Atmospheric water vapor flux and its association with rainfall over China in summer

Abstract

The summer moisture transport by the large-scale circulation over China has been investigated using ECMWF-WMO twice-daily analyses for the period 1980-96. The horizontal flux of atmospheric water vapor and its divergence has been calculated over two target regions, namely, southeast China (25°-35°N, 110°-120°E) and northeast China (40°-50°N, 120°-130°E). The time-averaged fluxes show the southeastern Asian and Indian monsoon circulations bringing abundant moisture from the South China Sea and the Bay of Bengal, respectively, to southeast China while the midlatitude westerlies dominate the moisture transport over northeast China. The association between the interannual variations of moisture ..