Strong Coupling in Diurnal Variations of Clouds, Radiation, Winds, and Precipitation during the East Asian Summer Monsoon

Abstract

Abstract This study investigates the diurnal cycles of convective activities and low-level winds with emphasis on their interactions during the East Asian summer monsoon. We categorize atmospheric convection states using satellite-derived cloud regimes and group southerly monsoon flows with different characteristics of diurnal cycles, and found that they are closely related to each other. Over South China, deep convection and associated cirrus anvils produce a strongly negative shortwave cloud radiative effect and induce anomalous cooling in the ABL in the daytime, which reduces the diurnal amplitude of monsoon flows during the night that follows. Conversely, a fair-weather state in the daytime leads to an anomalously warm ABL that enhances the subsequent nighttime acceleration of the monsoon southerlies. The dominant cloud regimes in the daytime over South China are closely related to whether the organized deep convection over the Yun-Gui Plateau (southeast of the Tibetan Plateau) propagates eastward during the preceding night. Such a precursor of clouds/convection governing wind diurnal amplitude indicates a possible predictability of monsoon diurnal cycles over South China. Further analyses show that the cloud regimes and induced monsoon diurnal cycles over South China can regulate the moist convection over the downstream region (central China) through modulating moisture transport and convergence. Therefore, the observational statistics of this study reveal a strong coupling of clouds, radiation, winds, and precipitation at the diurnal time scale over the summer monsoon regions, in which the cloud radiative effects of atmospheric convection can strongly regulate the diurnal variations of low-level winds that further influence precipitation downstream.