The authors analyze the coral growth band from a colony in the northwestern South China Sea. The coral growth band can provide comprehensive environmental information on climate. The trend from the two-century-long annual density of the coral is in a good agreement with that of the global CO2 concentration. Both trends were small prior to the end of the 19th century; after that, trends became clear, more so from the 1960s to the 1990s (the end of the coral record). The overall coral density shows a steady decrease from the late 19th century to the late 20th century. Therefore, the trend from the annual density of the coral reveals the history of the anthropogenic climate change, which is coherent with instrumental and other proxy records. We propose a simple coral-based proxy for reconstructing the anthropogenic climate change over the past two centuries.
The aim of this study was to investigate changes in the relationship between mei-yu rainfall over East China and La Nifia events in the late 1970s, a period concurrent with the Pacific climate shift, using meiyu rainfall data and the National Centers for Environmental Prediction/National Center for Atmospheric Research （NCEP/NCAR） reanalysis. This relationship was modulated by the climate shift： Before the 1977/1978 climate shift and after the 1992/1993 climate shift, mei-yu rainfall levels were above normal in most La Nifia years, whereas during the period 1979 1991, mei-yu rainfall was usually below normal levels in La Nifia years. Both composite analyses and results from an atmospheric general circulation model show remarkable detail in terms of La Nifia＇s impacts on mei-yu rainfall in the late 1970s due to the change in the mean climatic state over the tropical Pacific. After the late 1970s, the tropical Pacific SSTs were warmer, and the mean state of low-level anticyclone circulation over the western North Pacific （WNP） weakened. Superimposed on La Nifia-related cyclonic anomaly over the WNP, anticyclonic circulation weakened. Prior to the late 1970s, the mean state of low-level anticyclone circulation over the WNP was stronger and was less affected by La Nifia-related anomalous cyclones. Anticyclone circulation may have brought moisture to the Yangtze River valley, leading to above-normal rainfall.
Based on the high-resolution datasets collected in a sea fog field experiment at the northern coast of South China Sea,the variations of liquid water content (LWC) and net longwave radiation flux (NLRF) during two sea fog events on 16th-17th and 18th-19th March,2008 are exaimeed by wavelet analysis,and the cooling mechanisms for fog formation and persistence are also investigated.The main results are shown as follows.(1) Sea fog may develop and persist whether it is cloudy or not aloft.However,when there is cloud aloft the LWC is less and wind speed in sea fog is higher than that in the clear sky.(2) The quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) of NLRF are observed in the formation stage of the two fogs.QPOs of LWC are only found in the developing stage no matter with cloudless or cloudy condition.(3) It is likely that sea fog forms by the cooling effects of longwave radiation and develops through the vertical mixing induced by the radiative cooling at the upper level.(4) During sea fog development and persistence,other mechanisms could also play important roles in fog-layer cooling,such as turbulent heat transport and radiation transport between air-sea interfaces.
An analysis of the Ishii ocean heat content(OHC) in the tropical Indian Ocean from the surface to 700-m depth shows that the OHC changes dramatically on the interannual timescale in the Indian Ocean.The first mode of empirical orthogonal function(EOF1) of the OHC shows that there is a strong air-sea interaction pattern in the Indian Ocean with a positive(negative) loading in the east and a negative(positive) loading in the west.This seesaw oscillation pattern influences the summer precipitation in China with a North-South reversed distribution.Composite analysis shows that during a positive(negative) OHC episode,an anomalous cyclonic(anticyclonic) circulation over the western Pacific and South China weakens(enhances) the monsoonal northward flow in the lower troposphere;meanwhile,anomalous meridional circulation connects the descending(ascending) branch over the Southeast Indian Ocean and the ascending(descending) branch in South China as well as a descending(ascending) branch over North China.Analysis of the mechanism behind these features suggests that(1) the accumulation of OHC-induced vorticity is related to the wave activity over the mid-latitudes and that(2) the meridional teleconnection induced by the Indo-Pacific air-OHC interaction appears over East Asia and the western Pacific.Both of these patterns can cause summer precipitation anomalies in China.
Tropical cyclone （TC） genesis over the South China Sea （SCS） during 1965–2004 was analyzed. The locations of TC genesis display evident seasonal changes, with the mean position of formation situated north of 15 °N in summer （June–July–August） and south of 15 °N in autumn （September–October–November）. The TC genesis in summer underwent dramatic interdecadal variations, with more and less TC frequency during 1965–1974/1995–2004 and 1979–1993, respectively. In contrast, a significant interannual variation of TC genesis with a period of ～4 years was observed in autumn. This study investigated the relationship of SCS TC genesis to the East Asian jet stream （EAJS） and the western North Pacific subtropical high （WNPSH） on an interdecadal time scale. Analysis and comparison of the impacts of the EAJS and the WNPSH on vertical wind shear changes indicate that changes in the WNPSH and EAJS intensity rather than EAJS meridional location are responsible for changes in TC genesis on an interdecadal time scale. Corresponding to a weaker EAJS, anomalous Rossby wave energy at upper levels displays equatorward propagation at midlatitudes and poleward propagation in the subtropics. This induces anomalous convergence and divergence of wave activity fluxes in East Asia around 30 °N and the SCS, respectively. The anomalous divergence of wave activity fluxes reduces easterlies at upper levels over the SCS, which is favorable to TC genesis.
