A NUMERICAL STUDY ON THE MEDIUM-RANGE RESPONSES OF THE ATMOSPHERE TO THE ABNORMAL SOIL MOISTURE^*

By employing the improved T42L9 spectral model introduced by NMC (Beijing) from ECMWF and utilizing the FGGE-IIIb data covering the period of 14-19 June 1979, the atmospheric responses to the abnormal soil moisture during the medium-range period have been studied numerically. According to the initial field at 12 GMT 14 June, a five-day numerical experiment under different conditions of the soil moisture has been carried out respectively. The monthly mean climatological soil moisture for June has been used in the control experiment in the initial time and it changes with time according to the moisture budget equation at the land surface. Comparing with the experiments with dry or wet soil. one can conclude that: 1) Source of precipitation over continents in summer consists of the land-surface evaporation and the moisture transfer from oceans. Their intensities are comparable during the medium-range time scale when the soil evaporates its moisture sufficiently. Therefore, the soil moisture can influence the global precipitation and the general circulation significantly; 2) By influencing the thermodynamic difference between land and sea,the soil moisture can change the intensity of monsoon and precipitation distribution; 3) The response of the atmosphere to the abnormal soil moisture has the characteristics of geographical distribution and nonlinear interactions; 4) Human activities on the world can influence the environment greatly.