Characteristics and Synoptic Patterns of Regional Extreme Rainfall over the Central and Eastern Tibetan Plateau in Boreal Summer

• Main Authors: Jun Sun, Xiuping Yao, Guowei Deng, Yi Liu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-03-01
• Series: Atmosphere
• Subjects: Tibetan Plateau; regional extreme precipitation event; circulation anomalies; water vapor
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4433/12/3/379

In this research, the observation datasets from 106 gauge stations over the central and eastern areas of the Tibetan Plateau (TP) and the ERA (ECMWF Re-Analysis)-Interim reanalysis datasets in the summers of 1981–2016 are used to study the characteristics and synoptic patterns of extreme precipitation events over the TP. By using a modern statistical method, the abnormal circulation characteristics at high, middle, and low latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere during extreme precipitation events over the central-eastern Tibetan Plateau are discussed, and the physical mechanisms related to the extreme precipitation events are investigated. The results show that the largest amount of extreme precipitation is found in the southern and eastern areas of the TP, where the frequency of daily extreme rainfall events (exceeding 25 mm) and the frequency of all extreme precipitation events both show obvious quasi-biweekly oscillation. When the daily extreme precipitation event threshold over the TP is met and more than 5 stations show daily extreme precipitation at the same time, with at least three of them being adjacent to each other, this is determined as a regional extreme precipitation event. As such, 33 regional daily extreme precipitation events occur during the summer periods of 1981–2016. According to the influence system, the 33 regional extreme precipitation events can be divided into three types, namely the plateau trough type, the plateau shear line type, and the plateau vortex type. For the plateau trough type, the South Asian high is anomalously strong at 100 hPa. For the other two types, the South Asian high is slightly weaker than usual. For the plateau shear line type, the development of the dynamic disturbance is the strongest, reaching 200 hPa. In the plateau trough type and plateau vortex type, the water vapor is transported by the westerly belt and the southwesterly flow from the Bay of Bengal.