The characteristics of longitudinal movement of the subtropical high in the western Pacific in the pre-rainy season in South China

Abstract

Using the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data, the China rainfall data of the China Meteorological Administration, and the sea surface temperature (SST) data of NOAA from 1951–2000, the features of the anomalous longitudinal position of the subtropical high in the western Pacific (SHWP) in the pre-rainy season in South China and associated circulation and precipitation are studied. Furthermore, the relationship between SHWP and SST and the eastern Asian winter monsoon is also investigated. Associated with the anomalous longitudinal position of SHWP in the pre-rainy season in South China, the flow patterns in both the middle and lower latitudes are different. The circulation anomalies greatly influence the precipitation in the pre-rainy season in South China. When the SHWP is in a west position (WP), the South China quasi-stationary front is stronger with more abundant precipitation there. However, when the SHWP is in an east position (EP), a weaker front appears with a shortage of precipitation there. There exists a good relationship between the longitudinal position of SHWP and SST in the tropical region. A negative correlation can be found both in the central and eastern tropical Pacific and the Indian Ocean. This means that the higher (lower) SST there corresponds to a west (east) position of SHWP. This close relationship can be found even in the preceding autumn and winter. A positive correlation appears in the western and northern Pacific and large correlation coefficient values also occur in the preceding autumn and winter. A stronger eastern Asian winter monsoon will give rise to cooler SSTs in the Kuroshio and the South China Sea regions and it corresponds to negative SST anomaly (SSTA) in the central and eastern Pacific and positive SSTA in the western Pacific in winter and the following spring. The whole tropical SSTA pattern, that is, positive (negative) SSTA in the central and eastern Pacific and negative (positive) SSTA in the western Pacific, is favorable to the WP (EP) of SHWP.