Spatio-Temporal Variations of Water Vapor Budget over the Tibetan Plateau in Summer and Its Relationship with the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool

The water vapor budget (WVB) over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) is closely related to the large-scale atmospheric moisture transportation of the surrounding mainland and oceans, especially for the Indo-Pacific warm pool (IPWP). However, the procession linkage between the WVBs over the TP and its inner ba...

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Main Authors: Deli Meng, Qing Dong, Fanping Kong, Zi Yin, Yanyan Li, Jingyi Liu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2020-08-01
Series:Atmosphere
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/11/8/828
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author Deli Meng
Qing Dong
Fanping Kong
Zi Yin
Yanyan Li
Jingyi Liu
author_facet Deli Meng
Qing Dong
Fanping Kong
Zi Yin
Yanyan Li
Jingyi Liu
author_sort Deli Meng
collection DOAJ
description The water vapor budget (WVB) over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) is closely related to the large-scale atmospheric moisture transportation of the surrounding mainland and oceans, especially for the Indo-Pacific warm pool (IPWP). However, the procession linkage between the WVBs over the TP and its inner basins and IPWP has not been sufficiently elucidated. In this study, the relationship between the summer WVB over the TP and the IPWP was quantitatively investigated using reanalysis datasets and satellite-observed sea surface temperature (SST). The results show that: (1) the mean total summer vapor budget (WVB<sub>t</sub>) over the TP in the period of 1979–2018 was 72.5 × 10<sup>6</sup> kg s<sup>−1</sup>. Additionally, for the 13 basins within the TP, the summer WVB has decreased from southeast to northwest; the Yarlung Zangbo River Basin had the highest WVB (33.7%), followed by the Upper Yangtze River Basin, Ganges River Basin and Qiangtang Plateau. (2) For the past several decades, the WVB<sub>t</sub> over the TP has experienced an increasing trend (3.81 × 10<sup>6</sup> kg s<sup>−1</sup> decade<sup>−1</sup>), although the southern boundary budget (WVB<sub>s</sub>) contributed the most and is most closely related with the WVB<sub>t</sub>, while the eastern boundary budget (WVB<sub>e</sub>) experienced a decreasing trend (4.21 × 10<sup>6</sup> kg s<sup>−1</sup> decade<sup>−1</sup>) which was almost equal to the interdecadal variations of the WVB<sub>t</sub>. (3) For the IPWP, we defined a new warm pool index of surface latent heat flux (WPI-slhf), and found that an increasing WPI-slhf would cause an anticyclone anomaly in the equatorial western Indian Ocean (near 70° E), resulting in the increased advent of water vapor to the TP. (4) On the interdecadal scale, the correlation coefficients of the variation of the summer WVB<sub>t</sub> over the TP with the WPI-slhf and Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) signal were 0.86 and 0.85, respectively (significant at the 0.05% level). Therefore, the warming and the increasing slhf of the IPWP would significantly contribute to the increasing WVB of the TP in recent decades.
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spelling doaj.art-ab409e953bd14902803100f4b080573e2023-11-20T09:17:42ZengMDPI AGAtmosphere2073-44332020-08-0111882810.3390/atmos11080828Spatio-Temporal Variations of Water Vapor Budget over the Tibetan Plateau in Summer and Its Relationship with the Indo-Pacific Warm PoolDeli Meng0Qing Dong1Fanping Kong2Zi Yin3Yanyan Li4Jingyi Liu5Key Laboratory of Digital Earth Science, The Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, ChinaKey Laboratory of Digital Earth Science, The Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, ChinaKey Laboratory of Digital Earth Science, The Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, ChinaKey Laboratory of Digital Earth Science, The Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, ChinaKey Laboratory of Digital Earth Science, The Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, ChinaKey Laboratory of Digital Earth Science, The Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, ChinaThe water vapor budget (WVB) over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) is closely related to the large-scale atmospheric moisture transportation of the surrounding mainland and oceans, especially for the Indo-Pacific warm pool (IPWP). However, the procession linkage between the WVBs over the TP and its inner basins and IPWP has not been sufficiently elucidated. In this study, the relationship between the summer WVB over the TP and the IPWP was quantitatively investigated using reanalysis datasets and satellite-observed sea surface temperature (SST). The results show that: (1) the mean total summer vapor budget (WVB<sub>t</sub>) over the TP in the period of 1979–2018 was 72.5 × 10<sup>6</sup> kg s<sup>−1</sup>. Additionally, for the 13 basins within the TP, the summer WVB has decreased from southeast to northwest; the Yarlung Zangbo River Basin had the highest WVB (33.7%), followed by the Upper Yangtze River Basin, Ganges River Basin and Qiangtang Plateau. (2) For the past several decades, the WVB<sub>t</sub> over the TP has experienced an increasing trend (3.81 × 10<sup>6</sup> kg s<sup>−1</sup> decade<sup>−1</sup>), although the southern boundary budget (WVB<sub>s</sub>) contributed the most and is most closely related with the WVB<sub>t</sub>, while the eastern boundary budget (WVB<sub>e</sub>) experienced a decreasing trend (4.21 × 10<sup>6</sup> kg s<sup>−1</sup> decade<sup>−1</sup>) which was almost equal to the interdecadal variations of the WVB<sub>t</sub>. (3) For the IPWP, we defined a new warm pool index of surface latent heat flux (WPI-slhf), and found that an increasing WPI-slhf would cause an anticyclone anomaly in the equatorial western Indian Ocean (near 70° E), resulting in the increased advent of water vapor to the TP. (4) On the interdecadal scale, the correlation coefficients of the variation of the summer WVB<sub>t</sub> over the TP with the WPI-slhf and Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) signal were 0.86 and 0.85, respectively (significant at the 0.05% level). Therefore, the warming and the increasing slhf of the IPWP would significantly contribute to the increasing WVB of the TP in recent decades.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/11/8/828water vapor budgetTibetan Plateausea surface temperatureIndo-Pacific warm poolsurface latent heat flux
spellingShingle Deli Meng
Qing Dong
Fanping Kong
Zi Yin
Yanyan Li
Jingyi Liu
Spatio-Temporal Variations of Water Vapor Budget over the Tibetan Plateau in Summer and Its Relationship with the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool
Atmosphere
water vapor budget
Tibetan Plateau
sea surface temperature
Indo-Pacific warm pool
surface latent heat flux
title Spatio-Temporal Variations of Water Vapor Budget over the Tibetan Plateau in Summer and Its Relationship with the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool
title_full Spatio-Temporal Variations of Water Vapor Budget over the Tibetan Plateau in Summer and Its Relationship with the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool
title_fullStr Spatio-Temporal Variations of Water Vapor Budget over the Tibetan Plateau in Summer and Its Relationship with the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool
title_full_unstemmed Spatio-Temporal Variations of Water Vapor Budget over the Tibetan Plateau in Summer and Its Relationship with the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool
title_short Spatio-Temporal Variations of Water Vapor Budget over the Tibetan Plateau in Summer and Its Relationship with the Indo-Pacific Warm Pool
title_sort spatio temporal variations of water vapor budget over the tibetan plateau in summer and its relationship with the indo pacific warm pool
topic water vapor budget
Tibetan Plateau
sea surface temperature
Indo-Pacific warm pool
surface latent heat flux
url https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/11/8/828
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