The Characteristics and Mechanisms on Diurnal Variation of Summer Precipitation over the Tibetan Plateau

By using multiple sets of assimilation and reanalysis data, the spatial distribution and temporal evolution of the precipitation over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) in boreal summer are investigated. The results show that, the climatological precipitation tends to increase towards the southeast, while it increases in the morning, reaches a peak around 21 Beijing Time Coordinate (BTC), and tends to decay after midnight in the diurnal time scale. To understand the roles of atmospheric dynamic and thermodynamic processes in causing the diurnal variation of summer precipitation over the southeastern TP, the atmospheric precipitation and moisture budget are conducted. The budget result shows that, there is a good corresponding relationship between the precipitation and moisture tendency in the night, and the anomalous vertical motion has a key effect on the diurnal variation of the precipitation. In the developing phase of the anomalous ascending motion (17-20 BTC), the anomalous linear vorticity (temperature) advections over the southeastern TP contribute to the anomalous ascending motion, and the major contribution arises from the anomalous vorticity (temperature) field over the western TP. Due to the negative zonal vorticity (temperature) gradient, the mean westerly winds induce positive advection that support the ascending motion.