QUANTIFYING THE CONTRIBUTIONS OF ENVIRONMENTAL PARAMETERS TO CERES SURFACE NET RADIATION ERROR IN CHINA

This study investigated the wetting and drying of the Tibetan Plateau (TP) from variations in soil moisture (SM) droughts. We found the TP experienced an abrupt and significant wetting shift in the middle to late 1990s, not merely the steady trends given in literature. This shift is dominated by precipitation and attributed to the North Atlantic Oscillation. The wetting shift indicates a climate regime change. Our innovative work provides implications for further knowledge of the TP climate.

Existing satellite products are often insufficient for use in small-scale (< 10 km) hydrological and meteorological studies. We propose a new approach based on the cumulative distribution of frequency to downscale satellite precipitation products with geostationary (GEO) data. This paper uses CMORPH and FY2-E GEO data to examine the approach in six different climate regions. The downscaled precipitation performed better for convective systems.

Lake droughts result in significant hydrological, ecological and economic consequences. This study proposes approaches for quantifying the lake drought features and estimating the contributions from individual factors, taking China’s largest freshwater lake as a case examination. Our results showed that the recently increased lake droughts were due to hydroclimatic effects, with less important contributions from the water impoundments of the world’s largest dam affecting the lake outflows.