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Regional Features and Seasonality of Land–Atmosphere Coupling over Eastern China

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Abstract

Land–atmosphere coupling is a key process of the climate system, and various coupling mechanisms have been proposed before based on observational and numerical analyses. The impact of soil moisture (SM) on evapotranspiration (ET) and further surface temperature (ST) is an important aspect of such coupling. Using ERA-Interim data and CLM4.0 offline simulation results, this study further explores the relationships between SM/ST and ET to better understand the complex nature of the land–atmosphere coupling (i.e., spatial and seasonal variations) in eastern China, a typical monsoon area. It is found that two diagnostics of land–atmosphere coupling (i.e., SM–ET correlation and ST–ET correlation) are highly dependent on the climatology of SM and ST. By combining the SM–ET and ST–ET relationships, two “hot spots” of land–atmosphere coupling over eastern China are identified: Southwest China and North China. In Southwest China, ST is relatively high throughout the year, but SM is lowest in spring, resulting in a strong coupling in spring. However, in North China, SM is relatively low throughout the year, but ST is highest in summer, which leads to the strongest coupling in summer. Our results emphasize the dependence of land–atmosphere coupling on the seasonal evolution of climatic conditions and have implications for future studies related to land surface feedbacks.

摘 要

陆-气耦合是气候系统中的重要过程, 已经有大量基于观测和数值模拟的研究提出了各种耦合机制. 土壤湿度影响蒸散发进而引起地表温度异常是陆-气耦合研究中的重要组成部分. 利用ERA-Interim再分析资料和CLM4.0模拟结果, 本研究进一步探讨了土壤湿度/地表温度与蒸散发之间的关系, 以更好地理解中国东部地区陆-气耦合的复杂性质(即空间和季节变化). 本研究发现陆-气耦合的两个诊断量(即土壤湿度与蒸散发的相关系数和地表温度与蒸散发的相关系数)的变化主要依赖土壤湿度和地表温度的气候状态, 存在明显的空间变化和季节演变. 结合两个相关系数, 本研究确定了中国东部的两个陆-气耦合的关键区: 西南和华北地区. 在西南地区, 土壤湿润, 温度较高, 但在旱季的时候土壤湿度显著下降, 春季达到最低, 因此春季表现为较强的陆气耦合. 而在华北地区, 土壤湿度在年内维持在较低的水平, 仅在较为温暖的季节才有足够的能量将土壤中的水分蒸发至大气, 因此陆-气耦合强度随着温度的季节变化而发生改变, 夏季最强. 本文的研究结果强调了陆-气耦合对气候条件季节演变的依赖性, 为未来有关陆面过程反馈的研究提供一定的参考.

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Acknowledgements

This work was jointly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 41625019 and 41605042), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, China (Grant No. BK20151525), and the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions.

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  1. Key Laboratory of Meteorological Disaster, Ministry of Education (KLME)/International Joint Research Laboratory of Climate and Environment Change (ILCEC)/Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters (CIC-FEMD), Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China

    Chujie Gao, Haishan Chen, Shanlei Sun, Bei Xu, Siguang Zhu, Hedi Ma & Xing Li

  2. College of Atmospheric Science, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China

    Chujie Gao, Haishan Chen, Shanlei Sun, Bei Xu, Siguang Zhu, Hedi Ma & Xing Li

  3. Department of Meteorology, South Eastern Kenya University, P.O. Box 170, Kitui, 90200, Kenya

    Victor Ongoma

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Gao, C., Chen, H., Sun, S. et al. Regional Features and Seasonality of Land–Atmosphere Coupling over Eastern China. Adv. Atmos. Sci. 35, 689–701 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-017-7140-0

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