Sensitivity of afternoon precipitation to evaporative fraction in eastern Asia based on ERA‐Interim datasets.

Sensitivity of afternoon precipitation to before‐noon evaporative fraction (EF) in eastern Asia is investigated by applying two physically based, objective metrics (i.e., triggering feedback strength [TFS] and amplification feedback strength [AFS]) with the ERA‐Interim datasets. Over the northern Indian Peninsula, the Mongolian Plateau and Myanmar, increased before‐noon EF will trigger afternoon precipitation most likely. On the contrary, over south China and Indo‐China peninsula, decreased EF may enhance the occurrence probability of afternoon rainfall. Based on the normalized values of two metrics, the triggering effect of EF is much larger than its amplification effect on afternoon precipitation, and the amplification effect is very small. (a) TFS (units of probability of afternoon rain) and (b) AFS (units of millimeters of afternoon rain) in summer. Shading indicates that the mean of the 50 samples is significantly different from zero based on the two‐sided t test at the 95% significance level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]