Intensified Springtime Deep Convection over the South China Sea and the Philippine Sea Dries Southern China.

ABSTRACT: Springtime rainfall, accounting for 25-40% of the annual rainfall in southern China, exerts great agricultural and socioeconomic impacts on the region. In the recent decades, southern China has experienced a significant declining trend of precipitation in boreal spring. Meanwhile, precipitation has increased over the South China Sea and the Philippine Sea (SCS-PhS). This paper presents observational and modeling evidences suggesting that the intensified latent heating released by the convection over SCS-PhS leads to suppressed springtime rainfall over southern China. Moisture budget analysis indicates that the drying trend over southern China is due mainly to weakened convergence of moisture flux, which is controlled by a heat-induced anomalous overturning circulation reinforced by the con

SUBMITTER: Li Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4962042 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature