Precipitation seasonality and variability over the Tibetan Plateau as resolved by the high Asia reanalysis

Journal of Climate

Volumn 27, Issue 5, 2014, Pages 1910-1927

  Maussion, Fabien ^a   Scherer, Dieter ^a   Mölg, Thomas ^a   Collier, Emily ^a,b   Curio, Julia ^a   Finkelnburg, Roman ^a  

^a TECHNISCHE UNIVERSITÄT BERLIN   (Germany)

^b UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA   (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ATMOSPHERIC CIRCULATION; DYNAMICAL DOWNSCALING; HIGH-RESOLUTION DATUM; INTERANNUAL VARIABILITY; METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATION; OROGRAPHIC PRECIPITATION; PRECIPITATION FREQUENCY; PROCESS-BASED APPROACH;

CLIMATE MODELS; CLIMATOLOGY;

RAIN GAGES;

ATMOSPHERIC CIRCULATION; DATA SET; PRECIPITATION ASSESSMENT; PRECIPITATION QUALITY; SEASONALITY; SPATIAL VARIATION; TRMM; WEATHER FORECASTING;

CHINA; QINGHAI-XIZANG PLATEAU;

EID: 84897584704     PISSN: 08948755     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1175/JCLI-D-13-00282.1     Document Type: Article

References (69)

1. Arendt, A., and Coauthors, 2012: Randolph glacier inventory [v1.0]: A dataset of global glacier outlines. Global Land Ice Measurements from Space Rep., 28 pp.
2. Bohner, J., 2006: General climatic controls and topoclimatic variations in Central and High Asia. Boreas, 35, 279-295, doi:10.1111/j.1502-3885.2006.tb01158.x.
3. Bolch, T., and Coauthors, 2012: The state and fate of Himalayan glaciers. Science, 336, 310-314, doi:10.1126/science.1215828.
4. Bookhagen, B., and M. R. Strecker, 2008:Orographic barriers, highresolution TRMM rainfall, and relief variations along the eastern Andes. Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L06403, doi:10.1029/2007GL032011.
5. Bookhagen, B., and D. W. Burbank, 2010: Toward a complete Himalayan hydrological budget: Spatiotemporal distribution of snowmelt and rainfall and their impact on river discharge. J. Geophys. Res., 115, F03019, doi:10.1029/2009JF001426.
6. Box, J. E., and Coauthors, 2006: Greenland ice sheet surface mass balance variability (1988-2004) from calibrated Polar MM5 output. J. Climate, 19, 2783-2800.
7. Bromwich, D. H., L. H. Bai, and G. G. Bjarnason, 2005: Highresolution regional climate simulations over Iceland using Polar MM5. Mon. Wea. Rev., 133, 3527-3547.
8. Caldwell, P., H.-N. S. Chin, D. C. Bader, and G. Bala, 2009: Evaluation of aWRF dynamical downscaling simulation over California. Climatic Change, 95 (3-4), 499-521, doi:10.1007/s10584-009-9583-5.
9. Chen, B., X.-D. Xu, S. Yang, and W. Zhang, 2012: On the origin and destination of atmospheric moisture and air mass over the Tibetan Plateau. Theor. Appl. Climatol., 54, doi:10.1007/s00704-012-0641-y.
10. Chow, K. C., and J. C. L. Chan, 2009: Diurnal variations of circulation and precipitation in the vicinity of the Tibetan Plateau in early summer. Climate Dyn., 32, 55-73, doi:10.1007/s00382-008-0374-x.
11. Colle, B. A., 2008: Two-dimensional idealized simulations of the impact of multiple windward ridges on orographic precipitation. J. Atmos. Sci., 65, 509-523.
12. Collier, E., T. Mölg, F. Maussion, D. Scherer, C. Mayer, and A. B. G. Bush, 2013: High-resolution interactive modelling of the mountain glacier-atmosphere interface: An application over the Karakoram. Cryosphere, 7, 779-795, cp-10-91-2014/tc-7-779-2013.
13. Conrad, V., 1941: The variability of precipitation. Mon. Wea. Rev., 69, 5-11.
14. Dee, D. P., and Coauthors, 2011: The ERA-Interim reanalysis: Configuration and performance of the data assimilation system. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 137, 553-597, doi:10.1002/qj.828.
15. Dietze, E., and Coauthors, 2014: Sediment transport processes across the Tibetan Plateau inferred from robust grain-size end-members in lake sediments. Climate Past, 10, 91-106, doi:10.5194/cp-10-91-2014.
16. Feng, L., and T. J. Zhou, 2012: Water vapor transport for summer precipitation over the Tibetan Plateau: Multidata set analysis. J. Geophys. Res., 117, D20114, doi:10.1029/2011JD017012.
17. Fu, Y., G. Liu, G. Wu, R. Yu, Y. Xu, Y. Wang, R. Li, and Q. Liu, 2006: Tower mast of precipitation over the central Tibetan Plateau summer. Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L05802, doi:10.1029/2005GL024713.
18. Fujita, K., 2008: Effect of precipitation seasonality on climatic sensitivity of glacier mass balance. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 276 (1-2), 14-19, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2008.08.028.
19. Hahn, D., and S. Manabe, 1975: Role of mountains in South Asian monsoon circulation. J. Atmos. Sci., 32, 1515-1541.
20. Heikkila, U., A. Sandvik, and A. Sorteberg, 2011: Dynamical downscaling of ERA-40 in complex terrain using the WRF regional climate model. Climate Dyn., 37 (7-8), 1551-1564, doi:10.1007/s00382-010-0928-6.
21. Hou, A. Y., and Coauthors, 2014: The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., in press.
22. Huffman, G. J., and Coauthors, 2007: The TRMM Multisatellite Precipitation Analysis: Quasi-global, multiyear, combined sensor precipitation estimates at fine scale. J. Hydrometeor., 8, 38-55.
23. Immerzeel, W. W., and M. F. P. Bierkens, 2010: Seasonal prediction of monsoon rainfall in three Asian river basins: The importance of snow cover on the Tibetan Plateau. Int. J. Climatol., 30, 1835-1842, doi:10.1002/joc.2033.
24. Immerzeel, W. W., L. P. H. van Beek, and M. F. P. Bierkens, 2010: Climate change will affect the Asian water towers. Science, 328, 1382-1385.
25. Jiang, Q., 2003: Moist dynamics and orographic precipitation. Tellus, 55A, 301-316, doi:10.1034/j.1600-0870.2003.00025.x.
26. Jurković, R. S., and Z. Pasarić, 2013: Spatial variability of annual precipitation using globally gridded data sets from 1951 to 2000. Int. J. Climatol., 33, 690-698, doi:10.1002/joc.3462.
27. Kääb, A., E. Berthier, C. Nuth, J. Gardelle, and Y. Arnaud, 2012: Contrasting patterns of early twenty-first-century glacier mass change in the Himalayas. Nature, 488, 495-498, doi:10.1038/nature11324.
28. Kanamitsu, M., and H. Kanamaru, 2007: Fifty-seven-year California Reanalysis Downscaling at 10 km (CaRD10). Part I: System detail and validation with observations. J. Climate, 20, 5553-5571.
29. Kansakar, S., D. M. Hannah, J. Gerrard, and G. Rees, 2004: Spatial pattern in the precipitation regime of Nepal. Int. J. Climatol., 24, 1645-1659, doi:10.1002/joc.1098.
30. Kaser, G., M. Grosshauser, and B. Marzeion, 2010: Contribution potential of glaciers to water availability in different climate regimes. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 107, 20223-20227, doi:10.1073/pnas.1008162107.
31. Kidd, C., and V. Levizzani, 2011: Status of satellite precipitation retrievals. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 15, 1109-1116, doi:10.5194/hess-15-1109-2011.
32. Kropáček, J., F. Maussion, F. Chen, S. Hoerz, and V. Hochschild, 2013: Analysis of ice phenology of lakes on the Tibetan Plateau from MODIS data. Cryosphere, 7, 287-301, doi:10.5194/tc-7-287-2013.
33. Kumar, M. S., M. S. Shekhar, S.S.V.S.R. Krishna, M.R. Bhutiyani, and A. Ganju, 2012: Numerical simulation of cloud burst event on August 05, 2010, over Leh using WRF mesoscale model. Nat. Hazards, 62, 1261-1271, doi:10.1007/s11069-012-0145-1.
34. Liu, X., A. Bai, and C. Liu, 2009: Diurnal variations of summertime precipitation over the Tibetan Plateau in relation to orographically-induced regional circulations. Environ. Res. Lett., 4, 045203, doi:10.1088/1748-9326/4/4/045203.
35. Lo, J. C.-F., Z.-L. Yang, and R. A. Pielke Sr., 2008: Assessment of three dynamical climate downscaling methods using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model. J. Geophys. Res., 113, D09112, doi:10.1029/2007JD009216.
36. Maussion, F., D. Scherer, R. Finkelnburg, J. Richters, W. Yang, and T. Yao, 2011: WRF simulation of a precipitation event over the Tibetan Plateau, China-An assessment using remote sensing and ground observations. Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 15, 1795-1817, doi:10.5194/hess-15-1795-2011.
37. Medina, S., R. A. Houze Jr., A. Kumar, and D. Niyogi, 2010: Summer monsoon convection in the Himalayan region: Terrain and land cover effects. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 136, 593-616, doi:10.1002/qj.601.
38. Mölg, T., and G. Kaser, 2011: A new approach to resolving climate-cryosphere relations: Downscaling climate dynamics to glacier-scale mass and energy balance without statistical scale linking. J. Geophys. Res., 116, D16101, doi:10.1029/2011JD015669.
39. Mölg, T., and D. Scherer, 2012: Retrieving important mass-balance model parameters from AWS measurements and highresolution mesoscale atmospheric modeling. J. Glaciol., 58, 625-628, doi:10.3189/2012JoG11J258.
40. Mölg, T., F. Maussion, W. Yang, and D. Scherer, 2012: The footprint of Asian monsoon dynamics in the mass and energy balance of a Tibetan glacier. Cryosphere, 6, 1445-1461, doi:10.5194/tc-6-1445-2012.
41. Mölg, T., F. Maussion, and D. Scherer, 2014: Mid-latitude westerlies as a driver of glacier variability in monsoonal High Asia. Nat. Climate Change, 4, 68-73, doi:10.1038/nclimate2055.
42. Molnar, P., W. R. Boos, and D. S. Battisti, 2010: Orographic controls on climate and paleoclimate of Asia: Thermal and mechanical roles for the Tibetan Plateau. Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci., 38, 77-102, doi:10.1146/annurev-earth-040809-152456.
43. National Centers for Environmental Prediction, cited 2014: NCEP ADP global upper air and surface weather observations (PREPBUFR format), May 1997-Continuing. National Center for Atmospheric Research Computational and Information Systems Laboratory Research Data Archive. [Available online at http://rda.ucar.edu/datasets/ds337.0.]
44. Palazzi, E., J. von Hardenberg, and A. Provenzale, 2013: Precipitation in the Hindu-Kush Karakoram Himalaya: Observations and future scenarios. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 118, 85-100, doi:10.1029/2012JD018697.
45. Qian, W., and D.-K. Lee, 2000: Seasonal march of Asian summer monsoon. Int. J. Climatol., 20, 1371-1386, doi:10.1002/1097-0088(200009)20:11,1371::AID-JOC538.3.0.CO;2-V.
46. Qin, J., K. Yang, S. Liang, and X. Guo, 2009: The altitudinal dependence of recent rapid warming over the Tibetan Plateau. Climatic Change, 97 (1-2), 321-327, doi:10.1007/s10584-009-9733-9.
47. Rupper, S., and G. Roe, 2008: Glacier changes and regional climate: A mass and energy balance approach. J. Climate, 21, 5384-5401.
48. Rüthrich, F., B. Thies, C. Reudenbach, and J. Bendix, 2013: Cloud detection and analysis on the Tibetan Plateau using Meteosat and CloudSat. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 118, 10082-10099, doi:10.1002/jgrd.50790.
49. Schiemann, R., D. Luethi, P. L. Vidale, and C. Schaer, 2008: The precipitation climate of central Asia-Intercomparison of observational and numerical data sources in a remote semiarid region. Int. J. Climatol., 28, 295-314, doi:10.1002/joc.1532.
50. Schiemann, R., D. Luethi, and C. Schaer, 2009: Seasonality and interannual variability of the westerly jet in the Tibetan Plateau region. J. Climate, 22, 2940-2957.
51. Shi, Y., 2002: Characteristics of late quaternary monsoonal glaciation on the Tibetan Plateau and in East Asia. Quat. Int., 97-98, 79-91, doi:10.1016/S1040-6182(02)00053-8.
52. Shi, Y., and S. Liu, 2000: Estimation on the response of glaciers in china to the global warming in the 21st century. Chin. Sci. Bull., 45, 668-672.
53. Skamarock, W. C., and J. B. Klemp, 2008: A time-split nonhydrostatic atmospheric model for weather research and forecasting applications. J. Comput. Phys., 227, 3465-3485, doi:10.1016/j.jcp.2007.01.037.
54. Sugimoto, S., and K. Ueno, 2010: Formation of mesoscale convective systems over the eastern Tibetan Plateau affected by plateau-scale heating contrasts. J. Geophys. Res., 115, D16105, doi:10.1029/2009JD013609.
55. Ueno, K., H. Fujii, H. Yamada, and L. P. Liu, 2001: Weak and frequent monsoon precipitation over the Tibetan Plateau. J. Meteor. Soc. Japan, 79, 419-434, doi:10.2151/jmsj.79.419.
56. von Storch, H., H. Langenberg, and F. Feser, 2000: A spectral nudging technique for dynamical downscaling purposes. Mon. Wea. Rev., 128, 3664-3673.
57. Wang, B., 2006: The Asian Monsoon. Springer-Praxis, 787 pp.
58. Webster, P. J., V. O. Magana, T. N. Palmer, J. Shukla, R. A. Tomas, M. Yanai, and T. Yasunari, 1998: Monsoons: Processes, predictability, and the prospects for prediction. J. Geophys. Res., 103 (C7), 14451-14510.
59. Webster, P. J., V. E. Toma, and H. M. Kim, 2011: Were the 2010 Pakistan floods predictable? Geophys. Res. Lett., 38, L04806, doi:10.1029/2010GL046346.
60. Wilks, D. S., 1995: Statistical Methods in the Atmospheric Sciences: An Introduction. Academic Press, 467 pp.
61. Wilson, A. B., D. H. Bromwich, and K. M. Hines, 2011: Evaluation of polar WRF forecasts on the arctic system reanalysis domain: Surface and upper air analysis. J. Geophys. Res., 116, D11112, doi:10.1029/2010JD015013.
62. Wu, G., Y. Liu, B. He, Q. Bao, A. Duan, and F.-F. Jin, 2012: Thermal controls on the Asian summer monsoon. Sci. Rep., 2, 404, doi:10.1038/srep00404.
63. Yang, W., X. Guo, T. Yao, K. Yang, L. Zhao, S. Li, and M. Zhu, 2011: Summertime surface energy budget and ablation modeling in the ablation zone of a maritime Tibetan glacier. J. Geophys. Res., 116, D14116, doi:10.1029/2010JD015183.
64. Yang, W., T. Yao, X. Guo, M. Zhu, S. Li, and D. B. Kattel, 2013: Mass balance of a maritime glacier on the southeast Tibetan Plateau and its climatic sensitivity. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos., 118, 9579-9594, doi:10.1002/jgrd.50760.
65. Yao, T., and Coauthors, 2012: Different glacier status with atmospheric circulations in Tibetan Plateau and surroundings. Nat. Climate Change, 2, 663-667, doi:10.1038/nclimate1580.
66. Yaodong, L., W. Yun, S. Yang, H. Liang, G. Shouting, and R. Fu, 2008: Characteristics of summer convective systems initiated over the Tibetan Plateau. Part I: Origin, track, development, and precipitation. J. Appl.Meteor. Climatol., 47, 2679-2695.
67. Yin, Z.-Y., X. Zhang, X. Liu, M. Colella, and X. Chen, 2008: An assessment of the biases of satellite rainfall estimates over the Tibetan Plateau and correction methods based on topographic analysis. J. Hydrometeor., 9, 301-326.
68. You, Q., K. Fraedrich, G. Ren, B. Ye, X. Meng, and S. Kang, 2012: Inconsistencies of precipitation in the eastern and central Tibetan Plateau between surface adjusted data and reanalysis. Theor. Appl. Climatol., 109 (3-4), 485-496, doi:10.1007/s00704-012-0594-1.
69. Zhou, T., R. Yu, H. Chen, A. Dai, and Y. Pan, 2008: Summer precipitation frequency, intensity, and diurnal cycle over China: A comparison of satellite data with rain gauge observations. J. Climate, 21, 3997-4010.