Abstract
A timescale decomposed threshold regression (TSDTR) downscaling approach to forecasting South China early summer rainfall (SCESR) is described by using long-term observed station rainfall data and NOAA ERSST data. It makes use of two distinct regression downscaling models corresponding to the interannual and interdecadal rainfall variability of SCESR. The two models are developed based on the partial least squares (PLS) regression technique, linking SCESR to SST modes in preceding months on both interannual and interdecadal timescales. Specifically, using the datasets in the calibration period 1915–84, the variability of SCESR and SST are decomposed into interannual and interdecadal components. On the interannual timescale, a threshold PLS regression model is fitted to interannual components of SCESR and March SST patterns by taking account of the modulation of negative and positive phases of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). On the interdecadal timescale, a standard PLS regression model is fitted to the relationship between SCESR and preceding November SST patterns. The total rainfall prediction is obtained by the sum of the outputs from both the interannual and interdecadal models. Results show that the TSDTR downscaling approach achieves reasonable skill in predicting the observed rainfall in the validation period 1985–2006, compared to other simpler approaches. This study suggests that the TSDTR approach, considering different interannual SCESR-SST relationships under the modulation of PDO phases, as well as the interdecadal variability of SCESR associated with SST patterns, may provide a new perspective to improve climate predictions.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aligo, E. A., W. A. Gallus Jr., and M. Segal, 2009. On the impact of WRF model vertical grid resolution on Midwest summer rainfall forecasts. Wea. Forecasting, 24, 575–594.
Butler, N. A., and M. C. Denham, 2000. The peculiar shrinkage properties of partial least squares regression. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series B (Statistical Methodology), 62, 585–593.
Cao, X., S. F. Chen, G. H. Chen, W. Chen, and R. G. Wu, 2015. On the weakened relationship between spring Arctic Oscillation and following summer tropical cyclone frequency over the western north Pacific: A comparison between 1968-1986 and 1989-2007. Adv. Atmos. Sci., 32, 1319–1328, doi: 10.1007/s00376-015-4256-y.
Cao, X., S. F. Chen, G. H. Chen, and R. G. Wu, 2016: Intensified impact of northern tropical Atlantic SST on tropical cyclogenesis frequency over the western North Pacific after the late 1980s. Adv. Atmos. Sci., doi: 10.1007/s00376-016-5206-z.
Chan, J. C. L., and W. Zhou, 2005: PDO, ENSO and the early summer monsoon rainfall over south China. Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L08810.
Chen, S.-F., W. Chen, B. Yu, and H.-F. Graf, 2013a. Modulation of the seasonal footprinting mechanism by the boreal spring Arctic Oscillation. Geophys. Res. Lett., 40, 6384–6389, doi: 10.1002/2013GL058628.
Chen, S. F., B. Yu, and W. Chen, 2014. An analysis on the physical process of the influence of AO on ENSO. Climate Dyn., 42, 973–989.
Chen, S. F., B. Yu, and W. Chen, 2015a. An interdecadal change in the influence of the spring Arctic Oscillation on the subsequent ENSO around the early 1970s. Climate Dyn., 44, 1109–1126.
Chen, S. F., W. Chen, and R. G. Wu, 2015b. An interdecadal change in the relationship between boreal spring Arctic Oscillation and the East Asian Summer Monsoon around the early 1970s. J. Climate, 28, 1527–1542.
Chen, W., J. Feng, and R. G. Wu, 2013b. Roles of ENSO and PDO in the link of the East AsianWinter Monsoon to the following Summer Monsoon. J. Climate, 26, 622–635.
Collischonn, W., R. Haas, I. Andreolli, and C. E. M. Tucci, 2005. Forecasting River Uruguay flow using rainfall forecasts from a regional weather-prediction model. J. Hydrol., 305, 87–98.
Ding, Y. H., Z. Y. Wang, and Y. Sun, 2008. Inter-decadal variation of the summer precipitation in East China and its association with decreasing Asian summer monsoon. Part I: Observed evidences. Int. J. Climatol., 28, 1139–1161.
Duan, W. S., L. Y. Song, Y. Li, and J. Y. Mao, 2013. Modulation of PDO on the predictability of the interannual variability of early summer rainfall over south China. J. Geophys. Res., 118, 13008–13021.
Eitzen, Z. A., and D. A. Randall, 1999. Sensitivity of the simulated Asian summer monsoon to parameterized physical processes. J. Geophys. Res., 104, 12177–12191.
Gao, H., Y. G. Wang, and J. H. He, 2006: Weakening significance of ENSO as a predictor of summer precipitation in China. Geophys. Res. Lett., 33(9), L09807, doi: 10.1029/2005GL025511.
Gershunov, A., and T. P. Barnett, 1998. Interdecadal modulation of ENSO teleconnections. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 79, 2715–2726.
Gong, D.-Y., and C.-H. Ho, 2002: Shift in the summer rainfall over the Yangtze River valley in the late 1970s. Geophys. Res. Lett., 29, 78-1–78-4.
Grotch, S. L., and M. C. MacCracken, 1991. The use of general circulation models to predict regional climatic change. J. Climate, 4, 286–303.
Guo, Y., J. P. Li, and Y. Li, 2012. A time-scale decomposition approach to statistically downscale summer rainfall over North China. J. Climate, 25, 572–591.
Haenlein, M., and A. M. Kaplan, 2004. A beginner’s guide to partial least squares analysis. Understanding Statistics, 3, 283–297.
Helland, I. S., 1988. On the structure of partial least squares regression. Communications in Statistics-Simulation and Computation, 17, 581–607.
Huang, R. H., and Y. F. Wu, 1989. The influence of ENSO on the summer climate change in China and its mechanism. Adv. Atmos. Sci., 6, 21–32, doi: 10.1007/BF02656915.
Huang, R. H., J. L. Chen, G. Huang, and Q. L. Zhang, 2006. The quasi-biennial oscillation of summer monsoon rainfall in China and its cause. Chinese Journal of Atmospheric Sciences, 30, 545–560. (in Chinese)
Kalnay, E., and Coauthors, 1996. The NCEP/NCAR 40-year reanalysis project. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 77, 437–472, doi: 10.1175/1520-0477(1996)077<0437:TNYRP>2.0.CO;2.
Lau, K. M., and H. Y. Weng, 2001. Coherent modes of global SST and summer rainfall over China: An assessment of the regional impacts of the 1997-98 El Niño. J. Climate, 14, 1294–1308.
Li, Y., and I. Smith, 2009. A statistical downscaling model for southern Australia winter rainfall. J. Climate, 22, 1142–1158.
Liu, Y., and K. Fan, 2012a. Improve the prediction of summer precipitation in the Southeastern China by a hybrid statistical downscaling model. Meteor. Atmos. Phys., 117, 121–134.
Liu, Y., and K. Fan, 2012b: Prediction of spring precipitation in China using a downscaling approach. Meteor. Atmos. Phys., 118: 79–93.
Liu, Y., and K. Fan. 2014: An application of hybrid downscaling model to forecast summer precipitation at stations in China. Atmospheric Research, 143: 17–30.
Mantua, N. J., and S. R. Hare, 2002. The Pacific decadal oscillation. Journal of Oceanography, 58, 35–44.
Mantua, N. J., S. R. Hare, Y. Zhang, J. M. Wallace, and R. C. Francis, 1997. A Pacific interdecadal climate oscillation with impacts on salmon production. Bull. Amer. Meteor. Soc., 78, 1069–1079.
Mao, J. Y., J. C. L. Chan, and G. X. Wu, 2011. Interannual variations of early summer monsoon rainfall over South China under different PDO backgrounds. Int. J. Climatol., 31, 847–862.
Martin, G. M., 1999. The simulation of the Asian summer monsoon, and its sensitivity to horizontal resolution, in the UK meteorological office unified model. Quart. J. Roy. Meteor. Soc., 125, 1499–1525.
Nitta, T., and Z.-Z. Hu, 1996. Summer climate variability in China and its association with 500 hPa height and tropical convection. J. Meteor. Soc. Japan Ser. II, 74, 425–445.
Power, S., T. Casey, C. Folland, A. Colman, and V. Mehta, 1999. Inter-decadal modulation of the impact of ENSO on Australia. Climate Dyn., 15, 319–324.
Sahai, A. K., A. M. Grimm, V. Satyan, and G. B. Pant, 2003. Longlead prediction of Indian summer monsoon rainfall from global SST evolution. Climate Dyn., 20, 855–863.
Smith, T. M., and R. W. Reynolds, 2004. Improved extended reconstruction of SST (1854-1997). J. Climate, 17, 2466–2477.
Smith, T. M., R. W. Reynolds, T. C. Peterson, and J. Lawrimore, 2008. Improvements to NOAA’s historical merged land-ocean surface temperature analysis (1880–2006). J. Climate, 21, 2283–2296.
Smoliak, B. V., J. M. Wallace, M. T. Stoelinga, and T. P. Mitchell, 2010: Application of partial least squares regression to the diagnosis of year-to-year variations in Pacific Northwest snowpack and Atlantic hurricanes. Geophys. Res. Lett., 37, L03801, doi: 10.1029/2009GL041478.
Sun, J. Q., and H. J. Wang, 2012: Changes of the connection between the summer North Atlantic Oscillation and the East Asian summer rainfall. J. Geophys. Res., 117, D08110, doi: 10.1029/2012JD017482.
Sun, J. Q., and H. P. Chen, 2012. A statistical downscaling scheme to improve global precipitation forecasting. Meteor. Atmos. Phys., 117, 87–102.
Tao, S. Y., 1987. A review of recent research on the East Asian summer monsoon in China. J. Meteor. Soc. Japan, 70, 373–396.
Thompson, D. W. J., and J. M. Wallace, 1998. The Arctic oscillation signature in the wintertime geopotential height and temperature fields. Geophys. Res. Lett., 25, 1297–1300.
Torrence C., and P. J. Webster, 1999. Interdecadal changes in the ENSO-monsoon system. J. Climate, 12, 2679–2690.
Wang, B., Lin Ho, Y. S. Zhang, and M. M. Lu, 2004. Definition of South China Sea monsoon onset and commencement of the East Asia summer monsoon. J. Climate, 17, 699–710.
Wang, B., R. G. Wu, and X. Fu, 2000. Pacific-east Asian teleconnection: How does ENSO affect east Asian climate? J. Climate, 13, 1517–1536.
Wang, H. J., 2001: The weakening of the Asian monsoon circulation after the end of 1970’s. Adv. Atmos. Sci., 18(3), 376–386, doi: 10.1007/BF02919316.
Wang, H. J., 2002: The instability of the East Asian summer monsoon-ENSO relations. Adv. Atmos. Sci., 19(1), 1–11, doi: 10.1007/s00376-002-0029-5.
Wang, L., W. Chen, R. H. Huang, 2008: Interdecadal modulation of PDO on the impact of ENSO on the east Asian winter monsoon. Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L20702, doi: 10.1029/2008GL035287.
Wilby, R. L., 1998. Statistical downscaling of daily precipitation using daily airflow and seasonal teleconnection indices. Climate Research, 10, 163–178.
Wu, R. G., and B. Wang, 2002. A contrast of the East Asian summer monsoon-ENSO relationship between 1962-77 and 1978- 93. J. Climate, 15, 3266–3279.
Wu, R.G., S. Yang, Z. P. Wen, G. Huang, and K. M. Hu, 2012. Interdecadal change in the relationship of southern China summer rainfall with tropical Indo-Pacific SST. Theor. Appl. Climatol., 108, 119–133.
Wu, Z. W., H. Lin, Y. Li, and Y. M. Tang, 2013. Seasonal prediction of killing-frost frequency in South-Central Canada during the cool/overwintering-crop growing season. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 52, 102–113.
Zhang, H. Q., J. Qin, and Y. Li, 2011. Climatic background of cold and wet winter in southern China: part I observational analysis. Climate Dyn., 37, 2335–2354.
Zhao, P., Z. J. Zhou, and J. P. Liu, 2007. Variability of Tibetan spring snow and its associations with the hemispheric extratropical circulation and East Asian summer monsoon rainfall: An observational investigation. J. Climate, 20, 3942–3955.
Zhou, W., C. Li, and J. C. L. Chan, 2006. The interdecadal variations of the summer monsoon rainfall over South China. Meteor. Atmos. Phys., 93, 165–175.
Zhu, C.-W., C.-K. Park, W.-S. Lee, and W.-T. Yun, 2008. Statistical downscaling for multi-model ensemble prediction of summer monsoon rainfall in the Asia-Pacific region using geopotential height field. Adv. Atmos. Sci., 25, 867–884, doi: 10.1007/s00376-008-0867-x.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Song, L., Duan, W., Li, Y. et al. A timescale decomposed threshold regression downscaling approach to forecasting South China early summer rainfall. Adv. Atmos. Sci. 33, 1071–1084 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-016-5251-7
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-016-5251-7