Changes in Moisture Flux over the Tibetan Plateau during 1979–2011: Insights from a High-Resolution Simulation

Gao, Yanhong; Leung, L. Ruby; Zhang, Yongxin; Cuo, Lan

doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-14-00581.1

Title: Changes in Moisture Flux over the Tibetan Plateau during 1979–2011: Insights from a High-Resolution Simulation

Journal Article · Tue May 12 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Journal of Climate

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-14-00581.1· OSTI ID:1208726

Gao, Yanhong ^[1]; Leung, L. Ruby ^[2]; Zhang, Yongxin ^[3]; Cuo, Lan ^[4]

Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou (China)
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States)
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China)

Net precipitation [precipitation minus evapotranspiration (P – E)] changes between 1979 and 2011 from a high-resolution regional climate simulation and its reanalysis forcing are analyzed over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and compared to the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) product. The high-resolution simulation better resolves precipitation changes than its coarse-resolution forcing, which contributes dominantly to the improved P – E change in the regional simulation compared to the global reanalysis. Hence, the former may provide better insights about the drivers of P – E changes. Here, the mechanism behind the P – E changes is explored by decomposing the column integrated moisture flux convergence into thermodynamic, dynamic, and transient eddy components. High-resolution climate simulation improves the spatial pattern of P – E changes over the best available global reanalysis. High-resolution climate simulation also facilitates new and substantial findings regarding the role of thermodynamics and transient eddies in P – E changes reflected in observed changes in major river basins fed by runoff from the TP. The analysis reveals the contrasting convergence/divergence changes between the northwestern and southeastern TP and feedback through latent heat release as an important mechanism leading to the mean P – E changes in the TP.

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Research Organization:: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-76RL01830

OSTI ID:: 1208726

Report Number(s):: PNNL-SA-103892; KP1703010

Journal Information:: Journal of Climate, Vol. 28, Issue 10; ISSN 0894-8755

Publisher:: American Meteorological SocietyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 46 works

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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
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Title: Changes in Moisture Flux over the Tibetan Plateau during 1979–2011: Insights from a High-Resolution Simulation

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