Water vapor sources for Yangtze River Valley rainfall: Climatology, variability, and implications for rainfall forecasting

Abstract

The method of calculating water vapor flux can show the paths of moisture transport but cannot easily identify the sources and sinks of water vapor. In this study, we estimate the evaporative moisture sources for the Yangtze River Valley (YRV) rainfall with a water vapor back‐trajectory method, using meteorological data from the Modern Era Retrospective‐analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA). The major moisture sources and their relative contributions show large seasonal variations. The moisture from the Bay of Bengal and the western Pacific usually compensate each other both during the evolution of YRV wet season (April–September) and interannually for the wet months (peak in August). The major direct moisture sources are over YRV and its major moisture transport pathways over land, rather than over the ocean, but the ocean is important in initiating the moisture transfer. However, over these important land moisture sources, surface evapotranspiration is not controlled by soil wetness and has weak impact on the variability of rainfall. Local moisture recycling over YRV is mostly a passive response to rainfall and circulation changes. The prediction of YRV rainy season rainfall thus depends more on the knowledge of large‐scale circulations and monsoons than land surface conditions.