Qiang Zhang1,2,3, Xihui Gu4, Jianfeng Li5, Peijun Shi1,2,3, Vijay P. Singh6
1. Key Laboratory of Environmental Change and Natural Disaster, Ministry of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China;
2. Faculty of Geographical Science, Academy of Disaster Reduction and Emergency Management, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China;
3. State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China;
4. School of Environmental Studies, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China;
5. Department of Geography, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong, China;
6.Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering and Zachry Department of Civil Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas, USA.
Abstract:The coastal part of China and its surrounding regions are dominated by highly-dense population and highly-developed economy. Extreme precipitation events (EPEs) cause a lot of damage and hence, changes in these events and their causes have been drawing considerable attention. This study investigated EPEs resulting from Western North Pacific (WNP) Tropical Cyclones (TCs) and their potential link to El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), using TC track data, daily precipitation data from 2313 stations for 1951-2014, and NCAR/NCEP reanalysis dataset. Two types of EPEs were considered: EPEs within 500 km from the TC center; and those caused by the mesoscale and synoptic system called as the Predecessor Rain Events (PREs) beyond 1000 km from the TC center. Results indicated significant impacts of TCs on EPEs along the coastal areas, and discernable effects in inland areas of China. However, the effect of TCs on EPEs tended to be modulated by ENSO.During neutral years, inland areas of China are more affected by TC-induced extreme precipitation than during El Niño or La Niña years with the highestdensity of TC tracks and the larger-than-average numbers of tropical storms, typhoons and landfalling TCs. During the El Niño phase, the central and eastern equatorial Pacific was characterized by higher sea surface temperature (SST), greater low-level vorticity (1000hPa) and upper-level divergence (250hPa), and stronger prevailing westerlies, which combined to trigger the movement of mean genesis to the eastern/southeastern WNP, and hence fewer TCs passing through the Chinese territory.
Published in Journal of Climate, 2018, doi:10.1175/JCLI-D-17-0474.1.
