The variation of marine meteorology elements and the heat flux at Yongxing Island were investigated in September 2013 using observational data collected by the Yongxing Island Air–Sea Flux Tower. Heat flux was measured through eddy covariance and estimated using the bulk flux method. The traditional thirty-minute average method was employed to analyze the eddy covariance data. A TOGA–CORE 3.0 Algorithm was used to estimate the bulk flux. Capacity of the Advanced Weather Research and Forecasting model to simulate the variations in marine meteorological elements was evaluated using the observational data obtained during the same period. Observations suggested a response by the different parameters that were synchronous to the retreat of the monsoon around 7 September 2013. Surface air masses became cool and dry, and the downward short (long) wave radiation was reduced (increased). The Weather Research and Forecasting model simulated the variation of the atmospheric elements well, as observed by the Air-Sea Flux Tower in September 2013. The model was very accurate in simulating surface wind, radiation, and scalar–humidity. However, it failed to simulate the dramatic variations of surface air temperature, though it successfully reproduced the retreat of the summer monsoon, but weakened during the onset of the typhoon. The sensible flux simulated through the model was between the fluxes estimated through the bulk flux and eddy covariance flux. It also overestimated the latent heat flux at times, particularly after 20 September.

The modulation of coastal rainfall at Hainan by large‐scale circulation and coastal upwelling is studied using observations and numerical modeling. Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission data show that the monthly mean rainfall off southern Hainan was considerably higher in August 2010 than in August 2011. The main cause of this difference is an intensification of offshore rainfall from midnight to early morning. Compared with the multiyear (2000–2017) average field, reanalysis data show that there is an apparent increase in atmospheric humidity in August 2010. During this time, a moderate El Niño was decaying and a new La Niña event was developing, so a significant adjustment of the large‐scale circulation was observed in the western Pacific. The resulting anomalous onshore wind depresses the development of upwelling, leading to a relatively warm sea surface temperature off the south coast of Hainan, which in turn enhances the land‐sea thermal contrast and land breeze at night. Decreases in upwelling intensity and asymmetric intensification of nocturnal and daytime offshore rainfall are confirmed not only in the summer of 2010 but also in the summer of 2003. Numerical simulations using the Weather Research and Forecasting model verify that the enhanced land breeze ultimately leads to pronounced coastal rainfall off southern Hainan at night. The results indicate that localized surface convergence associated with the sea and land breezes may be more important than the atmospheric humidity and convective instability in modulating the diurnal cycle of rainfall for tropical islands.

In the south bank of Qinghai Lake, numerous alluvial fans and coastal deposits have been formed. In terms of their developmental positions and relationships, the denudation system, depositional system, and transportation system consist of source-to-sink systems. Based on the field-investigation evidence and literature survey, it was confirmed that the developmental processes of these “source-to-sink” systems can be divided into three stages: the Early-Late Pleistocene stage, from 39 to 23 ka BP; Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene stage, from 39 to 10.7 ka BP; and modern stage. At the present time, these stages can still be identified as three levels of lake shore terraces. In the Late Pleistocene, the source-to-sink system indicates that the lake level was high, supply of clasts was sufficient, fan deltas had formed, and the lakeside plain continued to develop. At the end of the Late Pleistocene, with the sudden changes in global climate, the climate was dry and cold, and the lake level fell. At this time, the source-to-sink system showed that lake level was relatively low, supply of clasts was reduced, and transportation distance was longer; ancient sediments started to recycle in this system. Until modern times, alluvial fans in the south bank of Qinghai Lake have only rarely been developed, and the supply of clasts is primarily derived from the recirculation of paleo-shore sediments. Meanwhile, a large amount of sandy gravel beaches developed along the lake shore. By studying the multistage source-to-sink systems around modern lakes, the characteristics of the system in lake basins are enriched and provide an important analogy for researches of ancient lake basins.