POTENTIAL PREDICTABILITY OF MONTHLY PRECIPITATION OVER CHINA^*

In this paper,based on the data at 70 stations selected evenly over China for 31 years from 1961-1991.three methods to estimate climatic noise have been discussed and then the climatic noise and potential predictability of monthly precipitation(January.July.April and October)have been examined.The estimating of climatic noise is based on the method of Madden and improved methods of Trenberth and Yamamoto et al.(1985).The potential predictability is approximated by the ratio of the estimated interannual variation to the natural variation.Generally.the climatic noise of monthly precipitation over China has obvious seasonal variation and it is greater in summer than in winter,a bit greater in autumn than in spring.In most areas,the climatic noise is prominently decreasing from south to north and from coast to inland.The potential predictability of monthly precipitation also has obvious seasonal and regional difference,but the potential predictability is greater in winter than in summer in most parts of China.Whereas the comparison of spring and autumn is not obvious.Comparing with the method of Madden,the estimated values of climatic noise based on the improved methods of Trenberth and Yamamoto et al.are relatively lower.