Role of Snow Depth in the Influence of El Niño on Summer Climate
Anomalies over East Asia
Abstract
With datasets of Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) NOAH land
surface model, GPCC monthly mean rainfall and NCAR/NCEP global monthly
mean reanalysis from 1948 to 2010, by using methods of filtering,
composite and linear regression and correlation, characteristics of
Eurasian snow depth anomalies in El Niño mature winter, its influences
on soil moisture after snow melting, and finally on East Asian summer
monsoon are investigated, and the main conclusions are as follows: In El
Niño mature winter, snow depth in regions of the Iranian Plateau, the
northeast of Lake Balkhash and the southern Tibetan Plateau increase
remarkably, so are the related snow melting and soil moisture. The
above-mentioned three regions are identified as the key regions for snow
depth to store and extend the El Niño signals. In spring, the snow
begins to melt, and the soil moisture increases correspondingly, thus
the El Niño signals are transmitted from winter snow depth to soil
moisture in spring. As a result, sensible heat flux decreases and latent
heat flux increases, and the atmospheric circulations are greatly
influenced. The anomalous soil moisture in the Iranian plateau is most
important for the East Asian summer monsoon in El Niño decaying summer,
since it has similar impact pattern on the anomalous summer
precipitation as the El Niño composite. The spring and summer soil
moisture in both the southern Tibetan plateau and the northeast of Lake
Balkhash increase simultaneously, which significantly contribute to the
increased precipitation in North China. Therefore, to investigate and
predict the East Asian summer monsoon variabilities by using El Niño
signal, the roles of snow depth in storing and modulating El Niño
impacts in those key regions should be considered.