An assessment of land energy balance over East Asia from multiple lines of evidence and the roles of the Tibet Plateau, aerosols, and clouds

Abstract

Abstract. With high emissions of aerosols and the known world's “Third Pole” of the Tibet Plateau (TP) in East Asia, knowledge on the energy budget over this region has been widely concerned. This study first attempts to estimate the present-day land energy balance over East Asia by combining surface and satellite observations as well as the atmospheric reanalysis and Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) simulations. Compared to the global land budget, a substantially larger fraction of atmospheric shortwave radiation of 5.2 % is reflected, highly associated with the higher aerosol loadings and more clouds over East Asian land. While a slightly smaller fraction of atmospheric shortwave absorption of 0.6 % is unexpectedly estimated, possibly related to the lower water vapor content effects due to the thinner air over the TP to overcompensate for the aerosol and cloud effects over East Asian land. The weaker greenhouse effect and fewer low clouds due to the TP are very likely the causes of the smaller fraction of East Asian land surface downward longwave radiation. Hence, high aerosol loadings, clouds, and the TP over East Asia play vital roles in the shortwave budgets, while the TP is responsible for the longwave budgets during this regional energy budget assessment. The further obtained cloud radiative effects suggest that the presence of clouds results in a larger cooling effect on the climate system over East Asian land than that over the globe. This study provides a perspective to understand fully the roles of potential factors in influencing the different energy budget assessments over regions.

Seasonal and interannual characteristics of atmospheric cloud radiative effect over South China and neighbouring ocean regions

“…Notably, the circulation shows pronounced seasonal variations in the Asian monsoon region, with strong convection and precipitation in summer but weaker counterparts in winter (Chen et al, 2019; Ding & Chan, 2005; Liu, Zhu, et al, 2019; Tao & Chen., 1987; Wang & Ho, 2002; Webster et al, 1998; Zhao, Zhang, et al, 2020). Due to large‐scale topography, various surface states, and complex land‐sea distributions in East Asia, regional atmospheric conditions, radiation, and precipitation markedly vary over East China continental areas and adjacent Oceans (Yuan et al, 2012; Li et al, 2017; Chi et al, 2022; Letu et al, 2022; Wang et al, 2022). The East China continents belong to subtropical regions where regional circulation is closely linked to the Tibetan Plateau's topography forcing and midlatitude circulation (He et al, 2008; Wu et al, 2007).…”

Heat Budget of Sub-Mediterranean Downy Oak Landscapes of Southeastern Crimea

“…In addition to general methodologies, specific directions emerge for calculating heat balance components on surfaces such as water bodies, soil covers, vegetation, and glaciers [18][19][20]. Meanwhile, extensive research targets Earth's heat balance as a whole [21,22], as well as individual continents and oceans [23], and distinct geographical regions [14,[24][25][26][27].…”