MOVEMENT OF THE RIDGE LINE OF SUMMER WEST PACIFIC SUBTROPICAL HIGH AND ITS POSSIBLE MECHANISM^*

The analysis of the 40-year averaged daily data in this paper suggests that the vertical structure and movement of subtropical high (SH) ridge in summer evidently differ in different areas,which is close related with spatially nonuniform heating.The SH ridge over the West Pacific tilts northwards with height,while one over the Central Pacific tilts southwards.The northward movements of the Central/West Pacific SH ridges both show distinct low frequency oscillations of 10-20 days,and the movement over the East Asian monsoon area shows obvious oscillations of quasi-40-days as well.The analysis shows that the solar radiation drives the seasonal meridional movement of SH,while the spatially nonuniform heating modifies its movement speed and intensity,thus resulting in its anomalous motion.