POSSIBLE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE INTERANNUAL ANOMALY OF THE TROPICAL PACIFIC SEA SURFACE HEIGHT AND SUMMER PRECIPITATION IN CHINA

By using NCEP GODAS monthly sea surface height (SSH) and 160-station monthly precipitation data in China, the seasonal and interannual characteristics of SSH are analyzed over the tropical Pacific, and correlations between SSH and summer rainfall are discussed. The results are shown as follows: (1) The tropical Pacific SSH takes on a “V” pattern in the climatic field with an eastward opening, and it is higher in the western part (in the northwestern part) than in the eastern part (in the southwestern part). The high-value areas are more stable in the northwest, and the value range (greater than 0.8 m) is larger in spring and summer than in autumn and winter. The high-value area in the southwestern part is the largest (smallest) and more northerly (southerly) in spring (summer). SSH is higher in spring and autumn than in summer and winter over the equatorial zone. (2) The interannual anomalies of the SSH are the strongest over the tropical western and southwestern Pacific and are stronger in winter and spring than in summer and autumn. The interannual anomalies are also strong over the equatorial middle and eastern Pacific. The distribution ranges are larger and the intensities are stronger in the autumn and winter. There is a close relationship between the SSH interannual anomalies and ENSO events in autumn, winter and spring. (3) When ENSO events take place in winter, according to the simultaneous relationship among the tropic Pacific SSH, 850 hPa wind fields and the summer precipitation of China, it can be predicted that the precipitation will be significantly more than normal over the south of the Yangtze River, especially over Dongting Lake and Poyang Lake region, eastern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Yangtze-Huai River Valley, eastern part of Inner Mongolia and less than normal over the area of Great Band of Yellow River, North China and South China in successive summers.