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In January 2013, a severe fog and haze event (FHE) of strong intensity, long duration, and extensive coverage occurred in eastern China. The present study investigates meteorological conditions for this FHE by diagnosing both its atmospheric background fields and daily evolution in January 2013. The results show that a weak East Asian winter monsoon existed in January 2013. Over eastern China, the anomalous southerly winds in the middle and lower troposphere are favorable for more water vapor transported to eastern China. An anomalous high at 500 hPa suppresses convection. The weakened surface winds are favorable for the fog and haze concentrating in eastern China. The reduction of the vertical shear of horizontal winds weakens the synoptic disturbances and vertical mixing of atmosphere. The anomalous inversion in near-surface increases the stability of surface air. All these meteorological background fields in January 2013 were conducive to the maintenance and development of fog and haze over eastern China. The diagnosis of the daily evolution of the FHE shows that the surface wind velocity and the vertical shear of horizontal winds in the middle and lower troposphere can exert dynamic effects on fog and haze. The larger (smaller) they are, the weaker (stronger) the fog and haze are. The thermodynamic effects include stratification instability in middle and lower troposphere and the inversion and dew-point deficit in near-surface. The larger (smaller) the stratification instability and the inversion are, the stronger (weaker) the fog and haze are. Meanwhile, the smaller (larger) the dewpoint deficit is, the stronger (weaker) the fog and haze are. Based on the meteorological factors, a multi-variate linear regression model is set up. The model results show that the dynamic and thermodynamic effects on the variance of the fog and haze evolution are almost the same. The contribution of the meteorological factors to the variance of the daily fog and haze evolution reaches 0.68, which explains more than 2/3 of the variance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We identified the Asian–Pacific Oscillation (APO) and its associated index, a zonal teleconnection pattern over the extratropical Asian–Pacific region. This was done through the correlation and empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analyses on the summer mean tropospheric eddy temperature from the monthly European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecast reanalysis. The APO reflects an out-of-phase relationship in variability of the eddy temperature between Asia and the North Pacific and is associated with the out-of-phase relationship in atmospheric heating. The APO index shows a decadal variation, tending to a high-index polarity before 1975 and afterward to a low-index polarity. Moreover, the APO index has a quasi-5-year period. With higher APO-index conditions in the upper troposphere, the summer South Asian high and the North Pacific trough are stronger, while the westerly jet stream over Asia and the easterly jet stream over South Asia strengthen. Also, the Asian low and the North Pacific subtropical high are stronger in the lower troposphere. The anomalous southerlies prevail at the midlatitudes of East Asia, accompanied by a more northward Mei-yu front, and the anomalous westerlies prevail over South Asia. Summer rainfall increases in North China, South China, and South Asia, while it decreases from the valley of the Yangtze River to southern Japan, and near the Philippines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the 5-day averaged data from the National Center for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCEP/NCAR) reanalysis, and precipitation from rain gauge stations in China for the period 1981–2000, we investigated seasonal variations and associated atmospheric circulation and precipitation of the southwesterly wind over eastern China. The southwesterly wind over eastern China begins earliest over southeastern China and strengthens gradually from spring to the early summer, as it extends northward. The strengthening of the spring southwesterly wind, the tropospheric upward motion, and the convergence of low-level water vapor over southeastern China results in the beginning of the local rainy season. The beginning of the Mei-yu (Plum rainfall) is connected with the northward march of the southwesterly wind. The southwesterly wind reaches the valley of the Yangtze River in the early summer and northern China in the middle summer. This signifies an onset of the large-scale southwesterly wind over eastern China. Accordingly, the rain belt over southeastern China moves to the valley of the Yangtze River in the early summer and to northern China in the middle summer. Moreover, the southerly wind extends southward to the South China Sea from the spring to summer, though it does not stretch from the South China Sea to southeastern China at those times. The strengthening of the southerly wind over southeastern China is associated with a weakening/strengthening of the eastward/westward subtropical tropospheric temperature gradient between southwestern China and the western North Pacific. The developments of a low-pressure system over southwestern China and the subtropical high-pressure system over the western North Pacific may contribute to the strengthening of the southwesterly wind. A northward advance of the high-pressure system favors the southwesterly wind stretching from southeastern China to northern China. The onset of the Indian summer monsoon also strengthens the summer southwesterly wind over eastern China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent advances in studies on the interaction between the East Asian monsoon and the ENSO cycle are reviewed in this paper. Through the recent studies, not only have the responding features and processes of the East Asian winter and summer monsoon circulation anomalies and summer rainfall anomalies in East Asia to the ENSO cycle during its different stages been understood further, but also have the thermal and dynamic effects of the tropical western Pacific on the ENSO cycle been deeply analyzed from the observational facts and dynamic theories. The results of observational and theoretical studies showed that the dynamical effect of the atmospheric circulation and zonal wind anomalies in the lower troposphere over the tropical western Pacific on the ENSO cycle may be through the excitation of the equatorial oceanic Kelvin wave and Rossby waves in the equatorial Pacific. These studies demonstrated further that the ENSO cycle originates from the tropical western Pacific. Moreover, these recent studies also showed that the atmospheric circulation and zonal wind anomalies over the tropical western Pacific not only result from the air-sea interaction over the tropical western Pacific, but are also greatly influenced by the East Asian winter and summer monsoons. Additionally, the scientific problems in the interaction between the Asian monsoon and the ENSO cycle which should be studied further in the near future are also pointed out in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The data analyses in the first part of this study have shown that the sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA) in the eastern equatorial Pacific are significantly correlated with the preceding anomalous convergence of the meridional wind stress near the equator. In order to understand the dynamical role of the convergent meridional wind stress anomalies in the El Niño occurring, an ideal wind stress which converges about the equator is set up based on the observations revealed in the first part. A simple dynamical model of tropical ocean is used to study the response of the tropical ocean to the convergent meridional wind stress. The results show that the convergent wind stress in the eastern equatorial Pacific is favorable for the occurrence of El Niño. When the convergent wind stress exerts on the tropical ocean, the westward propagating Rossby wave is excited, which, on the one hand, makes the mixed layer near the equator become thicker. On the other hand, the westward oceanic currents associated with the Rossby wave appear in the vicinity of the equator. The oceanic currents can drive the upper layer sea water to transfer to the west, which is favorable for the sea water to pile up in the western equatorial Pacific and to accumulate energy for the upcoming warm event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A diagnostic study is made to investigate the relationship between water vapor transport from Indian monsoon and that over East Asia in Northern summer. It is found that water vapor transport from Indian monsoon is inverse to that over East Asia. More (less) Indian monsoon water vapor transport corresponds to less (more) water vapor transport over East Asia and less (more) rainfall in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River valley. The Indian summer monsoon water vapor transport is closely related to the intensity of the western Pacific subtropical high in its southwestern part. The stronger (weaker) the Indian summer monsoon water vapor transport, the weaker (stronger) the western Pacific subtropical high in its southwestern part, which leads to less (more) water vapor transport to East Asia, and thus less (more) rainfall in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River valley. Analysis of the out-going longwave radiation anomalies suggests that the convective heating anomalies over the Indian Ocean may have significant impact not only on the Indian monsoon, but also on the East Asian monsoon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By using correlation analysis and singular value decomposition (SVD) methods, diagnostic studies are made to investigate the relationship between the meridional wind stress anomalies over the tropical Pacific and El Niño events. The correlation of the sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTA) in the NINO3 region (150°–90°W, 5°S–5°N) and the leading meridional wind stress anomalies shows that the NINO3 SSTA is significantly correlated with the anomalous meridional wind stress convergence in the equatorial eastern Pa-cific at the leading time of more than six months. With the reduction of the leading time, the correlation be-comes stronger and the convergence area with statistical significance enlarges and extends to the west. The coupling patterns between SSTA in tropic Pacific and the leading meridional wind stress anomalies revealed by SVD show the similar feature to that revealed by the correlation analysis. The converging meridional wind stress about the equator in the eastern equatorial Pacific precedes the increasing of SSTA in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific as early as half a year or more. Compared to the leading zonal wind stress anomalies in the tropical western Pacific, it seems that the increasing of the NINO3 SSTA is more related to the convergence of the leading meridional wind stress anomalies in the eastern equatorial Pacific. It is sug-gested that preceding meridional wind stress anomalies may play an important role in the occurrence of El Niño events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The observed data of the sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies and the sea temperature (ST) in the sub-layer of the equatorial Pacific, the NCEP/ NCAR reanalysis data and the data set of daily precipitation in China are used to analyze the characteristics of the 1997 / 98 ENSO cycle and its impact on summer climate anomalies in East Asia. The results show that the 1997/98 ENSO cycle, the strongest one in the 20th century, might be characterized by rapid development and decay and eastward propagation from the West Pacific warm pool. Influenced by the ENSO cycle, in 1997, the serious drought and hot summer occurred in North China, and in the summer of 1998, the severe floods occurred in the Yangtze River valley, especially in the Dongting Lake and Boyang Lake valleys, South Korea and Japan. The analysis also shows that: influenced by the 1997/98 ENSO cycle, the water vapor transportation by the Asian monsoon in the summer of 1997 was very different from that in the summer of 1998. In the summer of 1997, the water vapor transportation by the Asian summer monsoon was weak in North China and the northern part of the Korea Peninsula. Thus, it caused the drought and hot summer in North China. However, in the summer of 1998, the sea temperature in the sub-layer of the West Pacific warm pool dropped, the western Pacific subtropical high shifted southward. Thus, a large amount of water vapor was transported from the Bay of Bengal, the South China Sea and the tropical western Pacific into the Yangtze River valley of China, South Korea and Japan, and the severe flood occurred there. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the tropical air-sea interaction is discussed by using a simple air-sea coupled model, in which the inertia-gravity waves are filtered off and only the equatorial Rossby waves are reserved in both the atmosphere and the ocean. There exist two kinds of air-sea interaction waves in the coupled model, that is, the high-frequency fast waves and the low-frequency slow waves. The phase speed of the fast waves is westward and the frequencies are close to those of the equatorial Rossby waves in the atmosphere. The slow waves propagate westward in the part of short wavelengths and eastward in that of long wavelengths. There exist instabilities for both the westward and eastward propagating slow waves. If the fast waves are filtered off, there is little effect on the slow waves which have great influence on the long range process in the tropical air-sea coupled system. According to the tropical air-sea interaction waves we obtain here, a possible explanation to the propagating process of ENSO events is given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]