Combined impact of tropical central‐eastern Pacific and North Atlantic sea surface temperature on precipitation variation in monsoon transitional zone over China during August–September

Abstract

Previous studies suggested that sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the tropical central‐eastern Pacific (TCEP) and tropical Northern Atlantic (TNA) both have significant impacts on the inter‐annual variation of precipitation over the monsoon transitional zone (MTZ) in China during August–September. This study further reveals that the relationship between TCEP (TNA) SST and MTZ precipitation during August–September is strongly modulated by the sign of the TNA (TCEP) SST. When TCEP and TNA SST anomalies have the same sign, connections of the TCEP and TNA SST with the MTZ precipitation are unclear. In contrast, TCEP and TNA SST changes both have significant relation with the MTZ precipitation when they have the opposite sign. During the same‐sign years, the anticyclonic (cyclonic) anomaly over the western North Pacific generated by the TCEP SST cooling (warming) is weakened by the cyclonic (anticyclonic) anomaly triggered by the TNA SST cooling (warming). Thus, connections of the MTZ precipitation with the TCEP and TNA SST are weak. However, during the opposite‐sign years, the anticyclonic anomalies over the western North Pacific generated by the TCEP SST anomalies have a constructive superposition on those induced by the TNA SST changes. As such, connections of the TCEP and TNA SST with the MTZ precipitation variation are significant. Further analysis shows that the prediction skill of precipitation over the MTZ is enhanced if taking both the TCEP and TNA SST signals into account.

Water vapour transport changes associated with the interdecadal decrease in the summer rainfall over Northeast Asia around the late‐1990s

“…In the following, we further investigate the factor for the formation of the atmospheric wave train over Eurasia. Previous studies have demonstrated that the SST anomalies in the North Atlantic can exert substantial impacts on the Eurasian climate via triggering atmospheric wave train over Eurasia (Wu et al ., 2009; Piao et al ., 2017; Chen et al ., 2018, 2019; Zhao et al ., 2019a, 2019b). Hence, the SST anomalies associated with the moisture budgets via the southern and northern boundaries are further shown in Figure 10.…”

“…Northeast Asia occupies a vast area spanning from middle to high latitudes, including Northeast China, part of Mongolia, Korean peninsula, Japan and the Russian Far East. Most parts of it receive annual rainfall amount less than 400 mm, mainly covering arid and semi‐arid climate zones (Piao et al ., 2018b; Zhao et al ., 2019a). Considering the rather low rainfall amount, this region is very sensitive to the rainfall anomalies in regard to agricultural yields, ecological balance and economic development (Yamanaka et al ., 2007; Mu et al ., 2013; Tao et al ., 2015).…”

Observed trends of different rainfall intensities and the associated spatiotemporal variations during 1958–2016 in Guangxi, China

“…In China, precipitation varies significantly on both spatial and temporal scales, and extreme meteorological events are frequent (Zhai et al ., 2005; Yu et al ., 2014; Kundzewicz et al ., 2019; Zhao et al ., 2019; Zhong et al ., 2019). Under the background of global climate warming, increased heat on land surface and water vapour in atmosphere leads to more widespread and intensified floods and droughts, which have already caused huge social, economic, and environmental consequences (Wang and Zhou, 2005; Kundzewicz et al ., 2019).…”

A possible way to extract a stationary relationship between ENSO and the East Asian winter monsoon

“…The impact of ENSO is transmitted to East Asia mainly by the Pacific-East Asian teleconnection (PEAT), as revealed by Wang, Wu, and Fu (2000). In addition to PEAT, more and more recent studies have reported that the sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the North Atlantic Ocean could also play an important role in relaying the impact of ENSO on the East Asian climate (Chen, Wu, and Chen 2018;Zuo et al 2019;Zhao et al 2019aZhao et al , 2019b.…”