Effect of a large and very shallow lake on local summer precipitation over the Lake Taihu basin in China

Abstract

Lake Taihu is the third largest freshwater lake in China and is situated in the Middle and lower Yangtze River delta. It is characterized by its shallowness (~1.9 m), large area (~2338 km 2 ), and high turbidity in recent years. The lake's effect on local summer precipitation is first studied in this paper through the use of an atmosphere-lake coupled model. By enlarging the light extinction coefficient, modifying the radiation scheme, and setting the roughness length to constants, the coupled model after adjustment realistically reproduces the thermal stratification and magnitude of diurnal variation over Lake Taihu, with mean biases of 0.7°C for lake surface temperature and 0.4°C for near-surface air temperature, respectively. Based on this calibrated coupled model, two high-resolution numerical simulations with and without the lake (lake grid cells replaced by cropland) were conducted to identify the lake effects. The results show that an overall effect of Lake Taihu on local summer precipitation is negative during daytime and positive during nighttime and the precipitation pattern may be modified to some extent. The lake effect varies between areas and with time of day and occurs primarily on the downwind shore. A composite analysis for a representative decreased precipitation region reveals that during daytime in the summer, the combination of decreased air temperature and latent heat flux, along with intensified divergence and downdraft, acts together to stabilize the lower atmosphere and suppress thermal convective activities, ultimately resulting in less precipitation over this region.China is home to a large number of lakes. According to the latest statistics, there are 2693 natural lakes in China with an area greater than 1.0 km 2 , with a total area of 81,414.6 km 2 , accounting for~0.Key Points: • The coupled model improves the temperature simulations • Lake Taihu has a negative (positive) effect on summer precipitation during daytime (nighttime) • The lake effect varies between areas and with time of day Correspondence to: Z. Ma, mazg@tea.ac.cn Citation: Gu, H., Z. Ma, and M. Li (2016), Effect of a large and very shallow lake on local summer precipitation over the Lake

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