Diurnal Variability of the Hydrologic Cycle and Radiative Fluxes: Comparisons between Observations and a GCM

Lin, Xin; Randall, David A.; Fowler, Laura D.

doi:10.1175/1520-0442(2000)013<4159:dvothc>2.0.co;2

Cited by 173 publications

(147 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…It is often related to physical processes of local geography or regional atmospheric dynamics (e.g. Liu and Moncrieff (1998) and Lin et al (2000) for a review on this topic). It is well known that the complex geographical environment in the Asian monsoon region can exert strong influences on the regional climate.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The quasi-stationary feature of nocturnal precipitation in the Sichuan Basin and the role of the Tibetan Plateau

Jin

2012

Clim Dyn

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The nocturnal precipitation in the Sichuan Basin in summer has been studied in many previous works. This paper expands the study on the diurnal cycle of precipitation in the Sichuan Basin to the whole year. Results show that the nocturnal precipitation has a specific quasistationary feature in the basin. It occurs not only in summer but also in other three seasons, even more remarkable in spring and autumn than in summer. There is a prominent eastward timing delay in the nocturnal precipitation, that is, the diurnal peak of precipitation occurs at early-night in the western basin whereas at late-night in the center and east of the basin. The Tibetan Plateau plays an essential role in the formation of this quasi-stationary nocturnal precipitation. The early-night peak of precipitation in the western basin is largely due to strong ascending over the plateau and its eastern lee side. In the central and eastern basin, three coexisting factors contribute to the late-night peak of precipitation. One is the lower-tropospheric southwesterly flow around the southeastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau, which creates a strong cyclonic rotation and ascendance in the basin at late-night, as well as brings abundant water vapor. The second is the descending motion downslope along the eastern lee side of the plateau, together with an air mass accumulation caused by the warmer air mass transport from the southeast of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, creating a diabatic warming at low level of the troposphere in the central basin. The third is a cold advection from the plateau to the basin at late-night, which leads to a cooling in the middle troposphere over the central basin. All these factors are responsible for precipitation to occur at late-night in the central to eastern basin.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The quasi-stationary feature of nocturnal precipitation in the Sichuan Basin and the role of the Tibetan Plateau

Jin

2012

Clim Dyn

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“…However a thorough understanding of physical mechanisms and processes from the planetary boundary layer (PBL) as well as in the 6890 F. Xie et al: Atmospheric diurnal variations observed with GPS troposphere in these models is lacking (e.g., Slingo et al, 1987;Randall et al, 1991;Lin et al, 2000;Yang and Slingo, 2001;Betts and Jakob, 2002;Dai and Trenberth, 2004;Tian et al, 2004). Poor representation of the diurnal cycle in climate models could lead to systematic biases in the mean climate (Keckhut et al, 2001;Neale and Slingo, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Atmospheric diurnal variations observed with GPS radio occultation soundings

Xie

et al. 2010

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

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Abstract. The diurnal variation, driven by solar forcing, is a fundamental mode in the Earth's weather and climate system. Radio occultation (RO) measurements from the six COSMIC satellites (Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere and Climate) provide nearly uniform global coverage with high vertical resolution, all-weather and diurnal sampling capability. This paper analyzes the diurnal variations of temperature and refractivity from three-year (2007)(2008)(2009)) COSMIC RO measurements in the troposphere and stratosphere between 30 • S and 30 • N. The RO observations reveal both propagating and trapped vertical structures of diurnal variations, including transition regions near the tropopause where data with high vertical resolution are critical. In the tropics the diurnal amplitude in refractivity shows the minimum around 14 km and increases to a local maximum around 32 km in the stratosphere. The upward propagating component of the migrating diurnal tides in the tropics is clearly captured by the GPS RO measurements, which show a downward progression in phase from stratopause to the upper troposphere with a vertical wavelength of about 25 km. At ∼32 km the seasonal variation of the tidal amplitude maximizes at the opposite side of the equator relative to the solar forcing. The vertical structure of tidal amplitude shows strong seasonal variations and becomes asymmetric along the equator and tilted toward the summer hemisphere in the solstice months. Such asymmetry becomes less prominent in equinox months.

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“…Evaluation of longer time accumulations (e.g., monthly means) can then be more meaningfully interpreted in light of the model physical parameterizations (Lin et al, 2000). Figures 3a,b compare the mean diurnal cycle of precipitation for summer (JJA) and winter (DJF) with observations.…”

Section: Diurnal Cycle Comparisonmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evaluation of Hydrologically Relevant PCM Climate Variables and Large-Scale Variability over the Continental U.S.

et al. 2004

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Abstract. The ability of the Parallel Climate Model (PCM) to reproduce the mean and variability of hydrologically relevant climate variables was evaluated by comparing PCM historical climate runs with observations over temporal scales from sub-daily to annual. The domain was the continental U.S, and the model spatial resolution was T42 (about 2.8 degrees latitude by longitude). The climate variables evaluated include precipitation, surface air temperature, net surface solar radiation, soil moisture, and snow water equivalent. The results show that PCM has a winter dry bias in the Pacific Northwest and a summer wet bias in the central plains. The diurnal precipitation variation in summer is much stronger than observed, with an afternoon maximum in summer precipitation over much of the U.S. interior, in contrast with an observed nocturnal maximum in parts of the interior. PCM has a cold bias in annual mean temperature over most of the U.S., with deviations as large as -8 K. The PCM daily temperature range is lower than observed, especially in the central U.S. PCM generally overestimates the net solar radiation over most of the U.S, although the diurnal cycle is simulated well in spring, summer and winter. In autumn PCM has a pronounced noontime peak in solar radiation that differs by 5-10% from observations. PCM's simulated soil moisture is less variable than that of a sophisticated land-surface hydrology model, especially in the interior of the country. PCM simulates the wetter conditions over the southeastern U.S. and California during warm (El Niño) events, but shifts the drier conditions in the Pacific Northwest northward and underestimates their magnitude. The temperature response to the North Pacific Oscillation is generally captured by PCM, but the amplitude of this response is overestimated by a factor of about two.

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Diurnal Variability of the Hydrologic Cycle and Radiative Fluxes: Comparisons between Observations and a GCM

Cited by 173 publications

References 46 publications

The quasi-stationary feature of nocturnal precipitation in the Sichuan Basin and the role of the Tibetan Plateau

The quasi-stationary feature of nocturnal precipitation in the Sichuan Basin and the role of the Tibetan Plateau

Atmospheric diurnal variations observed with GPS radio occultation soundings

Evaluation of Hydrologically Relevant PCM Climate Variables and Large-Scale Variability over the Continental U.S.

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