Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Interdecadal change in the relationship of southern China summer rainfall with tropical Indo-Pacific SST

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Theoretical and Applied Climatology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The present study investigates the interdecadal change in the relationship between southern China (SC) summer rainfall and tropical Indo-Pacific sea surface temperature (SST). It is found that the pattern of tropical Indo-Pacific SST anomalies associated with SC summer rainfall variability tends to be opposite between the 1950–1960s and the 1980-1990s. Above-normal SC rainfall corresponds to warmer SST in the tropical southeastern Indian Ocean (SEIO) and cooler SST in the equatorial central Pacific (ECP) during the 1950–1960s but opposite SST anomalies in these regions during the 1980–1990s. A pronounced difference is also found in anomalous atmospheric circulation linking SEIO SST and SC rainfall between the two periods. In the 1950–1960s, two anomalous vertical circulations are present between ascent over SEIO and ascent over SC, with a common branch of descent over the South China Sea that is accompanied by an anomalous low-level anticyclone. In the 1980–1990s, however, a single anomalous vertical circulation directly connects ascent over SC to descent over SEIO. The change in the rainfall–SST relationship is likely related to a change in the magnitude of SEIO SST forcing and a change in the atmospheric response to the SST forcing due to different mean states. A larger SEIO SST forcing coupled with a stronger and more extensive western North Pacific subtropical high in recent decades induce circulation anomalies reaching higher latitudes, influencing SC directly. Present analysis shows that the SEIO and ECP SST anomalies can contribute to SC summer rainfall variability both independently and in concert. In comparison, there are more cases of concerted contributions due to the co-variability between the Indian and Pacific Ocean SSTs.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Annamalai H, Xie S-P, McCreary JP, Murtugudde R (2005) Impact of Indian Ocean sea surface temperature on developing El Niño. J Climate 18:302–319

    Google Scholar 

  • Chang C-P, Zhang Y-S, Li T (2000) Interannual and interdecadal variations of the East Asian summer monsoon and tropical Pacific SSTs. Part II: Meridional structure of the monsoon. J Climate 13:4326–4340

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen L-T, Wu R (2000) Interannual and decadal variations of snow cover over Qinghai-Xizang Plateau and their relationships to summer monsoon rainfall in China. Adv Atmos Sci 17:18–30

    Google Scholar 

  • Chen M, Xie P, Janowiak JE, Arkin PA (2002) Global land precipitation: A 50-yr monthly analysis based on gauge observations. J Hydrometeor 3:249–266

    Google Scholar 

  • Ding R-Q, Ha K-J, Li J-P (2010) Interdecadal shift in the relationship between the East Asian summer monsoon and the tropical Indian Ocean. Clim Dyn 34:1059–1071. doi:10.1007/s00382-009-0555-2

    Google Scholar 

  • Hu Z-Z (1997) Interdecadal variability of summer climate over East Asia and its association with 500 hPa height and global sea surface temperature. J Geophys Res 102:19403–19412

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang B, Kinter JL III (2002) Interannual variability in the tropical Indian Ocean. J Geophys Res 103:3199. doi:10.1029/2001JC001278

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang R-H, Sun F-Y (1992) Impacts of the tropical western Pacific on the East Asian summer monsoon. J Meteor Soc Japan 70:243–256

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang R-H, Wu Y-F (1989) The influence of ENSO on the summer climate change in China and its mechanism. Adv Atmos Sci 6:21–32

    Google Scholar 

  • Huang R-H, Zhou L-T, Chen W (2003) The progress of recent studies on the variabilities of the East Asian monsoon and their causes. Adv Atmos Sci 20:55–69

    Google Scholar 

  • Inoue T, Matsumoto J (2004) A comparison of summer sea level pressure over East Eurasia between NCEP-NCAR reanalysis and ERA-40 for the period 1960–99. J Meteor Soc Japan 82:951–958

    Google Scholar 

  • Kalnay E et al (1996) NCEP/NCAR 40-year reanalysis project. Bull Amer Meteor Soc 77:437–471

    Google Scholar 

  • Klein SA, Soden BJ, Lau N-C (1999) Remote sea surface temperature variations during ENSO: evidence for a tropical atmospheric bridge. J Climate 12:917–932

    Google Scholar 

  • Kripalani RH, Kulkarni A (1997a) Climatic impact of El Niño/La Niña on the Indian Monsoon: a new perspective. Weather 52:39–46

    Google Scholar 

  • Kripalani RH, Kulkarni A (1997b) Rainfall variability over Southeast Asia-connections with Indian Monsoon and ENSO extremes: new perspectives. Int J Climatol 17:1155–1168

    Google Scholar 

  • Kripalani RH, Kulkarni A (2001) Monsoon rainfall variations and tele-connections over South and East Asia. Int J Climatol 21:603–616

    Google Scholar 

  • Lau K-M, Weng H-Y (2001) Coherent modes of global SST and summer rainfall over China: an assessment of the regional impacts of the 1997–98 El Niño. J Climate 14:1294–1308

    Google Scholar 

  • Li J-P, Zeng Q-C (2002) A unified monsoon index. Geophys Res Lett 29:1274. doi:10.1029/2001GL013874

    Google Scholar 

  • Lindzen RS, Nigam N (1987) On the role of sea surface temperature gradients in forcing low-level winds and convergence in the tropics. J Atmos Sci 44:2418–2436

    Google Scholar 

  • Mao J-Y, Chan JCL, Wu G-X (2010) Interannual variations of early summer monsoon rainfall over South China under different PDO background. Int J Climatol. doi:10.1002/joc.2129

  • Saji NH, Goswami BN, Vinayachandran PN, Yamagata T (1999) A dipole mode in the tropical Indian Ocean. Nature 401:360–363

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith TM, Reynolds RW, Peterson TC, Lawrimore J (2008) Improvements to NOAA’s historical merged land-ocean surface temperature analysis (1880–2006). J Climate 21:2283–2296

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang B, Wu R, Li T (2003) Atmosphere-warm ocean interaction and its impacts on Asian-Australian monsoon variation. J Climate 16:1195–1121

    Google Scholar 

  • Weng H-Y, Lau K-M, Xue Y (1999) Multi-scale summer rainfall variability over China and its long-term link to global sea surface temperature variability. J Meteor Soc Japan 77:845–857

    Google Scholar 

  • Weng H, Wu G-X, Liu Y-M, Behera SK, Yamagata T (2009) Anomalous summer climate in China influenced by the tropical Indo-Pacific Oceans. Clim Dyn. doi:10.1007/s00382-009-0658-9

  • Wu R, Kirtman BP (2007) Observed relationship of spring and summer East Asian rainfall with winter and spring Eurasian snow. J Climate 20:1285–1304

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu T-W, Qian Z-A (2003) The relation between the Tibetan winter snow and the Asian summer monsoon and rainfall: an observational investigation. J Climate 16:2038–2051

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu R, Wang B (2002) A contrast of the East Asian summer monsoon-ENSO relationship between 1962–77 and 1978–93. J Climate 15:3266–3279

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu R, Yeh S-W (2010) A further study of the tropical Indian Ocean asymmetric mode in boreal spring. J Geophys Res 115:D08101. doi:10.1029/2009JD012999

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu R, Hu Z-Z, Kirtman BP (2003) Evolution of ENSO-related rainfall anomalies in East Asia. J Climate 16:3742–3758

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu R, Kinter JL III, Kirtman BP (2005) Discrepancy of interdecadal changes in the Asian region among the NCEP-NCAR reanalysis, objective analyses, and observations. J Climate 18:3048–3067

    Google Scholar 

  • Wu R, Kirtman BP, Krishnamurthy V (2008) An asymmetric mode of tropical Indian Ocean rainfall variability in boreal spring. J Geophy Res 113:D05104. doi:10.1029/2007JD009316

    Google Scholar 

  • Xiao Z-N, Yan H-M, Li C-Y (2002) Relationship between dipole oscillation of SSTA of Indian Ocean region and precipitation and temperature in China. J Trop Meteor 8:121–131

    Google Scholar 

  • Xie P, Arkin PA (1997) Global precipitation: a 17-year monthly analysis based on gauge observations, satellite estimates, and numerical model outputs. Bull Amer Meteor Soc 78:2539–2558

    Google Scholar 

  • Xie S-P, Annamalai H, Schott FA, McCreary JP (2002) Structure and mechanisms of South Indian Ocean climate variability. J Climate 15:864–878

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang S, Lau K-M (1998) Influences of sea surface temperature and ground wetness on Asian summer monsoon. J Climate 11:3230–3246

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang S, Lau K-M (2006) Interannual variability of the Asian monsoon. In: Wang B (ed) the Asian monsoon. Springer, New York, pp 259–293

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang S, Xu L (1994) Linkage between Eurasian winter snow cover and regional Chinese summer rainfall. Int J Climatol 14:739–750

    Google Scholar 

  • Yang S, Lau K-M, Kim K-M (2002) Variations of the East Asian jet stream and Asian-Pacific-American winter climate anomalies. J Climate 15:306–325

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang R-H, Sumi A, Kimoto M (1996) Impact of El Niño on the East Asian monsoon: a diagnostic study of the 86/87 and 91/92 events. J Meteor Soc Japan 74:49–62

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhang R-H, Sumi A, Kimoto M (1999) A diagnostic study of the impact of El Niño on the precipitation in China. Adv Atmos Sci 16:229–241

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhao P, Zhou Z-J, Liu J-P (2007) Variability of Tibetan spring snow and its associations with the hemispheric extratropical circulation and East Asian summer monsoon rainfall: an observational investigation. J Climate 20:3942–3955

    Google Scholar 

  • Zhu Y-M, Yang X-Q, Chen X-Y, Zhao S-S, Sun X-G (2007) Interdecadal variation of the relationship between ENSO and summer interannual climate variability in China. J Trop Meteorol 13(2):132–136

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors thank three anonymous reviewers for their comments. RW acknowledge the support of a Direct Grant from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (2021090). HG and KH are supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (grants 40890155, U0733002, and 40810059005).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Space and Earth Information Science and Department of Physics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, Hong Kong

    Renguang Wu

  2. Climate Prediction Center, NOAA, Camp Springs, MD, USA

    Song Yang

  3. Center for Monsoon and Environment Research, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China

    Zhiping Wen

  4. Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

    Gang Huang & Kaiming Hu

  5. Institute of Space and Earth Information Science, Fok Ying Tung Remote Sensing Science Building, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, NT, Hong Kong, China

    Renguang Wu

Authors
  1. Renguang Wu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Song Yang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Zhiping Wen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Gang Huang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Kaiming Hu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Renguang Wu.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Wu, R., Yang, S., Wen, Z. et al. Interdecadal change in the relationship of southern China summer rainfall with tropical Indo-Pacific SST. Theor Appl Climatol 108, 119–133 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-011-0519-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-011-0519-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation