SIMULATION OF SUMMER MONSOON CLIMATE OVER EASTERN CHINA USING A REGIONAL SPECTRAL MODEL

In this paper, we evaluate the characteristics of the surface air temperature and the precipitation of summer monsoon, using the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Regional Spectral Model (RSM) for 20 years (1984-2003). The RSM model was designated over the eastern China with a horizontal grid spacing of approximately 30 km. The model is driven by the NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data and runs from May 21 to September 1 for each of the 20 years. The distribution and variation patterns of the 20-year summer mean surface air temperature and precipitation are reproduced by the RSM and the differences between the simulation and observation are small. However, the model overestimates the interannual variability of summer precipitation in eastern China. The correlation coefficients of the 20-year averaging summer precipitation over the whole region and the sub-domains are above 0.8. The simulated probability distributions of daily maximum and minimum temperatures are similar to the observations. Days of different precipitation intensities in the simulations are generally consistent with the observations: the simulated days of light rain, moderate rain, heavy rain and torrential rain closely resemble the observations, but the simulated maximum centers of the distribution are north of the observed ones.