scholarly journals Intraseasonal Variability of the East Asia-Pacific Teleconnection and Its Impacts on Multiple Tropical Cyclone Genesis Over the Western North Pacific

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Lin ◽  
Lan Wang ◽  
Jianyun Gao ◽  
Xiaoxiao Chen ◽  
Wei Zhang

A daily East Asia–Pacific teleconnection (EAP) index was constructed to investigate the impact of the intraseasonal variability (ISV) of this index on the genesis of multiple tropical cyclones (MTC) in boreal summer over the western North Pacific (WNP). The result indicates that the EAP index has dominant intraseasonal periods of 10–20 days, 20–40 days and 50–70 days, respectively. The ISV of the EAP during 1979–2019 can be classified into three types, a single-period-domination type (37%), a multiple period coexistence type (24%) and a transition type (39%). It is found that during El Niño (La Niña) summers, the ISV of the EAP is dominated by a higher-frequency (lower-frequency) oscillation with a period of around 20–30 (50–70) days. The distinctive ISV characteristics during the different ENSO years were accompanied with different dynamic and thermodynamic background conditions over the WNP and the South China Sea, which modulated the frequency and location of MTC genesis. By examining the relative contributions of individual environmental variables of the Genesis Potential Index, we found that the low-level absolute vorticity and mid-level relative humidity are two important environmental factors modulating MTC genesis. However, the relative role of these variables tends to change with the EAP ISV phase. The environmental condition over the SCS appears less influenced by ENSO. A more southern location of MTC genesis during El Niño is attributed to the change of the environmental humidity.

2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (20) ◽  
pp. 7189-7201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fei Liu ◽  
Tim Li ◽  
Hui Wang ◽  
Li Deng ◽  
Yuanwen Zhang

Abstract The authors investigate the effects of El Niño and La Niña on the intraseasonal oscillation (ISO) in the boreal summer (May–October) over the western North Pacific (WNP). It is found that during El Niño summers, the ISO is dominated by a higher-frequency oscillation with a period of around 20–40 days, whereas during La Niña summers the ISO is dominated by a lower-frequency period of around 40–70 days. The former is characterized by northwestward-propagating convection anomalies in the WNP, and the latter is characterized by northward- and eastward-propagating convective signals over the tropical Indian Ocean/Maritime Continent. The possible mechanisms through which El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO)-induced background mean state changes influence the ISO behavior are examined through idealized numerical experiments. It is found that enhanced (weakened) mean moisture and easterly (westerly) vertical wind shear in the WNP during El Niño (La Niña) are the main causes of the strengthened (weakened) 20–40-day northwestward-propagating ISO mode, whereas the 40–70-day ISO initiated from the Indian Ocean can only affect the WNP during La Niña years because the dry (moist) background moisture near the Maritime Continent during El Niño (La Niña) suppresses (enhances) the ISO over the Maritime Continent, and the ISO propagates less over the Maritime Continent during El Niño years than in La Niña years.


2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (11) ◽  
pp. 2974-2986 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bo Wu ◽  
Tim Li ◽  
Tianjun Zhou

Abstract To investigate the relative role of the cold SST anomaly (SSTA) in the western North Pacific (WNP) or Indian Ocean basin mode (IOBM) in maintaining an anomalous anticyclone over the western North Pacific (WNPAC) during the El Niño decaying summer, a suite of numerical experiments is performed using an atmospheric general circulation model, ECHAM4. In sensitive experiments, the El Niño composite SSTA is specified in either the WNP or the tropical Indian Ocean, while the climatological SST is specified elsewhere. The results indicate that the WNPAC is maintained by the combined effects of the local forcing of the negative SSTA in the WNP and the remote forcing from the IOBM. The former (latter) contribution gradually weakens (enhances) from June to August. The negative SSTA in the WNP is crucial for the maintenance of the WNPAC in early summer. However, because of a negative air–sea feedback, the negative SSTA gradually decays, as does the local forcing effect. Enhanced local convection associated with the IOBM stimulates atmospheric Kelvin waves over the equatorial western Pacific. The impact of the Kelvin waves on the WNP circulation depends on the formation of the climatological WNP monsoon trough, which does not fully establish until late summer. Therefore, the IOBM plays a crucial role in late summer via the Kelvin wave induced anticyclonic shear and boundary layer divergence.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sunyong Kim ◽  
Jong-Seong Kug

Abstract The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) has seasonally distinct impacts on the East Asian climate so that its seasonal transition depends on the phases of El Niño and La Niña. Here, we investigate the seasonal transition of surface temperature in East Asia from boreal summer to winter based on the warm/cold ENSO developing phases. During La Niña years, from summer to winter the continuous temperature drop in East Asia tends to be faster than that during El Niño, indicating a latter start and earlier termination of fall. This different seasonal transition in East Asia according to phases of ENSO is mostly explained by atmospheric responses to the seasonally-dependent tropical/subtropical precipitation forcings in ENSO developing phases. The anomalous positive precipitation in the subtropical North Pacific exists only in September and leads to the subtropical cyclonic flow during El Niño years. The resultant northerly anomalies on the left side of subtropical cyclone are favorable for transporting cold advection towards East Asia. However, the positive subtropical precipitation disappears and teleconnection to East Asia is strongly controlled by the negative precipitation anomalies in the western North Pacific, modulating the anticyclonic anomalies in East Asia during the early winter (November). Therefore, these seasonally sharp precipitation changes associated with ENSO evolution induce distinctive teleconnection changes from northerly (summer) to southerly (winter) anomalies, which eventually affect seasonal transition in East Asia. Also, the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 models reasonably simulate the relatively rapid temperature transition in East Asia during La Niña years, supporting the observational argument.


2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 1725-1742 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liang Wu ◽  
Hongjie Zhang ◽  
Jau-Ming Chen ◽  
Tao Feng

The present study investigates the impact of various central Pacific (CP) and eastern Pacific (EP) warming on tropical cyclones (TCs) over the western North Pacific (WNP) for the period 1948–2015 based on observational and reanalysis data. Four distinctly different forms of tropical Pacific warming are identified to examine different impacts of locations and intensity of tropical Pacific warming on the WNP TCs. It is shown that WNP TC activity related to ENSO shows stronger sensitivity to the intensity of CP SST warming. The locations of TC genesis in an extreme EP El Niño featuring concurrent strong CP and EP warming (CEPW) display a notable southeastward shift that is generally similar to the CP El Niño featuring CP warming alone (CPW). These influences are clearly different from the effects of moderate EP El Niño associated with EP warming alone (EPW). The above influences of Pacific warming on TCs possibly occur via atmospheric circulation variability. Anomalous convection associated with CP SST warming drives anomalous low-level westerlies away from the equator as a result of a Gill-type Rossby wave response, leading to an enhanced broad-zone, eastward-extending monsoon trough (MT). An anomalous Walker circulation in response to EP SST warming drives an increase in anomalous equatorial westerlies over the WNP, leading to a narrow-zone, slightly equatorward shift of the eastward-extending MT. These changes in the MT coincide with a shift in large-scale environments and synoptic-scale perturbations, which favor TC genesis and development. In addition, during weaker EP SST warming (WEPW) with similar intensity to CPW, local SST forcing exhibits primary control on WNP TCs and atmospheric circulation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (8) ◽  
pp. 3049-3059 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chi-Cherng Hong ◽  
Ming-Ying Lee ◽  
Huang-Hsiung Hsu ◽  
Wan-Ling Tseng

Abstract This study reports the different effects of tropical and subtropical sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTAs) on the mean tropical cyclone (TC) genesis location in the western North Pacific (WNP), a TC–SSTA relationship that has been largely ignored. In the Pacific, the interannual variability of the tropical SSTA in the boreal summer is characterized by an El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO)-like pattern, whereas the subtropical SSTA exhibits a Pacific meridional mode (PMM)-like structure. Partial correlation analysis reveals that the ENSO-like and PMM-like SSTAs dominate the south–north and east–west shift of mean TC genesis location, respectively. The 2015/16 El Niño was a strong event comparable with the 1997/98 event in terms of Niño-3.4 SSTA. However, the mean TC genesis location in the WNP during the summer of 2015 exhibited an unprecedented eastward shift by approximately 10 longitudinal degrees relative to that in 1997. Whereas the ENSO-like SSTAs in 1997 and 2015 were approximately equal, the amplitude of the PMM-like SSTA in 2015 was approximately twice as large as that in 1997. Numerical experiments forced by the ENSO-like and PMM-like SSTAs in June–August 2015 reveal that the positive PMM-like SSTA forces an east–west overturning circulation anomaly in the subtropical North Pacific with anomalously ascending (descending) motion in the subtropical central (western) Pacific. The mean TC genesis location in the WNP therefore shifts eastward when warmer SST occurs in the subtropical eastern Pacific. This finding supports the hypothesis that the extremely positive PMM-like SSTA in the summer of 2015 caused the unprecedented eastward shift of the TC genesis location in the WNP.


2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (19) ◽  
pp. 8487-8505
Author(s):  
Xinyu Li ◽  
Riyu Lu

AbstractThe meridional teleconnection over the western North Pacific and East Asia (WNP–EA) plays a predominant role in affecting the interannual variability of East Asian climate in summer. This study identified a breakdown of the meridional teleconnection since the early 2000s. Before the early 2000s, there are close tropical–extratropical relationships in light of both circulation and rainfall anomalies. For instance, the westward extension of the western North Pacific subtropical high (WNPSH) is closely associated with the southward shift of the East Asian westerly jet (EAJ), and more rainfall in the tropical WNP closely corresponds to less rainfall in the subtropical WNP–EA. However, after the early 2000s, the tropical–extratropical relationships are absent. Particularly, the tropical WNP precipitation anomalies can induce WNPSH anomalies, but the WNPSH anomalies cannot induce subtropical precipitation in the latter period, due to the absence of EAJ-related extratropical circulation anomalies. Further results indicate that in the latter period, the westward extension of the WNPSH is associated with the decay of central Pacific-like El Niño, and simultaneous summer sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies in the central eastern Pacific favor the northward shift of the EAJ, resulting in the disruption of the WNPSH–EAJ relationship. This evolution of tropical SSTs is sharply different from the decay of canonical El Niño and simultaneous summer tropical Indian Ocean warming, which favor the WNPSH–EAJ correspondence in the former period.


2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 213-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chao He ◽  
Tianjun Zhou ◽  
Tim Li

Abstract The western North Pacific subtropical anticyclone (WNPAC) is the most prominent atmospheric circulation anomaly over the subtropical Northern Hemisphere during the decaying summer of an El Niño event. Based on a comparison between the RCP8.5 and the historical experiments of 30 coupled models from the CMIP5, we show evidence that the anomalous WNPAC during the El Niño–decaying summer is weaker in a warmer climate although the amplitude of the El Niño remains generally unchanged. The weakened impact of the sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) over the tropical Indian Ocean (TIO) on the atmosphere is essential for the weakened anomalous WNPAC. In a warmer climate, the warm tropospheric temperature (TT) anomaly in the tropical free troposphere stimulated by the El Niño–related SSTA is enhanced through stronger moist adiabatic adjustment in a warmer mean state, even if the SSTA of El Niño is unchanged. But the amplitude of the warm SSTA over TIO remains generally unchanged in an El Niño–decaying summer, the static stability of the boundary layer over TIO is increased, and the positive rainfall anomaly over TIO is weakened. As a result, the warm Kelvin wave emanating from TIO is weakened because of a weaker latent heating anomaly over TIO, which is responsible for the weakened WNPAC anomaly. Numerical experiments support the weakened sensitivity of precipitation anomaly over TIO to local SSTA under an increase of mean-state SST and its essential role in the weakened anomalous WNPAC, independent of any change in the SSTA.


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