Journal
CLIMATE DYNAMICS
Volume 57, Issue 3-4, Pages 1135-1153Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s00382-021-05760-6
Keywords
Elevation-dependent warming; The Tibetan Plateau; Surface albedo feedback; Clear-sky downward longwave radiation; Cumulus parameterization scheme
Categories
Funding
- University of Gothenburg
- Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program (STEP) [2019QZKK0206]
- National Key Research and Development Program of China [2018YFA0606003]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [41505057, 41575099, 41875124, 91525101]
- China Scholarship Council [201806195035]
- Swedish MERGE
- National Space Agency [SNSA: 188/18]
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The study investigates the driving mechanisms of elevation-dependent warming (EDW) over the Tibetan Plateau (TP) through a series of numerical experiments with different cumulus parameterization schemes (CPs). Results indicate that the spread in temperature simulations among the experiments is largely explained by the surface albedo feedback (SAF), with different CPs affecting the magnitude and structure of simulated EDW. Additionally, the inability of models to simulate EDW during spring is closely related to SAF and surface cloud radiative forcing (CRFs).
To explore the driving mechanisms of elevation-dependent warming (EDW) over the Tibetan Plateau (TP), the output from a suite of numerical experiments with different cumulus parameterization schemes (CPs) under the Coordinated Regional Climate Downscaling Experiments-East Asia (CORDEX-EA-II) project is examined. Results show that all experiments can broadly capture the observed temperature distributions over the TP with consistent cold biases, and the spread in temperature simulations commonly increases with elevation with the maximum located around 4000-5000 m. Such disagreements among the temperature simulations could to a large extent be explained by their spreads in the surface albedo feedback (SAF). All the experiments reproduce the observed EDW below 5000 m in winter but fail to capture the observed EDW above 4500 m in spring. Further analysis suggests that the simulated EDW during winter is mainly caused by the SAF, and the clear-sky downward longwave radiation (LWclr) plays a secondary role in shaping EDW. The models' inability in simulating EDW during spring is closely related to the SAF and the surface cloud radiative forcing (CRFs). Furthermore, the magnitude and structure of the simulated EDW are sensitive to the choice of CPs. Different CPs generate diverse snow cover fractions, which can modulate the simulated SAF and its effect on EDW. Also, the CPs show great influence on the LWclr via altering the low-level air temperature. Additionally, the mechanism for different temperature changes among the experiments varies with altitudes during summer and autumn, as the diverse temperature changes appear to be caused by the LWclr for the low altitudes while by the SAF for the middle-high altitudes.
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