On the land-atmosphere interaction in the summer monsoon transition zone in East Asia

Abstract

There are various types of climate transitional zones on the earth’s surface. The East Asian summer monsoon transition zone (EASMTZ) has attracted much attention due to its multiple roles. It is where most of the semi-arid regions locate in China, and semi-arid climate is unstable relative to the arid climate to its north and humid climate to its south. Therefore, EASMTZ is very sensitive to climate changes, and its land-atmosphere interaction (LA-I) is active and crucial. The LA-I is significantly affected by the complex land surface conditions and closely related to the summer monsoon climate dynamics. The LA-I and its response to summer monsoon activities is thus complicated. It includes multi-feedback mechanisms, which involve the land surface thermal-hydrological-ecological couplings, multi-interface exchanges from near surface to the free atmosphere. These feedbacks are sensitive to the summer monsoon activities. Based on a summary of the unique characteristics of EASMTZ and the main research progresses in LA-I in recent years, the issues related to LA-I are discussed in this region. Finally, the key scientific issues faced by the LA-I are proposed, and the future focuses are summarized. This work should help for the future study on the LA-I and its response to summer monsoon activities in the EASMTZ, which should contribute to the understanding of the increasing drought frequency associated with the significant warming trend in this region.