Interaction of the Westerlies with the Tibetan Plateau in Determining the Mei-Yu Termination

Kong, Wenwen; Chiang, John C. H.

doi:10.1175/jcli-d-19-0319.1

Interaction of the Westerlies with the Tibetan Plateau in Determining the Mei-Yu Termination

Journal Article · Thu Dec 12 00:00:00 EST 2019 · Journal of Climate

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1175/jcli-d-19-0319.1· OSTI ID:1634068

^[1]; Chiang, John C. H. ^[1]

Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)

This article explores how the termination of the mei-yu is dynamically linked to the westerlies impinging on the Tibetan Plateau. It is found that the mei-yu stage terminates when the maximum upper-tropospheric westerlies shift beyond the northern edge of the plateau, around 40°N. This termination is accompanied by the disappearance of tropospheric northerlies over northeastern China. The link between the transit of the jet axis across the northern edge of the plateau, the disappearance of northerlies, and termination of the mei-yu holds on a range of time scales from interannual through seasonal and pentad. Diagnostic analysis indicates that the weakening of the meridional moisture contrast and meridional wind convergence, mainly resulting from the disappearance of northerlies, causes the demise of the mei-yu front. The authors propose that the westerlies migrating north of the plateau and consequent weakening of the extratropical northerlies triggers the mei-yu termination. Model simulations are employed to test the causality between the jet and the orographic downstream northerlies by repositioning the northern edge of the plateau. As the plateau edge extends northward, orographic forcing on the westerlies strengthens, leading to persistent strong downstream northerlies and a prolonged mei-yu. Idealized simulations with a dry dynamical core further demonstrate the dynamical link between the weakening of orographically forced downstream northerlies with the positioning of the jet from south to north of the plateau. Changes in the magnitude of orographically forced stationary waves are proposed to explain why the downstream northerlies disappear when the jet axis migrates beyond the northern edge of the plateau.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1634068

Journal Information:: Journal of Climate, Journal Name: Journal of Climate Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 33; ISSN 0894-8755

Publisher:: American Meteorological SocietyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Data from: Interaction of the westerlies with the Tibetan Plateau in determining the mei-yu termination Kong, Wenwen; Chiang, John UC Berkeley https://doi.org/10.6078/d1zh51	dataset	January 2019

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Interaction of the Westerlies with the Tibetan Plateau in Determining the Mei-Yu Termination

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