Determining the moisture sources for the precipitation over Pamirs Plateau helps understand the mechanisms of extreme precipitation events. We used the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory model driven with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) output to analyze the moisture sources at Northern Pamirs Plateau (NPP) and Southern Pamirs Plateau (SPP) in spring and winter, 2016 and 2017, as the annual precipitation in Pamirs Plateau were the largest in 2016 and the lowest in 2017, and the precipitation in spring and winter was much higher than that in summer and autumn. The moisture sources from four regions were quantified, which were Atlantic-Europe-Africa (AEA), Arctic-Northern Asia (ANA), Indian Ocean (IO), and Pamirs Plateau (PP), respectively. In spring, 2016, AEA contributed the most to the moisture at NPP (72.50%) and SPP (61.11%), which was affected by the strong westerlies, cyclone anomaly and positive water vapor anomaly over the Arabian Peninsula. In spring, 2017, AEA was also the dominant region for the moisture at NPP (45.83%) and SPP (55.69%). However, less water vapor was transported to the Pamirs Plateau in 2017 than in 2016 under the influence of weak westerlies. In winter, 2016, the anticyclone over the Arabian Peninsula strengthened the water vapor transport in the Persian Gulf, and moisture contribution from IO at NPP and SPP was 25.29% and 26.08%, respectively, which increased significantly compared with that in spring, 2016. In winter, 2017, moisture contribution from IO at NPP (23.22%) and SPP (31.06%) was higher than that in spring, 2017. However, wind anomalies favored precipitation over the Arabian Peninsula, which reduced moisture transport to Pamirs Plateau. The moisture contributions from four regions to the precipitation were similar at NPP and SPP, but they show great difference between winter and spring and between 2016 and 2017. Our study highlights the importance of atmospheric circulations over the Arabian Peninsula affecting the precipitation at Pamirs Plateau.

 

Pamirs Plateau, precipitation, moisture sources, HYSPLIT, WRF