The Influence of Arctic Oscillation on South China Precipitation in Winter Is Modulated by the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation

Abstract As the dominant mode of low‐frequency atmospheric variability in extratropical Northern Hemisphere, the Arctic Oscillation (AO) exerts strong impacts on East Asian climate, with the positive AO leading to increased South China winter precipitation (SCWP). Here, we find that such AO–SCWP rel...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geophysical Research Letters
Main Authors: Jinhong Liu, Jiaqing Xue, Yuan Gao, Hualong Zhu
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2024
Subjects:
South China winter precipitation
Arctic oscillation
Atlantic multidecadal oscillation
Geophysics. Cosmic physics
QC801-809
Arctic
Pacific
North Atlantic
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1029/2024GL112090
https://doaj.org/article/95b5ae475daf481fbb5adafa46e7d8a4
Description
Summary:Abstract As the dominant mode of low‐frequency atmospheric variability in extratropical Northern Hemisphere, the Arctic Oscillation (AO) exerts strong impacts on East Asian climate, with the positive AO leading to increased South China winter precipitation (SCWP). Here, we find that such AO–SCWP relationship is nonstationary and controlled by the remote Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO). Especially, the relationship between positive AO and SCWP is significantly weakened during the warm phase of AMO. Observational analyses and idealized Atlantic pacemaker simulations indicate that warm AMO forcing is accompanied by a teleconnection wave train extending eastward from the North Atlantic to West Pacific and the western North Pacific sea surface temperature warming, which together induce northerly wind anomalies over South China by enhancing the land–ocean pressure gradient. Such climate background state changes associated with the warm AMO prohibit the positive AO induced water vapor transport to South China, thereby weakening the AO–SCWP relationship.

Similar Items