A continuous overcast-rainy weather(CORW) process occurred over the mid-lower reaches of the Yangtze River(MLRYR) in China from February 14 to March 9 in 2009,with a large stretch and long duration that was rarely seen in historical records.Using the empirical orthogonal function(EOF),we analyzed the geopotential height anomaly field of the NCEP-DOE Reanalysis II in the same period,and defined the stable components of extended-range(10-30 days) weather forecast(ERWF).Furthermore,we defined anomalous and climatic stable components based on the variation characteristics of the variance contribution ratio of EOF components.The climatic stable components were able to explain the impact of climatically averaged information on the ERWF,and the anomalous stable components revealed the abnormal characteristics of the continuous overcast-rainy days.Our results show that the stable components,especially the anomalous stable components,can maintain the stability for a longer time(more than 10 days) and manifest as monthly scale low-frequency variation and ultra-long-wave activities.They also behave as ultra-long waves of planetary scale with a stable and vertically coherent structure,reflect the variation of general circulation in mid-high latitudes,display the cycle of the zonal circulation and the movement and adjustment of the ultra-long waves,and are closely linked to the surface CORW process.
In this paper, the northward jump time of the western Pacific subtropical high(WPSH) is defined and analyzed on the interdecadal timescale. The results show that under global warming, significant interdecadal changes have occurred in the time of the WPSH northward jumps. From 1951 to 2012, the time of the first northward jump of WPSH has changed from "continuously early" to "continuously late", with the transition occurring in 1980. The time of the second northward jump of WPSH shows a similar change, with the transition occurring in 1978. In this study, we offer a new perspective by using the time of the northward jump of WPSH to explain the eastern China summer rainfall pattern change from "north-abundant-southbelow-average" to "south-abundant-north-below-average" at the end of the 1970 s. The interdecadal change in the time of the northward jump of WPSH corresponds not only with the summer rainfall pattern, but also with the Pacific decadal oscillation(PDO). The WPSH northward jump time corresponding to the cold(warm) phase of the PDO is early(late). Although the PDO and the El Nino–Southern Oscillation(ENSO)both greatly influence the time of the two northward jumps of WPSH, the PDO's effect is noticed before the ENSO's by approximately 1–2 months. After excluding the ENSO influence, we derive composite vertical atmospheric circulation for different phases of the PDO. The results show that during the cold(warm)phase of the PDO, the atmospheric circulations at 200, 500, and 850 h Pa all contribute to an earlier(later)northward jump of the WPSH.
