scholarly journals Tree ring-based February–April temperature reconstruction for Changbai Mountain in Northeast China and its implication for East Asian Winter Monsoon

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 1215-1229
Author(s):  
H. F. Zhu ◽  
X. Q. Fang ◽  
X. M. Shao ◽  
Z. Y. Yin

Abstract. Long-term climatic records are scarce in the northeast Asia for understanding the behavior of the East Asian Winter Monsoon. Here we describe a 250-year February–April temperature reconstruction (TCBM) based on tree-ring widths of Korean Pines from the Changbai Mountain area, Northeast China. The reconstruction can account for 45.7% of the temperature variance in the instrumental period (1953 to 2001). Four cold events including 1784–1815, 1827–1851, 1878–1889 and 1911–1945, and two warm events of 1750–1783 and 1855–1877 were identified before the instrumental period. Four regime shifts were also detected at 1781, 1857, 1878 and 1989. Good agreements between TCBM and other temperature records of East Asia suggest that the reconstruction is of good reliability and captures the regional cold/warm events of East Asia. Moreover, TCBM shows negative correlations with the instrumental or proxy-based EAWM intensity records. The known weakening of the EAWM in the late 1980s is in agreement with the regime shift at 1989 in TCBM. These comparisons suggest that the February–April temperature reconstruction may be a good indicator of the EAWM intensity.

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 661-666 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. F. Zhu ◽  
X. Q. Fang ◽  
X. M. Shao ◽  
Z. Y. Yin

Abstract. Long-term climatic records are scarce in the northeast Asia for understanding the behavior of the East Asian Winter Monsoon. Here we describe a 250-year February–April temperature reconstruction (TCBM) based on tree-ring widths of Korean Pines from the Changbai Mountain area, Northeast China. The reconstruction can account for 45.7% of the temperature variance in the instrumental period (1953 to 2001). Four cold periods including 1784–1815, 1827–1851, 1878–1889 and 1911–1945, and two warm periods of 1750–1783 and 1855–1877 were identified before the instrumental period. Four shifts were also detected at 1781, 1857, 1878 and 1989. Good agreements between TCBM and other temperature records of East Asia suggest that the reconstruction is of good reliability and captures the regional cold/warm periods of East Asia. Moreover, TCBM shows negative correlations with the instrumental or proxy-based EAWM intensity records. The known weakening of the EAWM in the late 1980s is in agreement with the shift at 1989 in TCBM. These comparisons suggest that the February–April temperature reconstruction may be a good indicator of the EAWM intensity.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Hao ◽  
Shengping He ◽  
Huijun Wang ◽  
Tingting Han

Abstract. The East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM) can be greatly influenced by many factors that can be classified as anthropogenic forcing and natural forcing. Here we explore the contribution of anthropogenic influence to the change in the EAWM over the past decades. Under all forcings observed during 1960–2013 (All-Hist run), the atmospheric general circulation model is able to reproduce the climatology and variability of the EAWM-related surface air temperature and 500 hPa geopotential height, and shows a statistically significant decreasing EAWM intensity with a trend coefficient of ∼−0.04 yr−1 which is close to the observed trend. By contrast, the simulation, which is driven by the same forcing as All-Hist run but with the anthropogenic contribution to them removed, shows no decreasing trend in the EAWM intensity. By comparing the simulations under two different forcing scenarios, we further reveal that the responses of the EAWM to the anthropogenic forcing include a rise of 0.6 ° in surface air temperature over the East Asia as well as weakening of the East Asia trough, which may result from the poleward expansion and intensification of the East Asian jet forced by the change of temperature gradient in the troposphere. Additionally, compared with the simulation without anthropogenic forcing, the frequency of strong (weak) EAWM occurrence is reduced (increased) by 45 % (from 0 to 10/7). These results indicate that the weakening of the EAWM during 1960–2013 may be mainly attributed to the anthropogenic influence.


2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (7) ◽  
pp. 2697-2716 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xin Hao ◽  
Shengping He

Using long-term observational data and numerical model experiments, this study found that the Atlantic multidecadal oscillation (AMO) affects the influence of ENSO-like sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTAs, which contain the variability of both El Niño–Southern Oscillation and Pacific decadal oscillation) on the interannual change in the East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM). In the observations, the out-of-phase relationship between the variations in ENSO and the EAWM was significantly intensified when the AMO and ENSO-like SSTAs were in phase. Warmer-than-normal winters occurred across East Asia when the ENSO-like SSTAs and AMO were positively in phase, with a significantly weakened Siberian high and anomalous anticyclones over the western North Pacific. The opposite patterns occurred under negative in-phase conditions. In contrast, when the ENSO-like and AMO SSTAs were out of phase, the anomalies related to the EAWM tended to exhibit relatively weaker features. Numerical model experiments confirmed these observational results. When the models were perturbed with warm ENSO-like SSTAs and warm AMO SSTAs, the atmosphere showed a weakened Siberian high, strong anticyclonic anomalies over the Philippine Sea, a weakened East Asian trough, and dominant positive temperature anomalies over East Asia, implying a weaker EAWM. Reverse responses to negative in-phase temperature anomalies were observed. However, the atmospheric signals that responded to the out-of-phase conditions were less robust. This phenomenon may be attributed to the superposition of the interannual variability of the EAWM caused by ENSO-like SSTAs upon the influence of AMO on background Eurasian climate and the Walker circulation response to the heating source provided by the AMO, which induced changes in ENSO-like variability through the surface wind anomalies and modulated the anomalous anticyclone/cyclone over the Philippine Sea in warm–cold ENSO-like events.


2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (15) ◽  
pp. 4255-4262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yueqing Li ◽  
Song Yang

Abstract A new index measuring the East Asian winter monsoon is defined using the mean wind shears of upper-tropospheric zonal wind based on the belief that the physical processes of both higher and lower latitudes, and at both lower and upper troposphere, should be considered to depict the variability of monsoon. When the index is high (low), the westerly jet is strong (weak), the East Asian trough is deep (shallow), the Siberian high is strong (weak), and anomalous low-level northerlies (southerlies) prevail over East Asia. As a result, the surface and lower-tropospheric temperature over East Asia decreases (increases) and the cold surges over Southeast Asia and tropical western Pacific are more (less) active. The index, which exhibits distinct interannual variations, is also strongly correlated with the Arctic Oscillation and Niño-3.4 sea surface temperature (SST) index. Compared to previous indexes, this index takes into account more influencing factors and better elucidates the physical processes associated with monsoon, enhancing interpretations of the variability of monsoon and its effects on regional weather and climate. Furthermore, the monsoon index is significantly linked to antecedent tropical Pacific SST and is highly predictable in the NCEP Climate Forecast System, indicating the advantage of the index for operational predictions of monsoon.


2009 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 600-614 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lin Wang ◽  
Wen Chen ◽  
Wen Zhou ◽  
Ronghui Huang

Abstract Interannual variations of the East Asian trough (EAT) axis at 500 hPa are studied with the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts 40-yr reanalysis data. The associated circulation pattern and pathway of the East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM) with the EAT axis tilt are specially investigated with a trough axis index, which is closely related to the midlatitude baroclinic process and mainly represents the intensity of the eddy-driven jet over the East Asia–North Pacific sector. When the tilt of EAT is smaller than normal, the EAWM prefers to take the southern pathway and less cold air moves to the central North Pacific. However, the EAWM prefers the eastern pathway and brings more cold air to the North Pacific when the tilt of EAT is larger than normal. These differences induce pronounced changes in both the precipitation and the surface air temperature over East and Southeast Asia. Furthermore, the tilt status of the EAT has a significant modulation effect on the regional climate anomalies related to the intensity of the EAWM. The findings suggest an increase in the temperature anomaly associated with the EAWM intensity and a clear northward–southward shift in its pattern in anomalous tilt phase of the EAT. In addition, the modulation tends to be confined mainly to East Asia and expanded to a larger area during the weak and the strong EAWM winters, respectively. The possible reasons for interannual variations of the EAT tilt are discussed, and it is speculated that the midlatitude air–sea interaction in the North Pacific plays a dominant role. This study on the EAT tilt may enrich knowledge of the East Asian winter monsoon beyond the conventional intensity index and may be helpful to improve regional climate prediction in East Asia.


2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 1659-1678 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hainan Gong ◽  
Lin Wang ◽  
Wen Chen ◽  
Renguang Wu ◽  
Ke Wei ◽  
...  

Abstract In this paper the model outputs from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) phase 5 (CMIP5) are used to examine the climatology and interannual variability of the East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM). The multimodel ensemble (MME) is able to reproduce reasonably well the circulation features of the EAWM. The simulated surface air temperature still suffers from a cold bias over East Asia, but this bias is reduced compared with CMIP phase 3 models. The intermodel spread is relatively small for the large-scale circulations, but is large for the lower-tropospheric meridional wind and precipitation along the East Asian coast. The interannual variability of the EAWM-related circulations can be captured by most of the models. A general bias is that the simulated variability is slightly weaker than in the observations. Based on a selected dynamic EAWM index, the patterns of the EAWM-related anomalies are well reproduced in MME although the simulated anomalies are slightly weaker than the observations. One general bias is that the northeasterly anomalies over East Asia cannot be captured to the south of 30°N. This bias may arise both from the inadequacies of the EAWM index and from the ability of models to capture the EAWM-related tropical–extratropical interactions. The ENSO–EAWM relationship is then evaluated and about half of the models can successfully capture the observed ENSO–EAWM relationship, including the significant negative correlation between Niño-3.4 and EAWM indices and the anomalous anticyclone (or cyclone) over the northwestern Pacific. The success of these models is attributed to the reasonable simulation of both ENSO’s spatial structure and its strength of interannual variability.


2006 ◽  
Vol 134 (8) ◽  
pp. 2165-2179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bingyi Wu ◽  
Renhe Zhang ◽  
Rosanne D’Arrigo

Abstract Two distinct modes of the East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM) have been identified, and they correspond to real and imaginary parts of the leading mode of the EAWM, respectively. Analyses of these modes used the National Centers for Environment Prediction (NCEP) and National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) monthly mean reanalysis datasets for the period 1968–2003, as well as the Southern Oscillation index (SOI), North Atlantic Oscillation index, and eastern equatorial Pacific sea surface temperature (SST) data. Results were obtained by resolving a complex Hermite matrix derived from 850-hPa anomalous wind fields, and determining the resulting modes’ associations with several climate variables. The first distinct mode (M1) is characterized by an anomalous meridional wind pattern over East Asia and the western North Pacific. Mode M1 is closely related to several features of the atmospheric circulation, including the Siberian high, East Asian trough, East Asian upper-tropospheric jet, and local Hadley circulation over East Asia. Thus, M1 reflects the traditional EAWM pattern revealed in previous studies. The second distinct EAWM mode (M2), which was not identified previously, displays dominant zonal wind anomalies over the same area. Mode M2 exhibits a closer relation than M1 to sea level pressure anomalies over the northwestern Pacific southeast of Japan and with the SOI and equatorial eastern Pacific SST. Unlike M1, M2 does not show coherent relationships with the Siberian high, East Asian trough, and East Asian upper-tropospheric jet. Since atmospheric circulation anomalies relevant to M2 exhibit a quasi-barotropic structure, its existence cannot simply be attributed to differential land–sea heating. El Niño events tend to occur in the negative phase of M1 and the positive phase of M2, both corresponding to a weakened EAWM. The Arctic Oscillation does not appear to impact the EAWM on interannual time scales. Although the spatial patterns for the two modes are very different, the two distinct modes are complementary, with the leading EAWM mode being a linear combination of the two. The results herein therefore demonstrate that a single EAWM index may be inappropriate for investigating and predicting the EAWM.


2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (22) ◽  
pp. 9013-9028 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao Luo ◽  
Yaocun Zhang

Abstract This study investigates the linkage between East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM) variability and upper-level jets, with particular focus on the East Asian polar front jet (PJ) and its concurrent variation with the subtropical jet located to the south of the Tibetan Plateau (TSJ). The winter upper-level zonal wind variations over the Asian landmass (70°–120°E) are dominated by two principal modes (i.e., meridional displacement of the PJ and out-of-phase variation in the intensity of the TSJ and PJ) and they are closely linked to the EAWM northern mode and southern mode, respectively. Southward shifting of the PJ concurs with northwestward displacement of the Siberian high (SH), an enhanced northern East Asian trough, leading to cold winter in northern East Asia. Meanwhile the simultaneous TSJ intensification and PJ weakening is linked to an amplified SH, a southward shift of the Aleutian low (AL), a strengthened southern East Asian trough, and a wavelike anomaly pattern extending from western Barents Sea downstream to East Asia at the 500-hPa level. Equatorward shift of the PJ is associated with La Niña conditions in the tropics and sea ice anomalies over the Arctic. An intensified TSJ and weakened PJ are preceded by autumn warming over the central and eastern Pacific Ocean and are linked to circulation anomalies induced by the extensions of stationary Rossby waves, as well as synoptic-scale transient eddy activity anomalies. Therefore, a combination of external forcing and internal atmospheric dynamics plays a role in driving the variations of two leading EOFs, and there is potential for seasonal forecasting of both modes.


2007 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 31-37 ◽  
Author(s):  

Abstract. Four East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM) indices are compared in this paper. In the research periods, all the indices show similar interannual and decadal-interdecadal variations, with predominant periods centering in 3–4 years, 6.5 years and 9–15 years, respectively. Besides, all the indices show remarkable weakening trends since the 1980s. The correlation coefficient of each two indices is positive with a significance level of 99%. Both the correlation analyses and the composites indicate that in stronger EAWM years, the Siberian high and the higher-level subtropical westerly jet are stronger, and the Aleutian low and the East Asia trough are deeper. This circulation pattern is favorable for much stronger northwesterly wind and lower air temperature in the subtropical regions of East Asia, while it is on the opposite in weaker EAWM years. Besides, EAWM can also exert a remarkable leading effect on the summer monsoon. After stronger (weaker) EAWM, less (more) summer precipitation is seen over the regions from the Yangtze River valley of China to southern Japan, while more (less) from South China Sea to the tropical western Pacific.


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