Liu et al. (2025) Strong Contributions of Abnormal Vortex Street-Like System in the Tibetan Plateau’s Wake to Record-Breaking Strong Rainfall over Southern China in April 2024

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Journal of Climate
• Year: 2025
• Date: 2025-09-30
• Authors: Qi Liu, Congbin Fu, Zhongfeng Xu, Ruyu Gan
• DOI: 10.1175/jcli-d-25-0009.1

Research Groups

Not mentioned in the abstract.

Short Summary

This study investigates the unprecedented heavy rainfall in southern China in April 2024, revealing that an abnormally strong Tibetan Plateau vortex street-like system (TPVSL), driven by an extreme north-south temperature gradient linked to a preceding El Niño, provided a favorable background for approximately 78% of the precipitation.

Objective

• To investigate the underlying causes of the unprecedented heavy rainfall in southern China in April 2024, specifically hypothesizing that the Tibetan Plateau's wake vortex street-like system (TPVSL) played a critical role.

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: Southern China, Tibetan Plateau, East Asia, tropical Indian Ocean, Iranian Plateau.
• Temporal Scale: April 2024 (event period), daily data, preceding strong El Niño event (antecedent condition).

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Not explicitly mentioned; analysis of anomalous circulation based on observational and reanalysis data.
• Data sources: Daily observational precipitation data, reanalysis data, sea surface temperature data.

Main Results

• The Tibetan Plateau vortex street-like system (TPVSL) provided a favorable background for approximately 78% of the precipitation during the extreme rainfall event in southern China in April 2024.
• The intensity of the TPVSL was abnormally strong during this period.
• The vortex propagation speed, shedding period, and propagating line position of the TPVSL remained close to normal.
• The abnormally strong TPVSL primarily resulted from unprecedented strong westerly winds over the southern sides of the Tibetan Plateau.
• This strong westerly was caused by an extreme enhancement of the north-south temperature gradient in April.
• The record-breaking meridional temperature gradient was a consequence of a preceding strong El Niño event.
• The preceding strong El Niño event led to anomalous warming in the tropical Indian Ocean and anomalous cooling and soil moistening over the Iranian Plateau.

Contributions

• Provides a mechanistic understanding of the extreme rainfall event in southern China in April 2024 by identifying the critical role of the Tibetan Plateau vortex street-like system (TPVSL).
• Establishes a teleconnection between a preceding strong El Niño event, large-scale temperature gradients, westerly winds, and the anomalous strengthening of the TPVSL, ultimately leading to extreme precipitation.
• Underscores the importance of understanding the TPVSL system for mitigating future flood disasters.

Funding

Not mentioned in the abstract.

Citation

@article{Liu2025Strong,
  author = {Liu, Qi and Fu, Congbin and Xu, Zhongfeng and Gan, Ruyu},
  title = {Strong Contributions of Abnormal Vortex Street-Like System in the Tibetan Plateau’s Wake to Record-Breaking Strong Rainfall over Southern China in April 2024},
  journal = {Journal of Climate},
  year = {2025},
  doi = {10.1175/jcli-d-25-0009.1},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1175/jcli-d-25-0009.1}
}