Open AccessStrong subsurface soil temperature feedbacks on summer climate variability over the arid/semi‐arid regions of East Asia
Author(s) -
Wu Lingyun,
Zhang Jingyong
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
atmospheric science letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.951
H-Index - 45
ISSN - 1530-261X
DOI - 10.1002/asl2.504
Subject(s) - arid , environmental science , precipitation , climatology , climate change , atmosphere (unit) , climate model , aridity index , atmospheric sciences , air temperature , geography , geology , meteorology , oceanography , paleontology
Two long‐term regional climate model simulations with and without subsurface soil temperature feedbacks are performed to investigate the role of soil temperature–atmosphere coupling in influencing interannual variability of summer climate over East Asia. Results indicate that soil temperature–atmosphere coupling depends on climate regimes, mainly affecting summer climate variability over the arid/semi‐arid regions. Over these areas, subsurface soil temperature feedbacks play an important role in amplifying summer surface air temperature variability, accounting for about 30–70% of total variance. The feedbacks on precipitation variability are weaker than those on surface air temperature variability over the arid/semi‐arid regions, but are still significant over many areas of western part.