Using acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) and conductivity‐temperature‐depth (CTD) data sets obtained from 1991 to 1993, volume, freshwater, and temperature transports through the Tsushima‐Korea Straits are estimated. To remove tidal currents contained in raw ADCP data, tidal currents are calculated using harmonic constants obtained by ADCP surveys from 1998 to 1999. The annual mean and range of the volume transport through the straits are 2.4 Sv (1 Sv = 106 m3/s) and 0.8 Sv, respectively. These values are consistent with those of previous studies. The annually averaged freshwater transport is 33 × 106 kg/s, which is the same as the total river discharge around the Yellow and East China Seas. This suggests that the total river discharge and freshwater transport through the Tsushima‐Korea Straits are the prominent two components in the freshwater budget, averaged annually in the Yellow and East China Seas. The annually averaged temperature transport through the Tsushima‐Korea Straits is 0.17 PW.

Migratory raptors rarely fly over stretches of water larger than 25 km, although different species undertake water crossings of varying lengths, depending mainly on their wing morphology. Oriental Honey‐buzzards fly c. 680 km over the East China Sea in autumn from breeding areas in Japan to wintering areas in Southeast Asia, but avoid this long water crossing in spring. We investigated the effects of weather on this exceptional migratory behaviour and its seasonality through a maximum entropy niche modelling approach. We used data collected through satellite tracking of 31 adult birds as presence points and a set of variables related to wind, precipitation and convective condition as environmental predictors. Results of modelling showed very different, almost non‐overlapping, areas suitable for migration over the East China Sea region in autumn and spring. Suitable migration routes in autumn mostly occurred over the sea, whereas suitable areas for spring migration mostly occurred over land, suggesting that circumnavigating the East China Sea is preferable in spring. At the regional scale, wind conditions facilitate water‐crossing behaviour of Oriental Honey‐buzzards in autumn, but not in spring. Specifically, suitable tailwinds over the sea enable water‐crossing in autumn, whereas in spring, wind support and convective conditions are best over land. Our modelling did not suggest any importance of convective conditions for autumn migration. However, we expect that at smaller temporal scales, convective conditions would be a considerable facilitator of the water‐crossing behaviour in this species.

Monsoonal airflow from the tropics triggers torrential rainfall over coastal regions of East Asia in summer, bringing flooding situations into areas of growing population and industries. However, impacts of rapid seasonal warming of the shallow East China Sea ECS and its pronounced future warming upon extreme summertime rainfall have not been explored. Here we show through cloudresolving atmospheric model simulations that observational tendency for torrential rainfall events over western Japan to occur most frequently in July cannot be reproduced without the rapid seasonal warming of ECS. The simulations also suggest that the future ECS warming will increase precipitation substantially in such an extreme event as observed in midJuly 2012 and also the likelihood of such an event occurring in June. A need is thus urged for reducing uncertainties in future temperature projections over ECS and other marginal seas for better projections of extreme summertime rainfall in the surrounding areas.

No abstract

The western Indian Ocean sea surface temperature (SST) is among the key factors that affect precipitation over India and East Africa. This study examined the western Indian Ocean SST biases among the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 5 (CMIP5) models. It was found that the multimodel ensemble‐mean SST biases over the western equatorial Indian Ocean are warmer than the observations during the summer monsoon season. However, about half the models show positive SST biases, whereas negative ones in the other half. The models with warmer SST biases exhibit a pattern similar to the Indian Ocean Dipole, with stronger equatorial easterly wind biases during fall and a deeper thermocline in the western equatorial Indian Ocean. In the models with cooler SST biases, negative SST biases are observed over the entire tropical Indian Ocean throughout the year and the wind biases over the equatorial Indian Ocean are southeasterly during summer and fall. Heat budget analysis revealed the importance of ocean currents in forming the early summer development of SST biases over the western equatorial Indian Ocean. The formation of SST biases is related to surface current biases induced by the weaker biases of southwesterly monsoon winds and SST biases over the southwestern equatorial Indian Ocean, which are advected by the East African Coastal Currents. On the other hand, almost of all the CMIP5 models show prominent cold SST biases over the northern Arabian Sea during the premonsoon season. The SST biases are induced by excess surface cooling during the winter monsoon season.