Advances and Perspectives in Precipitation Research for Himalayan Mountains

OUYANG Lin; YANG Kun; QIN Jun; WANG Yan; LU Hui

doi:10.7522/j.issn.1000-0534.2016.00111

Plateau Meteorology >

2017 , Vol. 36 >Issue 5: 1165 - 1175

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7522/j.issn.1000-0534.2016.00111

Advances and Perspectives in Precipitation Research for Himalayan Mountains

OUYANG Lin ,
YANG Kun ,
QIN Jun ,
WANG Yan ,
LU Hui

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Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China;Chinese Academy of Sciences Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Beijing 100101, China;University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China;Center for Earth System Science, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China

Received date: 2016-07-05

Online published: 2017-10-28

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Abstract

Exploring the spatiotemporal variability of precipitation is very important to the understanding of climate, hydrology and glacier processes in Himalaya.With the emergence of the "Third Pole Environment (TPE)" international program that is initiated by Chinese scientists, it is urgent to understand the processes and drivers of precipitation around the region.This study reviews the research progresses of precipitation in Himalayan region, based on which we put forward frontier issues of hydro-meteorological studies for this region.Previous progresses are summarized as follows:(1) Precipitation in Himalaya has distinct diurnal variation, with a nocturnal peak at night in low-elevation zone, which is related to Plateau-scale wind convergence/divergence and mountain-valley scale asymmetric diurnal variation of wind field during South Asian monsoon.(2) Precipitation in summer usually dominates the annual precipitation amount, but in northwest high elevation regions spring and winter precipitation may account for 50% of annual precipitation.(3) In south slope of Himalaya, precipitation amount increases with the increase of elevation up to 2500 m (above sea level), and then decreases toward higher elevations.(4) Regional climate modeling shows reasonable applicability in Less Himalaya, but there is, lack of valid precipitation assessments for ultra-high-elevation regions.So we propose research priorities in future to enhance observing network for high-elevation regions, evaluate satellite-based global precipitation measurements, analyze the difference of climate between south and north slopes, and to improve the skill of regional climate models in the complex mountain region.

Key words： Precipitation spatio; Mountain-Valley wind; High elevation; Regional climate mod

Cite this article

OUYANG Lin , YANG Kun , QIN Jun , WANG Yan , LU Hui . Advances and Perspectives in Precipitation Research for Himalayan Mountains[J]. Plateau Meteorology, 2017 , 36(5) : 1165 -1175 . DOI: 10.7522/j.issn.1000-0534.2016.00111

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