Characteristics of the seasonal variation of the surface total heating over the Tibetan Plateau and its surrounding area in summer 1998 and its relationship with the convection over the subtropical area of the western Pacific

Abstract

Using the dataset of 1998 TIPEX, the data of 6 automatic heat balance observational stations (AWS) from May to August 1998, a dataset of 52 surface observational stations over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and its adjacent region, the daily rainfall amounts from about 300 stations in China, the outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) data received by the National Satellite Meteorological Center(NSMC) of China, and TBB data from GMS remote sensing of Japan, the characteristics of the seasonal variation of the surface total heating over TP and its surrounding area in summer 1998 and its relationship with the convection over the subtropical area of the western Pacific is studied in this paper. The results show that the surface total heating over TP had a close relationship with the onset of the rainy season, and after the onset of the rainy season, the regional mean surface total heating over TP decreased distinctly. Furthermore, the regional mean surface total heating over TP had very good negative correlation with TBB over the subtropical area of the western Pacific along 20–30°N, which shows that the surface total heating over TP was able to affect the convection over the subtropical area of the western Pacific.