lower troposhere, respectively. The result from an EOF analysis shows that the meridional displacement is the most remarkable feature of the interannual variations of the EAJS in each month of summer and in summer as a whole. A composite analysis indicates that the summer (June–July–August, JJA) EAJS index, which is intended to depict the interannual meridional displacement of the EAJS, is not appropriate because the anomalies of the zonal wind at 200 hPa (U200) in July and August only, rather than in June, significantly contribute to the summer EAJS index. Thus, the index for each month in summer is defined according to the location of the EAJS core in each month. Composite analyses based on the monthly indexes show that corresponding to the monthly equatorward displacement of the EAJS, the South Asian high (SAH) extends southeastward clearly in July and August, and the western North Pacific subtropical high (WNPSH) withdraws southward in June and August.

The global land monthly precipitation data (PREC/L) are used to investigate the relation between the global land annual precipitation and ENSO during 1948–2000, and the results of composite analysis are tested with Monte Carlo simulations. Results indicate that the global land annual precipitation was significantly reduced in large scale areas in warm event years; the areas were the equatorial West Pacific, North China; equatorial Central America; North Bengal Bay and Nepal; East Australia; West India and South Pakistan; the district east of the Lena River; West Europe; and Wilkes Land of Antarctica. In contrast to this, the areas where precipitation increased in warm event years were less, and mainly in Chile and Argentina of South America; Somali, Kenya, and Tanzania of East Africa; Turkey, Iraq, and Iran of the Middle East; Libya and Nigeria of North Africa; Namibia of Southwest Africa; and Botswana and Zimbabwe of southern Africa. Statistical tests show that in warm event years, the area where the land annual precipitation was reduced was larger than the area where the annual precipitation increased, and the reduction in precipitation was more significant than the increase. The results in this paper are compared with previous studies. It is also pointed out that the interdecadal change of ENSO had no significant effect on the interdecadal variation of precipitation in the above regions. However, the warm events of El Nino affected the droughts in East Australia and North China more after the 1980s than before.

By averaging June-July-August (JJA) mean geopotential height anomalies at 850 hPa over the specified areas, the author proposes two innovative and succinct parameters to objectively define the zonal and meridional displacements of the western North Pacific subtropical high (WNPSH) in summer, respectively. Thus, these two indices and the present results may provide a basis for validating atmospheric general circulation models simulating the WNPSH. For the zonal index, the specified area is the west edge (110°–150°E, 10°–30°N) of the WNPSH. For the meridional index, the specified area is the northwest edge (120°–150°E, 30°–40°N) of the WNPSH. The interannual variations of these two indices are found to be independent. The results from a composite analysis based on the meridional index are in good agreement with previous studies based on case analyses.

Investigation is conducted of the interannual variability of the northern Pacific storm track and its con current association with 500 hPa height and Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) during winter. Evidence suggests that during the studying period the center of the northern winter Pacific storm track experiences substantial interannual variability in the variation of its latitude, longitude and intensity. Singular value de composition (SVD) of 15 winter 500 hPa filtered geopotential height variance over the storm track with the tropical and northern Pacific SST shows that the first coupled mode depicts the effect on the track of SSTA over the equatorial central and eastern Pacific, while the second one reflects the impact of Kuroshio SSTA on the track. Further Composite analysis indicates, moreover, that the SSTA over Kuroshio (equatorial cen tral and eastern Pacific) during winter, which is relative to WP (PNA) teleconnection response pattern in 500 hPa height field, respectively, exerts crucial influence on the interannual variability in vigor and meridianal (zonal) displacement of the track over its central and western (eastern) part.

In this paper, ocean-atmosphere coupled regimes are identified on the basis of SVD analysis, cluster analysis and composite analysis. The coupled regimes in cold seasons are identified as the clusters of the ocean-atmosphere coupled states in a low dimensional phase space spanned by the first four SVD modes. Three coupled regimes are found. The first two coupled regimes reflect the ENSO episodes and the accompanying PNA patterns. The third regime, i.e., EAWM regime, is characterized by the strong EAWM activity and the specific SST anomaly. The composite analysis gives further evidences to the identification of EAWM regime and also demonstrates the dynamical process of its formation. The anomaly pattern of the tropical Pacific SSTA in the strong EAWM year differs significantly from that of the La Nina year.