Joint Impacts of the North African and the Western Pacific subtropical highs on summer precipitation over the Tibetan Plateau

Abstract

Abstract Focusing on summer precipitation over the Tibetan Plateau (TP), this study mainly investigates the joint impacts of the North African and the Western Pacific subtropical highs (i.e., NASH and WPSH) through examining circulation and moisture anomalies. Results show that there are several boundary combination types of the two subtropical highs. The anomalous vertical motion with sufficient moisture transport under different boundary types plays the dominant role in TP precipitation anomaly. When the WPSH strengthens westward approaching to the TP, it can transport water vapor northward from Northwest Pacific and North Indian Oceans to the south edge of the TP and induce ascending motion over the southeastern TP, contributing to more precipitation there. When the NASH enhances and extends eastward, it can transport water vapor eastward from North Atlantic Ocean to the southwest eastern TP and give rise to ascending motion there, inducing positive precipitation anomaly over the southwest eastern TP. When the two subtropical highs simultaneously intensify and extend to the TP, water vapor can be transported to the TP widely from the North Atlantic Ocean, the North Indian Ocean and the northwest Pacific Ocean with the strengthening of the westerly, resulting in the location of the ascending motion and rain belt shifting obviously northward. Further analyses indicate that the pre-winter ENSO and summer North Atlantic air–sea interaction are two indispensable possible modulation factors for the joint impact of the two subtropical highs on TP precipitation.